← Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
The Unfiltie Awards, 2025 Soccer Predictions, & 2009 Confederations Cup Reflections
01:05:59
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- [00:00]
Landon Donovan
The Intercontinental World Global Championship Tournament Cup.
- [00:04]
Tim Howard
Wow. I mean, we need more soccer.
- [00:08]
Landon Donovan
Who needs more soccer?
- [00:10]
Tim Howard
We need more soccer.
- [00:12]
Landon Donovan
Welcome to Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard, presented by Volkswagen. Volkswagen has long been a supporter of soccer in America and has proudly been a partner of U.S. soccer for the past five years.
- [00:25]
Tim Howard
LD took my daughter to see Hell's Kitchen on Broadway, the Alicia Keys produced show, last night. Second. Second time I saw. When I go to see a show more than once, you know, I love it. It. When I first saw it, it was top three for me. I know it's up there with Jersey Boys. And then last night it's moved into the top two.
- [00:41]
Landon Donovan
I mean, amazing is Hell's Kitchen because of the area in New York.
- [00:46]
Tim Howard
Yeah, it's because how she grew up and it's actually in that area. But yeah, it was a special show, this show.
- [00:53]
Landon Donovan
Wait, did you ever see Wicked?
- [00:55]
Tim Howard
I didn't supposed to be good.
- [00:57]
Landon Donovan
What about Book of Mormon?
- [00:58]
Tim Howard
Yeah, yeah, that's dangerous.
- [01:01]
Landon Donovan
I think I've watched that like seven times.
- [01:02]
Tim Howard
Book of Mormon, like, people told me it was wild. Like I can do wild.
- [01:07]
Landon Donovan
Gnarly. And the more you know about the Mormon religion, right? I dated a girl in high school. It was Mormon.
- [01:13]
Tim Howard
Fantastic. Maybe that's.
- [01:14]
Landon Donovan
What do you think of my sweater, bud? Look at this.
- [01:17]
Tim Howard
It's amazing, by the way. Like golf. Clap for it. Did you buy it? I asked you if you bought it.
- [01:23]
Landon Donovan
Fox gave it to us. It was like a. Whatever holiday present they gave us. It's cool. It's got my name on the back so I can't wear it out, but it's really cool.
- [01:32]
Tim Howard
I love it. Please, please just spin around. Let me see a little bit of the back.
- [01:35]
Landon Donovan
All right.
- [01:37]
Tim Howard
It's all stitched and everything. We got a great show today. This is going to be fun. We're going to, we're going to go a little off kilter, rip up the format a little bit and we're just going to talk about some interesting things about the show so far and things to look ahead as we end the year in football.
- [01:54]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. Should be fun. Follow social media at Unfiltered Soccer. Make sure you subscribe on YouTube, anywhere you get your podcasts, Apple podcasts, Spotify. If you like what we're doing, please leave a comment. It helps other people find us. You can also email us at feedback at Unfiltered Soccer. All right, so first thing to me, just a few questions. Let's go back and forth on this. What so far have you enjoyed about the podcast.
- [02:17]
Tim Howard
Well, this is a space that I love. You and I, you and I chatted early on in this process and we're like, what do we want this to be about? You know, and ultimately it's about talking a load of nonsense and fun and opinions on soccer, but more than anything, interacting with our fans and hearing what fans of soccer and fans of this podcast want to hear. Like, the real stuff. Like, we absolutely. The way that media works now, you're getting all the scores and highlights right at your fingertips. As soon as you wake up, you roll over, check your phone, check your favorite teams. But we can actually use this space and the time to dig into, like, issues that are on the tip of everybody's tongue and the front of mind. So I've enjoyed that. I've enjoyed not always agreeing with you, but with respect, always back and forth, banter and debate, but most importantly, the fans. It's just awesome to hear their feedback.
- [03:11]
Landon Donovan
I have to say, man, I've been really surprised at the reaction. Um, when I was at MLS cup, there were a lot of, obviously all, you know, soccer people, MLS people, et cetera. Almost every single one of them came up unsolicited and just said, hey, I'm loving listening to the podcast. And I'm like, you're listening to this podcast? These are people, like, in MLS circle. I'm like, why the hell you listen? But I guess the reality is is people can't. They've said to me, we can't go anywhere where people can just give an honest opinion.
- [03:41]
Tim Howard
Sure.
- [03:42]
Landon Donovan
There's so many things they say. I'm so glad you said that about him or that team or. Because nobody will say it, but it's so true.
- [03:49]
Tim Howard
Yeah, right.
- [03:49]
Landon Donovan
And they're saying. So that's been really fun for me. I had my buddy that I golf with yesterday, I had no idea. He said, I'm loving listening to the podcast. And I said, okay, well, give me some feedback. What do you want to hear more of? What do you want to hear less of? He actually said something interesting. And you and I have debated this. He said, I want to hear more stories about, like, can you guys do a time, an episode on your time at Everton? And just everything that happened, how it happened, everything that went down beyond the scenes. So we're taking note of all, all that guys. Totally. And, you know, whatever you guys want to hear, we're going to talk about. So, you know, really fun.
- [04:20]
Tim Howard
I think the other fun part about LD is, like, when I think about some topics that we, We've touched on but we're going to get more into is, you know, even, even like systemic issues in the game, right? Promotion, relegation, the building of youth soccer in America, the pros and cons, like this is what everybody's dealing with. These are like high level soccer fans are dealing with this and moms and dads who have their kids in soccer dealing with it. And it's like, it's really interesting some of these conversations that we're going to be able to get into because they're going to be very, I think informative and, and I, I've talked to as an example, the promotion, relegation thing. I, I'm, I'm, I'm on one side of the argument. But you know what, I've had conversations as I mentioned, where I've been talked off that side to the other. So like I, it's so complex but also fun for, for our listeners as well.
- [05:06]
Landon Donovan
It's going to be great. It's a new way to help grow the game. So I think it's been a lot of fun and we'll continue. All right, we're gonna start do something a little fun today, the first annual, hopefully not the last annual, the Unfilties. So we got a few categories here and we will, we'll lay out some nominees. You guys feel free to chime in on YouTube, give us your comments on what you think, but we're gonna give our opinions and then we'll go from there. So first one, your favorite, I think Best Shithousery. Best Actor, Best Just Deceiving Deception. So potential candidates here. Jamie Vardy mocking Spurs fans over Lester's Premier League title. That was great. If you haven't, if you don't remember that, go back and take a look. Holland Holland getting the last word on Mark Kukara. Saw that earlier in the year. We have to throw in now a little bit of the Kyle Walker the other day.
- [06:03]
Tim Howard
Kyle Walker.
- [06:05]
Landon Donovan
Now there's been a lot of them and I'm sure we're going to miss some but.
- [06:08]
Tim Howard
Well that's what, that's what, that's what you all need to send us in. Some things we missed or your favorite shithousery moments hit us@unfiltered soccer.com look for me, if the category is going to be named Best Shithousery, I do think like your name is on the MLS MVP trophy. I think Jamie Vardy's name has to be on the trophy because like this guy who I played against, by the way in the, in the Premier League winning season of 2016. He just drinks Red Bull and is up for a fight. Like, that's what he does. His team's down 2 nil. No problem. He's going to run the line. He's going to be nicking balls off. He's going to go down in the box. Like, he. The fact that he scored and then. And then celebrated that. That with spurs fans and gave him a bit, like, I love that. I love that. Like, and also, by the way, like, it's Jamie Vardy. That's. That's what I expect from him.
- [06:59]
Landon Donovan
It's just fun to watch him because he's a guy who should never have been where he is.
- [07:04]
Tim Howard
No.
- [07:04]
Landon Donovan
Right. Like, the odds were so stacked against him and he doesn't care. He just. He couldn't care. And that's the best Hauser is when you just don't care. Yeah. Also, the. The one I just thought of was when Erling Holland. Erling Holland chucked the ball at the back of. Of. Was it. Was it the Arsenal game?
- [07:22]
Tim Howard
It was Arsenal game. Is it maybe Gabrielle or something like that?
- [07:25]
Landon Donovan
He grabbed the pot of the net, just threw it at the back.
- [07:28]
Tim Howard
Can't figure out Holland. Just can't figure him out. He's a machine.
- [07:31]
Landon Donovan
All right, let's move on to team of the year.
- [07:35]
Tim Howard
Yeah, this one's hard.
- [07:36]
Landon Donovan
Team of the Year. Right? Here are the candidates. The nominees. Bayer Leverkusen. People forget they won. They won the Bundesliga. Beating out Dortmund. Beating out Bayern Munich. Yeah. Spain at the Euros. I was there. They were phenomenal. US Women winning the Olympics.
- [07:53]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [07:54]
Landon Donovan
And then Orlando Pride, who would have gone undefeated all year. They rested their starters in one game, but then went on to win the NWSL trophy. They were phenomenal all year. So your thoughts.
- [08:04]
Tim Howard
Did you cover Spain at the Euros at all? No.
- [08:06]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. Many games.
- [08:08]
Tim Howard
They were. They were.
- [08:09]
Landon Donovan
They were scintillating. They were so fun to watch.
- [08:11]
Tim Howard
They were fun to watch without, like. Without massive names. Big names, but not the traditional. I mean, Bayer Leverkusen for me, under Xavi Alonso has just been so impressive with the young manager, playing progressive football, taking on German footballing giants in Munich and Dortmund, and did it unapologetically. Look, for me, for me, you know, because I get a vote. As I keep saying, it's our show. U.S. women's National Team winning gold. It's. It's so difficult because of the standard that they set it. If they don't win a gold medal or a World cup, it's. It's a catastrophe. Literally. The team gets ripped up and questions are asked and manager gets changed and.
- [08:47]
Landon Donovan
Like that's incredible that that's the standard now, right?
- [08:50]
Tim Howard
It's incredible.
- [08:50]
Landon Donovan
It's incredible.
- [08:51]
Tim Howard
And you know, when I, whenever I get a chance to speak to some of the women players just offline, it's, it's like that mentality of always number one going in and having to win. And then by the way, when you do win, it's like, yeah, that's kind of what you're supposed to do. Like it's, it's almost, it's such a thankless position when you set such a high standard. But for them to do it again and again and to kind of rebound, right, like to get back to the footballing summit. I thought it was, I thought it was awesome. Always exciting to watch them and doesn't, you know, my daughter who is, you know, as, as, you know, a soccer player and going to play in college next year, like we get an opportunity together to like cheer this team on and wear the jerseys and go crazy. So it's always fun.
- [09:37]
Landon Donovan
It is. It's remarkable what they've done and, and that's my vote too. And, and I'll tell you why. Women's soccer has caught up to the US national team, right. The rest of the world has caught up and in some ways had surpassed it in the last few years. There's a lot of talk internally and in U. S Soccer circles about what are we doing wrong.
- [09:57]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [09:58]
Landon Donovan
And Emma Hayes came in and by the way, Tim, she had like a couple months, not long, to prepare the team. Right. And we talk about how long it takes new managers. We're looking at Ruben Amarim at United, how long it takes teams to start to play in a certain way.
- [10:12]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [10:12]
Landon Donovan
And she made hard decisions. She left Alex Morgan off the team and she said, here's my front three. I got a few, I got a few reserves that were going to come in and play, but I'm playing the same team seven games in a row and we're just going for it and we're six games in a row, seven games in a row. We're just going to go for it and we're just going to win it. And yeah, I mean you talk about unapologetic with Xavier Alonso. I mean she just went in, it was her way and now all of a sudden she's just grabbed that team. They will do anything for her and now the future looks much brighter. And by the way, it wasn't a bunch of 33 year old women at the end of their career. There's a bunch of young women who are going to hunger for a long time. Yeah, right. So I thought they were phenomenal.
- [10:53]
Tim Howard
Yeah, I thought it was awesome. Moving it along. Biggest shock of the year. Now this category is interesting because there's a couple of things. Whatever shocks you is fine. Winning, losing, that type of thing. In the category we have Manchester City. Take that how you want. The fact that, that they've won the title last year, last season and now they're in the position that they're in. Nottingham Forest in fourth place in the Premier League. Massive, massive, massive shock. Chelsea in the Premier League where, where they are second chasing a title after just things being upside down for the last couple of years. Atlanta knocks off Inter Miami and Messi in the playoffs, first round.
- [11:33]
Landon Donovan
That blew our mind, but.
- [11:35]
Tim Howard
Blew our mind. No one saw that coming. San Marino, the lowest ranked FIFA national team breaks a 20 year losing streak. What I'm like, I'm reading that, I'm.
- [11:44]
Landon Donovan
Thinking when they take the zero, I was like, what if it was a.
- [11:48]
Tim Howard
Two year losing streak? We'd think it was good. 20 year losing streak.
- [11:50]
Landon Donovan
Crazy.
- [11:50]
Tim Howard
In a one nil win over Lichtenstein. So talk to me.
- [11:56]
Landon Donovan
Well, look, there's a lot of shocks here. I'm just like, I'm still reading this. 20 years, it's amazing. Of losing. 20 years. Can you imagine? I mean, there's probably guys on that played there for 12, 14, 15, 20 years of losing. So San Marino, congrats to you. You get my, my award for biggest shock. You're the first unfilty for biggest shock. Congrats on winning a game against Lichtenstein. Poor Liechtenstein for sure.
- [12:23]
Tim Howard
You take it, you have it. Your biggest shot.
- [12:26]
Landon Donovan
It's all yours. All right, biggest. We're going to call this biggest red card of the year or biggest fail. So it doesn't have to be a literal red card. It could be. We've got a couple on here.
- [12:37]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [12:37]
Landon Donovan
You know, we're trying to rack our brains. How do we define biggest, etc. So literal red card.
- [12:43]
Tim Howard
Yep.
- [12:44]
Landon Donovan
Tim Wayes versus Panama. And that because there were a lot of dominoes that fell. Yeah, yeah, right. Obviously, Greg Burhalter gets let go. Pochettino comes in. I always say, Tim, in life, some of the worst things that happen end up being the best thing.
- [12:58]
Tim Howard
Sure, sure.
- [12:59]
Landon Donovan
You learn from them and you grow from them. So I ultimately think that was probably the best thing that could have happened. Maybe for Tim Waya personally and for the national team. He learned a lot from it. He's Been in incredible form since.
- [13:11]
Tim Howard
Yep.
- [13:13]
Landon Donovan
The other one we have on here, the Canada drone scandal. And if people don't remember, Canada got found out in the Olympics, women's Olympics, for having drones fly over their opponents field training. Field during training. And head coach Bev got let go. John Herdman, sense from Toronto, who was implicated, I would say. And all of that got let go from Toronto FC because he was the former men's national team coach for Canada. And if you talk to people again internally, they say they've been doing this for years.
- [13:50]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [13:50]
Landon Donovan
And I guess my first thing is like, can we just talk about this? What the hell were they thinking, Right? I mean, this is crazy.
- [13:57]
Tim Howard
Yeah. Look, the Tim Waya red card, as you said, you know, he's still a young player and that's such a big moment. And I know he felt it in a heavy way and he's bounced back and it's amazing how quickly you can mature from these things. So that's an interesting one. Look, I'm not sure the Canada drone scandal, it could actually fall in. Best shithousery. It really could. I mean, here's what I would say. Here's what I would say. Look, there's legalities and lawsuit. I'm going to say concacaf, don't you dare. Don't you dare start making scapegoats out of Canada. They might have done wrong. They might have done wrong. But you and I have been in Africa, Azteca. Yeah. We've been in El Salvador, we've been in San Pedro Sula, in Honduras, we've been in Jamaica. There's a whole lot of folks at our training match day, minus one that ain't supposed to be there. And they pretend to have other jobs around the stadium, but I can assure you there's one job that they have. So before we go concept, before we go picking and choosing who we're going to blame and who we're going to bring scandals upon, and yes, Canada, if you. If you messed up, then shame on you. And you should be dealt with. But deal with everybody conquer calf.
- [15:10]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. So, yeah. Right. So there's the CONCACAF piece. There's the FIFA piece.
- [15:14]
Tim Howard
Right.
- [15:15]
Landon Donovan
FIFA is going to. And FIFA, same thing goes. It holds true for you. FIFA.
- [15:19]
Tim Howard
So.
- [15:19]
Landon Donovan
But yeah, I mean, what people don't know is, like, when we travel anywhere, there'll be like some guy in the corner, like, fixing a brick in the stadium, and you're like, oh, that's great. He's here working on a Friday before the Saturday game.
- [15:32]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [15:32]
Landon Donovan
And next thing you know, he's pulling out a notepad, writing stuff down and like in your. Oh, wait, what's this guy doing here?
- [15:38]
Tim Howard
Yeah, you're paying your penalty. Gets saved the next day.
- [15:40]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, exactly. And the next day, goalie guesses the right way, I'm going to penalty. I'm like, what the hell? So there's all kinds of now deception that goes on in day before game trainings. You'll put out a different team and pennies you'll put out. You'll take penalty. Definitely take penalties a different way. Don't do set pieces the same way. But Canada took it to a whole nother level. So for me, that's a big red card. You just can't. I mean, how dumb are you, by the way, flying a drone over?
- [16:07]
Tim Howard
Well, they're just.
- [16:08]
Landon Donovan
If no one's gonna notice a drone flying over.
- [16:10]
Tim Howard
Yeah, right.
- [16:11]
Landon Donovan
So anyway. All right, last one here for the first annual. First annual Unfilties Best performance. Okay, Best performance. So we're gonna start May 4, 2024. Take you guys way back about seven months. Lionel Messi had a goal and not one, not two, not three, not four, but five assists.
- [16:33]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [16:33]
Landon Donovan
For Miami against your new New York Red Bulls. Tim.
- [16:37]
Tim Howard
Go Metro Stars.
- [16:38]
Landon Donovan
Yeah, that's number one. Yep. Number two, 16 year old Lamina Mal, who I watched at the Euros, had a goal and force four assists at a 16 year old. Tim.
- [16:49]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [16:50]
Landon Donovan
As a 16 year old goal in four assist and. And I wouldn't say led his team, but was a huge part of his team winning the Euros.
- [16:58]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [16:58]
Landon Donovan
And then finally Jose L. Scoring in the 88th minute and then again in 90 plus 1 versus Bayern Munich to send Real Madrid to yet another Champions League final.
- [17:10]
Tim Howard
Yeah, look, my take on all these is Messi, I mean, just keep doing what you're doing. Like there's no surprise there. Like we're giving you a nomination. But like also not surprised. What I am surprised at, look, the last two blow my socks off. Here's why. 16 years old, like, it was so hard. It was so hard for me to compete at the top of my game and to be motivated and not worry about the outcome and not be afraid because I was all of those things at 16, like on the biggest stage to have. I admire these young players. They have just. They just have so much freedom and it's. It's incredible what you can do. So that for me at the European championships is like one goal, four assists for Spain at 16 years old, pretty amazing. The Jose Lu one is personal because here's why I didn't know he still played soccer. And don't laugh. No, that's. Not to be disrespectful. I knew you were gonna. You're a bad guy, Jose.
- [18:03]
Landon Donovan
L. I'm a bad guy. You said it.
- [18:05]
Tim Howard
You're terrible. Jose Liu. We. He lived in my. In my neighborhood in Manchester. We went to the same gym, the country club gym, spa. And he was playing, I think, for Stoke City at the time, and he might have either come from or gone to Newcastle, right? And he was, like, at Stoke City playing sometimes, like, that's it, right? Like, end of story. And so that's not. He's a good. Good player on his day, but. Okay. Next thing I know, probably 10 years go by before I hear his name. This pops up, and I'm thinking, I called my mate, who was our trainer in. In. In England, and he was friends with him, and I said, tom, I just saw a Jose Lu.
- [18:42]
Landon Donovan
That's not the same one.
- [18:42]
Tim Howard
No, a Jose Lu scored for Real Madrid. He went, yeah. Expletive, expletive, expletive. Can you believe it? I'm like, that's not the same person. Sure enough, same Jose.
- [18:50]
Landon Donovan
That's incredible.
- [18:51]
Tim Howard
Maybe he gets the nod.
- [18:53]
Landon Donovan
All right, he gets your nod. All right, guys, that will end first annual Unfilties. You guys let us know who should win. What. What did we miss? I'm sure we missed a lot. Let's take a break. When we come back, we're going to preview what's to come for soccer in 2025. Some predictions, our ideas, right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim. Presented by Volkswagen.
- [19:21]
Tim Howard
The Unfiltered Soccer podcast is brought to you by Volkswagen, the presenting partner of U.S. soccer.
- [19:26]
Landon Donovan
Since 2019, Volkswagen has been on a mission to drive the future of the sport we all love. And VW is committed to making it more diverse, inclusive, and accessible for everyone.
- [19:36]
Tim Howard
They're not just talking about it, they're out there doing it. VW's partnerships, programs and soccer clinics are unlocking opportunities for the next generation of players and fans.
- [19:44]
Landon Donovan
As a longtime friend of Volkswagen, I've seen firsthand how VW are connecting with fans and driving the sport forward. From working with them on clinics to being part of their incredible campaigns, it's clear U.S. soccer is truly powered by the people.
- [19:57]
Tim Howard
Thank you to VW for being our presenting partner. Learn more about how VW are supporting U.S. soccer@VW.com hey, it's Emma Chamberlain.
- [20:06]
Landon Donovan
I designed these new glasses for Warby Parker, and I basically can't take them off like I'm showering in them and sleeping in them. They're just that good. Go see them all@warbyparker.com and you know what? Have a good day, too. Okay?
- [20:21]
Tim Howard
All right, bye.
- [20:23]
Landon Donovan
This episode is brought to you by Bleacher Report. How do you follow sports from college football to the NBA? Bleacher Report brings you the latest news, live scores and epic highlights from your favorite leagues, teams and athletes all in one app. Dive into exclusive shows hosted by your favorite athletes and original Bleacher Report series with breaking news, rumors and predictions all season long. Download Bleacher Report to personalize your coverage.
- [20:49]
Tim Howard
LD this is going to be a little bit of fun or a lot of bit of fun. 2025 preview segment. Right. So we're going to have a couple headlines which are real, and then we're going to have some fake headlines which we're going to have a ton of fun with and we hope that you listeners do, too. But the real part, this could be the last year of the February to October MLS schedule.
- [21:12]
Landon Donovan
Oh, boy.
- [21:13]
Tim Howard
I, I think I'm in favor of it. I do. I mean, I think, I think it poses challenges, Right. Geographically and with the weather, it's just, I think it'll be, there'll be some places where you're just going to have to accept that that's the norm. But ultimately it favors us as a whole in America to be on the FIFA schedule.
- [21:35]
Landon Donovan
Yeah. So there's, there's a few things to unpack here. So Garber has hinted at it. Commissioner Don Garber has hinted at it. I know internally the league has been looking at this very seriously. Currently, there are so many challenges with the way the schedule is.
- [21:49]
Tim Howard
Right.
- [21:50]
Landon Donovan
So one in the latter part of the season, you're going up head to head with the NFL, which is a nightmare for every sport. Anybody talking sports in this country knows that that is the biggest disaster. So the challenges are the weather. I think that's the biggest challenge. Every time I talk to someone at mls, they say it's the weather.
- [22:09]
Tim Howard
Right.
- [22:10]
Landon Donovan
The weather is the challenge in January, February, December, even March, whatever.
- [22:14]
Tim Howard
Totally.
- [22:14]
Landon Donovan
But I said this previously on our podcast. I think the league is mature enough now where, if it's, where if it's, you know, 31 degrees or 26 degrees or 12 degrees in Kansas City or Toronto, whatever, people are still going to come out and support the team. I mean, look, people have been coming out to Dallas and Houston at 103 degrees with humidity and D.C. and Kansas City and everywhere. Chicago in the summer. So I don't see that being that much different. I like it mostly for the players because it's really hard to coordinate international breaks with the way the MLS schedule is now. And it just, it would streamline everything. So I, I'd be curious. I'm sure they've done a study to, to monitor the fiscal impact and how much it's going to impact the league in that way. But I'm for it and I think it'd be great.
- [23:07]
Tim Howard
So the other thing, the other thing that I think it does is, is the American sports fan is so resilient, right? That like it will, it will then start to, they'll. They'll then start to believe that they have an actual home field advantage, right? Because you're like, oh, don't want to go to Minnesota. Oh, that's a good shot in December, right? And then people will, it's like when we play with the national team and we brought Mexico up to Columbus, people like started to really engage that. And look, the fact of the matter is geographically, I've never ever, ever understood why more teams don't build their clubs around the weather. What do I mean? You shouldn't be losing at home in Denver, you shouldn't be losing at home in Texas. Now you're going to lose at home. You shouldn't be losing at home in Toronto. Toronto and Minnesota and Montreal in the winter months. Like.
- [23:54]
Landon Donovan
Right.
- [23:55]
Tim Howard
You should build these teams to be resilient to the weather. That way you automatically gain this horrific home field advantage. So yeah, I think it'll be a good thing.
- [24:04]
Landon Donovan
Well, it happens in the NFL, right? I mean Miami Dolphins go play in Green Bay and they just can't handle it, right? And they can't do it and it's a big advantage. So.
- [24:12]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [24:13]
Landon Donovan
So the TFG takeover at our former club Everton, I believe is now final. I hope you know I'm, I'm like cautiously optimistic, Tim, because we've talked about this. The grass isn't always greener. And when Everton were a mid table club, top eight, top seven, top six club, the fans wanted more and more and we need to spend money and we need to spend. Okay, so bring in new ownership, spend more money. And now look where Everton are so cautiously optimistic. But what are your thoughts?
- [24:48]
Tim Howard
Well, look, I, it's. This. Is. This has needed to happen for a while, right? TF TFG has, has a task on, on its hands to, to rebuild the club kind of from the inside out. And what I would, what I would say is Any time you get a takeover because of how Premier League fans, English fans consume the game, it's like mana from heaven. It's like, okay, you're going to get a, you're going to get a Runway of like, they're here to do good, let's go. Now it's a short Runway, right? Because ultimately what we know about fans, particularly in the uk, is if they have a bag full of excuses and gripes, let's call them gripes, not excuses, right? If you're winning, those gripes stay in the bag. If you're losing, then it becomes about the stadium needs to be redone. We need a new manager, right? So as long as you're winning. Now that seems simplistic. What happened with Moshiri and I was part of the team when that transition of power happened from Bill Kenright, God rest his soul, to Farhad Moshiri and everybody at the time. And I say this because I was part of that culture. It was sell the damn club, Bill, sell the damn club. And Bill kept it. Yeah, I don't want to sell to just anybody because I love this club, right? And it's always about dollars. We get that. So he sells, right, to an ultra rich billionaire. And everybody at Everton was going, yeah, fast forward eight years later, seven managers later, three directors of football later, fines and sanctions because the money, the money that was, that they demanded be spent was spent and it was spent irresponsibly, right? So new ownership, they've got, they've got to build the trust of the, of the supporters. They get the new stadium involved in the deal and the package to transition the team from Goodison park to Bramley Moore, Doc. So that, that's good what I look at. And United are starting to get it right. Look, Manchester United, everybody's got something to say about them. They're on the tip of everybody's tongue. But Ineos is creating this hierarchy from the top down, from Sir Jim Radcliffe and Brailsford down. And I know they had, they brought in Omar Berata from Man City and they just fired or let go of Dan Ashworth. But the fact of the matter is they're building a sustainable structure between ownership and the playing and the playing staff. So they have their work cut out for them. I think Sean Deitch's contract is up at the end of the season. I don't think they'll retain him. Not because I don't like him and I, and I think he's a, he's a really good football manager and he and what he did, and you know, this over the last three years to steer this football club to safety has been. Has been football genius because, look, they were under sanctions, they got fined, they sat to sell, you know, some of their better players that couldn't bring.
- [27:40]
Landon Donovan
They couldn't bring points, right?
- [27:43]
Tim Howard
Got dot points. They have, you know, they have probably three top players and he got them to buy in. So, like, yeah, Landon, I think. I think their work is cut out for them. But it's sunnier days, certainly from where this club has been over the last couple of years.
- [27:59]
Landon Donovan
Well, let's hope. Let's hope it turns around. Club we obviously both love dearly and you spent a lot more time than I did, but I think our feelings for it are very similar. So totally. All right, let's move into. This is fun. We are going to do fake headlines. So these are going to be fake future headlines. What I'm going to do, Tim, I'm going to run through each one and I want you to tell me then, yes or no if you think this headline is going to hold up and you tell me why and then I'll give you my thoughts. Okay?
- [28:25]
Tim Howard
Okay.
- [28:26]
Landon Donovan
First fake headline will be in May of 2025 and it will say, Chelsea have won the English Premier League. Yes or no?
- [28:39]
Tim Howard
Not as fake as one might think.
- [28:42]
Landon Donovan
There's no levels of fake. Is it a fake?
- [28:44]
Tim Howard
There's level. Lots of levels of fakeness in this world. No, I. I think that. I think it could happen. I still wouldn't put them as my favorites, but I like them and I think that. Not a terribly fake headline.
- [29:00]
Landon Donovan
Okay. Now, would you say they are the most likely to challenge Liverpool, obviously right now, a few points.
- [29:06]
Tim Howard
Okay, yeah, easy to say now, but they're. They're not showing us any signs that they're. That it's. That it's fake.
- [29:12]
Landon Donovan
So, yeah, I really, really want to go out on limb here and say it's a real headline. I just think they're just a little young and immature. If this was a year or two from now, I'd say I think they could do it. It's a fake headline, but we'll see. Maybe it'll be real.
- [29:29]
Tim Howard
We'll see.
- [29:29]
Landon Donovan
All right, next one I got for you. FIFA announces another FIFA tournament.
- [29:38]
Tim Howard
Amazing.
- [29:39]
Landon Donovan
It is called the Intercontinental World Global Championship Tournament Cup. Do you think this will happen?
- [29:46]
Tim Howard
Wow. Wow. Another FIFA. The Intercontinental World Global Championship Tournament Cup.
- [29:54]
Landon Donovan
Yes. They were citing lack of funds at FIFA. They needed to bring in more money. That's the reason they.
- [30:00]
Tim Howard
That's Amazing. Here's the thing. That is the wildest headline ever. Other than the fact that, I mean, we. We need more soccer.
- [30:12]
Landon Donovan
Who needs more soccer?
- [30:13]
Tim Howard
We need more soccer.
- [30:14]
Landon Donovan
Players don't need more soccer.
- [30:17]
Tim Howard
Oh, my God. No.
- [30:19]
Landon Donovan
All right. Forget the. Forget the name. I love the brilliant name we came up with.
- [30:24]
Tim Howard
We have to. We have to.
- [30:25]
Landon Donovan
Is there a chance that FIFA somehow comes up with yet another tournament? Whether it's.
- [30:31]
Tim Howard
No.
- [30:31]
Landon Donovan
You know, we. We said no two years ago.
- [30:33]
Tim Howard
Yes. Yes.
- [30:34]
Landon Donovan
Nations League.
- [30:35]
Tim Howard
Yeah. Yeah.
- [30:35]
Landon Donovan
World cup expanded. I mean, who the hell.
- [30:38]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [30:38]
Landon Donovan
Right.
- [30:39]
Tim Howard
Other than the fact that I. I can't imagine there being another competition, but I didn't think there'd be another competition.
- [30:45]
Landon Donovan
A couple years ago would exist.
- [30:48]
Tim Howard
No, I'm glad it does, to be fair, but I know.
- [30:50]
Landon Donovan
I know. Slightly did away with all the friendlies. Yeah. Okay, Last one.
- [30:56]
Tim Howard
Yep.
- [30:57]
Landon Donovan
U.S. men's National Team fake headline. I believe I'm just going to say it right now. This will be a real headline.
- [31:03]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [31:03]
Landon Donovan
USA wins the Nations League and Gold cup double. Yes or no?
- [31:11]
Tim Howard
Not a fake headline.
- [31:12]
C
The.
- [31:13]
Tim Howard
The US Need. US men need to win the Nations League and the Gold cup double. They need it for morale. They need it for confidence. They need it because. Let me go on the other side of glory. They need to get to semifinals and finals of tournaments together in big moments to know what that feels like, because, again, we were beating this horse. There is no World cup qualifying. They need to be in those moments where it hurt, where that. That sour feeling in your belly when you wake up, because something is on the line that day, and your whole group needs to feel it. And. And there's not enough of those moments. I mean, when we were playing, it wasn't enough of those moments. And so I think if you look at the headline of them winning both the Nations League and the Gold cup, that means they will have gotten to those moments and surpass them. And so. And I think this team can do it under Marcia Pochettino.
- [32:06]
Landon Donovan
So.
- [32:06]
Tim Howard
Yeah. Excited for that.
- [32:07]
Landon Donovan
I think they will, too. All right, you guys let us know. Will Chelsea win the Premier League? Will FIFA announce another tournament this year? And will the national team win the Nations League and Gold cup double? You guys let us know. All right, we're going to take a break. When we come back, last segment of 2024, we're going to face off in a little bit of trivia that Jordan has for us. We have no idea what she's going to ask. I'm kind of scared. And then we're going to get into quite a few mailbag questions. You guys have left a lot lately, so we're going to try to answer your questions right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim, presented by Volkswagen.
- [32:51]
C
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- [32:55]
Landon Donovan
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- [32:57]
C
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- [33:00]
Landon Donovan
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C
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Landon Donovan
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C
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Landon Donovan
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C
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Landon Donovan
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C
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- [33:35]
Landon Donovan
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- [33:43]
Tim Howard
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- [33:48]
Landon Donovan
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Tim Howard
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Landon Donovan
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- [34:16]
C
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Landon Donovan
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- [34:51]
Tim Howard
Yeah, we are back. Listen Landon, this is everyone. This is what we're hearing. Everyone's favorite time of the week When Jordan, our wonderful producer, joins us for mailbag questions. But first, today, because it's the holidays, we have a trivia game. Jordan.
- [35:07]
Landon Donovan
I love trivia.
- [35:08]
Tim Howard
Yeah, I'm good at trivia, by the way. I'm just throwing it out there.
- [35:11]
Landon Donovan
Bring it. I love trivia. I love trivia.
- [35:16]
Tim Howard
Where's your Houston Dash at? Let me see. Is it.
- [35:19]
C
Have you sent it to me? Because I'm certain.
- [35:21]
Tim Howard
I'm certain it's on Santa's sleigh. I'm certain it's on Santa's sleigh. Just saying. All right, we'll get that up in the new year.
- [35:28]
C
So the trivia I have put together is actually unfiltered soccer trivia. So this is trivia from our. The episodes.
- [35:39]
Tim Howard
Yes.
- [35:40]
C
Okay, so you guys recorded the show. You should probably.
- [35:43]
Landon Donovan
I don't remember anything. I try to forget it.
- [35:46]
C
All right, all right. Are you ready?
- [35:49]
Landon Donovan
Always.
- [35:49]
Tim Howard
Do we have a buzz? Do we have buzzers? Do we, like. We have bells. How are we ringing in?
- [35:57]
C
I mean, you should just jump in with the answer.
- [35:59]
Landon Donovan
No, you didn't think through this very well. It's just like, whatever. All right, here we go.
- [36:04]
C
Okay, in our first ever episode, which two MLS coaches did you mention? I can.
- [36:14]
Tim Howard
Greg and Bruce Arena.
- [36:16]
C
You're half right.
- [36:17]
Landon Donovan
I'm going to say. When was our first episode?
- [36:22]
C
It was a million years ago.
- [36:24]
Landon Donovan
It felt so long ago. I'm going to say definitely Greg Burholter, by the way.
- [36:27]
Tim Howard
Definitely. Don't look to her for answers.
- [36:32]
Landon Donovan
I'm going to say Tata Martino and Bruce Serena.
- [36:37]
C
Okay, so you're both half right. Bruce arena and Jim Curtin.
- [36:45]
Landon Donovan
Oh. What Hurt. And Landon was so mad because he got fired.
- [36:49]
Tim Howard
Fired.
- [36:50]
Landon Donovan
Yep. All right, all right. It's hard.
- [36:52]
C
Okay.
- [36:53]
Landon Donovan
God. Out of sight, out of mind, huh?
- [36:54]
C
So you guys have half a point a piece. All right, here we go.
- [36:58]
Landon Donovan
Okay.
- [36:59]
C
On Monday, December 2, which is when we recorded an episode, who were the top three EPL teams in order and why?
- [37:10]
Tim Howard
That's the worst question ever.
- [37:12]
C
I know.
- [37:13]
Landon Donovan
Oh, oh. I know, I know, I know, I know.
- [37:15]
Tim Howard
Go.
- [37:15]
Landon Donovan
Come on, Liverpool.
- [37:17]
C
Yep.
- [37:20]
Landon Donovan
Arsenal, Chelsea and Arsenal were ahead based on alphabetical order.
- [37:25]
C
That's right.
- [37:28]
Tim Howard
That's my guy.
- [37:29]
C
Yeah. Proud of you.
- [37:31]
Tim Howard
Sometimes you carry us, and most of the time, I carry us.
- [37:33]
Landon Donovan
Sometimes this big forehead carries a lot of knowledge.
- [37:37]
C
Okay, next question. This one's really hard. I don't know if you're gonna get this one, but maybe, maybe. In what year did N.L. jackson write that all players taking part in England in future international matches Be presented with a white silk cap with red roses embroidered on the front. And these will be termed international caps.
- [38:00]
Landon Donovan
What a guy he was, huh?
- [38:01]
Tim Howard
Okay. 1800 or 1918.
- [38:04]
C
Yep.
- [38:05]
Landon Donovan
18S.
- [38:07]
Tim Howard
1883.
- [38:08]
Landon Donovan
I'm saying 1897.
- [38:11]
C
Okay, so Tim's actually closer. Was 1886, but he doesn't get a point. No points.
- [38:17]
Landon Donovan
No, you don't get a. No, you don't.
- [38:19]
C
No points.
- [38:20]
Landon Donovan
No. 1886.
- [38:21]
C
86, yep.
- [38:23]
Landon Donovan
All right, I'm up one and a half to half for those track.
- [38:28]
C
What made Marta's experience in the NWSL Championship?
- [38:33]
Tim Howard
Her mom coming to the game for the first time in America. Boom. You weren't going to. I just rung in. It doesn't matter. Yes, her mother came to the game, the final, for the first time ever, coming to America from Brazil. Amazing, amazing story.
- [38:47]
C
Okay, how many English players pulled out of appearing for their national team in November, igniting the ire of captain Harry Kane?
- [38:59]
Tim Howard
Nine.
- [38:59]
Landon Donovan
I was going to say eight or nine.
- [39:01]
C
Wow.
- [39:02]
Tim Howard
Tim, I told you I'm good at trivia.
- [39:06]
Landon Donovan
I was going to say it, and I say it.
- [39:08]
C
All right, Landon, come on. This is the last one.
- [39:10]
Tim Howard
You're getting house.
- [39:11]
Landon Donovan
I'm still winning one and a half.
- [39:14]
C
To two and a half. Yeah. Okay.
- [39:16]
Tim Howard
Oh, God.
- [39:17]
C
All right, Landon, I. I know you know the answer to this.
- [39:20]
Tim Howard
You need. You need this.
- [39:21]
C
Okay, how many episodes of this show mention Ricky Poosh?
- [39:29]
Tim Howard
Jesus.
- [39:34]
Landon Donovan
That'S a really good question.
- [39:36]
Tim Howard
Three is my answer.
- [39:38]
C
Three is wrong.
- [39:38]
Tim Howard
You don't like the answer?
- [39:41]
C
Come on, Landon.
- [39:42]
Tim Howard
I just. See, I just helped you.
- [39:43]
Landon Donovan
I'm gonna say two.
- [39:45]
C
Five.
- [39:47]
Tim Howard
Oh, my God. That's too many. It's too many.
- [39:50]
C
The only time you have not mentioned Ricky Pooj. Because we just did now, was last week.
- [39:55]
Tim Howard
Oh, you know, I. I'm. You know what? I'm. I'm an investor in the Houston Dynamo and Dash. And I'm going to speak to our bosses because this is completely slanted towards Galaxy, and you've done something in your contract five times.
- [40:11]
Landon Donovan
Hey, listen, pal, if you want your players names mentioned, then win some troubles.
- [40:17]
Tim Howard
Next episode is all about Houston.
- [40:19]
C
I mean, I think we're going to have to do that since Tim technically did win two and a half to one and a half points in our trivia game, so. Good job, Tim. All right, let's do some mailbag questions. How about that?
- [40:30]
Landon Donovan
Congrats, Tim.
- [40:31]
Tim Howard
Thanks, brother.
- [40:34]
Landon Donovan
Five.
- [40:34]
C
Wow.
- [40:35]
Tim Howard
Five. That's you.
- [40:36]
Landon Donovan
It's ridiculous.
- [40:38]
Tim Howard
Not the podcast. How many times it landed.
- [40:40]
Landon Donovan
That's ridiculous. Okay, go ahead, junior.
- [40:44]
C
Okay, here's A question from Xavier via email. As a professional athlete, how do you limit distractions from the media, rival opponents as well as potentially harming relationships off the field?
- [40:59]
Landon Donovan
Wait, say the first part again. How do we. Now or. Or when we were playing or does.
- [41:04]
C
I think he means as a, like when you were playing. So as a professional athlete, how do you limit distractions from the media, rival opponents and potentially letting it impact your relationships off the field?
- [41:15]
Tim Howard
Yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a brilliant question. You know, the answer to it is this. I, I don't think, I don't think you can be great or chase greatness or have be considered amongst the elite as an athlete if you don't sacrifice everything. I miss weddings and funerals and birthdays. I, I closed off from everybody on the, on the outside world, by the way. I'm not saying this is always healthy and I'm not saying it's always good. I needed to get to a level and I've experienced this with other players around me, where you, where you just create this bubble around yourself. You let very few people in. Performance wise, you have to go to these incredibly dark rooms in your mind to get yourself focused, to block all the other nonsense out that says you aren't good. There's a lot of takers out there. Right. And people fall victim to that. Because ultimately, with what I'm saying, and I know Landon agrees, is you isolate yourself to make those performances happen day in, day out. But then you're lonely and so you, you search for people to come to. Maybe you buy, you go to the nightclub and you buy them bottles of alcohol. You bring them on shopping sprees with you. You bring them on vacation. We see that all the time. And it's just simply to bring someone close to you. And those people are usually leeches. And so it is so hard. It's so hard. But again, you have. For me, I had to, I had to sacrifice everything. And not always proud of that, but certainly proud of the career.
- [42:46]
Landon Donovan
Yep. Same. And yeah, to get to the top. That's, that's just part of it. The media part's interesting. Like, Tim and I played in a time where social media wasn't as prevalent, thank God, because now anything you say or do is under crazy microscope. And so. And you're also just. If you, you could sit on. I could sit on Twitter today and read hours and hours and hours of people time here how crappy this show is or how big my forehead is or how you could just go on and on and on. And so fortunately we didn't have that. But you have to find a way and hopefully it happens quickly for young players now to just either stop reading it or just, you can read it and almost just laugh at it because actually you just feel compassion for these losers sitting in their basement like typing things on Twitter.
- [43:35]
Tim Howard
Yeah. And I also think to add to that Jordan and Landon look, I mean the question is brilliant when it comes to, you know, I put a lot of onus on and blame and responsibility on the, on the agents for not protecting some of these young players on the clubs. Now the clubs are doing a better job in terms of bringing in welfare officers and making sure that they have, they have people, men and women around the team, first team and academy players who are looking out for, for their welfare on and off the pitch. So that that's helped. But look, for me, the social media aspect is difficult and a lot of players fall victim to it. LD and the fact of the matter is I've always believed someone, someone buys a ticket and someone watches a game and that's what they get. They get a 90 minute experience. You give everything you have and if on a certain day it's, it's good enough, great. And if on a certain day it isn't, okay. But the amount of times that these athletes feel compelled to explain themselves and explain performances like they have to learn to let things live where it's going to be when they say something as long as it's thought out and maybe fact checked with their agent or their, or their manager or their best friend that they trust. Let it live out there like this. This constant Internet social media battle isn't healthy for players.
- [44:47]
C
Very strong answers. This one's from Johnny via email. What are some of your favorite books about the game?
- [44:57]
Landon Donovan
Oh, good question, Johnny. Tim doesn't read, so it's gonna be tough for him.
- [45:02]
C
Look at those glasses.
- [45:04]
Tim Howard
Got lots of books.
- [45:07]
Landon Donovan
Did you write a book? He has his Volkswagen. Oh yeah. You wrote, you read a book or you wrote a book? I'm in the process. This show is going to feature heavily.
- [45:16]
Tim Howard
I can write the forward if you, if there's enough coin involved. Keep going.
- [45:21]
Landon Donovan
I like a lot. I don't know if you read Soccer Nomics. That was interesting. I have read a lot of biographies or autobiographies, including Tim's. I'm trying to think what would be my favorite. Do you have a favorite?
- [45:40]
Tim Howard
Yeah. The Keeper by Tim Howard, still on shelves. You can get it. You can get it by Christmas Eve.
- [45:45]
Landon Donovan
If You, like, set this up, by the way, Jordan, did he tell you to listen?
- [45:48]
Tim Howard
Listen, I'll be honest. It's. The book I wrote is great. If you have trouble sleeping, if you tuck into chapter one about 10 o'clock, it'll put you right to sleep. My favorite book was Roy Keane's autobiography, and I think he wrote too. But he's one of the most fascinating, amazing human beings I've ever been around. One of the greatest players, top three that I've ever played with. I mean, I think the world of him on and off the pitch. And I remember having his book, and I was in the Man United dressroom. I was a kid. I was. The years I was. I was like 23 to 25 or something like that, 26. And I remember, I think he, he joked about having like, boxes of, of his books still, like in his car, in the trunk of his car. And I remember saying, like, kino, Kino. Can I, can I have a. Can I have a book, please? You know, he's like, he brought me the book in the next day and I said, could you sign it? He's like, to you? I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, to me, to me. So he signed it. But anyway, in that book he talks about, it's one of the craziest, greatest stories that I. Football stories, is when he tore his cruciate ligament making run the penalty area. And Alfie Holland, Erlen Holland's father at the time, stood over him and told me, get up and told him that he was faking. And a lot of people won't agree with this or think it's okay, and maybe I don't either, other than the fact that it speaks to who Roy Keane is as a, as a person. He spent a year, you know, eight months to a year rehabbing a cruciate ligament. And he comes back. And most of the time, for all most players and human beings, that the anger towards an individual would subside, right? And football, you want to get back on the pitch. And Roy lined Alfie Holland up and snapped his leg and looked at, looked at him, stood over him and said some things that maybe Alfie Holland said to Roy a year before. And he took his armband off, accepted the red card, and he walked off the pitch. And whether we like that or not, we're not teaching, teaching you to be over aggressive and snap people's legs. But the fact of the matter was he's different and love the fact that I play with him and have the book. Great book.
- [47:57]
Landon Donovan
The book, actually, yeah. That's a crazy story. The book I'm reading right now is Rest His Soul, Grant Wall's book. And it's not a soccer book, but there are a lot of soccer stories. So it's a lot of his stories, or it's all of his stories that he wrote and a lot of soccer stories in there that are really good. So that's what I'm reading right now.
- [48:18]
C
Nobody asked me, in my opinion. But, Johnny, if you want them, just email feedbackunfiltered soccer.com.
- [48:23]
Landon Donovan
I want your opinion. Go on, J.R. my list.
- [48:26]
Tim Howard
No, no, no. What are you reading?
- [48:27]
Landon Donovan
Keeper.
- [48:28]
Tim Howard
What?
- [48:29]
C
No, no. Because nobody sent it to me yet, so I don't. I don't have.
- [48:33]
Tim Howard
You got a book and a hat coming. What's your favorite? You read a lot of soccer books.
- [48:37]
C
In general, I really like soccer books that are about, like, culture and society and how football, like, kind of impacts all of that. So, like, how soccer explains the world. I think Franklin 4, right. Is the guy. Or Football against the Enemy by Simon Cooper. Like, those kind of things. But also, like, the first soccer book I ever read was Fever Pitch. Right?
- [49:00]
Tim Howard
Yeah.
- [49:00]
C
Nick Hornby. Like, it's just. People have seen the movie and think it's like a fiction thing. It's like a bunch of essays about how much he loves Arsenal and who doesn't like to just listen to stories about how much somebody loves their football club?
- [49:11]
Landon Donovan
So.
- [49:12]
Tim Howard
Totally.
- [49:12]
Landon Donovan
Well, not Arsenal, but. Yeah.
- [49:14]
C
No, not. Okay, so this is Evan on YouTube. What made you guys want to start a podcast together?
- [49:24]
Landon Donovan
We've talked about a little bit, certainly offline, but we wanted. We. We wanted to get into this arena for a while. We've both. I'll speak for both of us. We've both had many offers from people to try to get us involved in this world. We're both selective about things we do, and we both care about the product we put out. I think that was exhibited in our careers. And so we have the same agents, same agency, different agents that we've both had for a long time, and it all kind of came together quickly. Would you be interested in Landon?
- [50:03]
Tim Howard
Yes.
- [50:03]
Landon Donovan
Would you be interested in Tim? Yes. And we kind of talked through structure, format. You guys were involved in the process. Sinclair. And it just felt right. And I guess that's the simplest answer for me. It felt right in the right timing, leading into the World cup in 26. Giving people a place where they can ask questions like this and get really honest feedback in a way that they haven't before.
- [50:29]
Tim Howard
Yeah. I mean, I Think. I think the. The easy answer is this space is really, really an awesome space to be in. It allows. It allows for freedom of kind of connectivity and expression. And I think when it. More than anything, podcasts allow you to build a community. Right. And this is what we're. We're doing. It allows you to kind of have this steady stream every single week, and a touch point for. For us with each other and our listeners, but for our listeners and viewers back to us as well. Right. And there's this constant communication and collaboration. And, you know, when it comes. When it comes to talking soccer, it's. It's what everybody wants to do, and we're very fortunate to be a part of that. Also, you know, the logistics are there's a lot of podcasts out there that aren't done very well, and being a part of a good team is something Landon and I have always hung our hat on, on and off the field. And so when Sinclair came and said that they have the right formula to create a successful podcast and they wanted land and I, you know, the relationship between the three groups just seemed to mesh. So. Yeah, but most importantly, it's a community. It's the site. We're, you know, as we build this thing, the unfiltered soccer community is going to be the largest in America, and we're going to have the loudest voice, and so we're just happy to take that journey with you.
- [51:52]
C
I am really uncomfortable with how warm and fuzzy I'm feeling, so I'm going to move on to another question now.
- [51:58]
Tim Howard
You're welcome again.
- [52:00]
C
So this one. That's me. I'm the Grinch. I'm Ebenezer Scrooge. Um, this one's from Daniel via email. The U.S. men's National Team's second place finish in the 2009 Confederations cup is one of the greatest achievements in the program's history. To beat that legendary Spain team in the semis and go toe to toe against Brazil in the final was something special. How do you look back on that tournament now, and what was the magic in that group? You guys were talking about teams just before that allowed you guys to achieve what you did.
- [52:35]
Landon Donovan
Great question. So let me take you through. This is crazy how tournaments work. Okay.
- [52:41]
Tim Howard
Oh, yeah.
- [52:42]
Landon Donovan
So I'm going to start two. This might be a long answer. 2002 World cup, my first World cup, we lose our final game. Okay, so we have four points in the group. We win our first, tie our second, lose our third, we lose our final game. The only reason we advance out of our group is because South Korea beat Portugal at the end of their game. Otherwise we would have gone home. Portugal were the favorite to maybe even win the World cup, but to win that game, certainly, next thing you know, we beat Mexico, we get to the quarterfinals, and it's the most successful World cup ever. It all hinged on another team's results, or we could have been going home and it would have been a failure. 2006, lose our first game, tie our second. Miraculously, had we beaten Ghana in the third game, we would have gone to the next round. We end up losing on a really bad penalty call. But it all could have been way different based on one play. 2010 World cup, the Algeria goal. We are minutes away from going home. Instead, it turns into a successful World Cup. So just, just so people understand how tournaments work, in, in the US's case, it always comes down to a player too. So in that Confederations cup, our final game against Egypt, we had a minus. Correct me if I'm wrong, Tim, I think we had a six goal goal.
- [53:57]
Tim Howard
It was six or seven. Yeah.
- [53:59]
Landon Donovan
Six goal goal differential. Meaning we needed to win our game. And have Italy win their game. And a combined six goals change, we win 3 0. Italy wins 3 0. And that means we advance. Okay, so we shouldn't have advanced, we shouldn't have gone on. But we end up advancing and then we play Spain. And in my opinion, that's the best game I've ever been a part of for the national team. The best overall game we ever played against Spain. Spain hadn't lost in 35 games at that point. And we beat them 2 0, went to the final, we were up 20 on Brazil. They ended up coming back to win 3 2. But phenomenal tournament. But I just want people to understand, like, when you're watching tournaments, we're not a team that wins three games in the opening round yet we will be someday. But they all hinge on one play.
- [54:49]
Tim Howard
Yeah, I mean, great explanation in terms of taking us down that, that road. What I would say about the Spain game was, you know, when you're in, when you're in South Africa or depending on geography, you feel a million miles away, right? And South Africa felt a million miles away. Like, you know where you are on the map, but you're also, like, you're together in this hotel for a month and you just feel far away.
- [55:13]
Landon Donovan
Right?
- [55:13]
Tim Howard
And so there's so much camaraderie. And we barely, as Landon said, squeaked by getting the Egypt result. I don't think we were playing brilliant football in that tournament. In fact, I think we got battered in our opening game. But we go into this Spain game and now everyone knows like we're not, we're not under any illusions at a, you know, at the training table, in the training room, on the training ground, we know what's going to happen. Like we, we understand how great this Spain team is. And to just explain to the, to the listeners, this wasn't a fluke, like this Spain team didn't go, it's the U.S. we'll roll over there. Maybe they thought that, but they didn't perform that way. We hit them, we smacked them in the teeth and they didn't like it. And Josie, Josey was rolling. Josey Altador was putting world class center backs on his back and turning them and rolling them. By the way, it wasn't because they didn't decide to turn up. It's because Josey was strong. He was an ox. And on that day he gave it to him. Clint Dempsey, he was another one. He produced magic. I think Charlie Davis was on the team. We earned every ounce of that. And the craziest thing for me is in the moment explain to our listeners. You're try, I can speak for myself. I'm desperately trying to stay in the moment because I am. Feet fluttering off the ground, mind racing like we could do this. And I'm like, no, we haven't done anything like get back to the moment, right? There's still 25 minutes left. And then five minutes goes by and another shot go. And then you start to think, oh, we could win this. And this constant trying to refocus my mind to be like, stop thinking about this monumental achievement you're about to create and focus on the moment. And then ultimately I think the biggest, as amazing as that is, as players and land will test to this. People have been asking for the last 20 years, when's the US going to win a major tournament? When's the US win? That question is going to get asked 500-700-trillion million times over the next 18 months. We had a, we had a chance, we up to nil, I think against Brazil, right? With 45 minutes to go, we had the opportunity to be that team. And look, Brazil was just freaking incredible too. Right? But that's the takeaway is that that game was just so, so incredible because we, we shouldn't have been there. We shouldn't have been in that moment and we shouldn't have performed the way we did. But that's the beautiful awesome Okay, I.
- [57:36]
C
Only have one question left for you. It is from JR via Grumpy producer and she would like to know what are you looking forward to doing with this podcast in 2025?
- [57:52]
Landon Donovan
Good question. Well, for me, I'm still trying to figure out, and we're trying to figure out what you guys value the most. Right? What do you want us to speak about the most? What do you care? There are, when we, when we do our production meeting, there are 15, 20, 25 stories we could talk about and we end up trimming it down to things we're passionate about or think that are you guys are going to be passionate about. But we want to know what you guys care about. What do you want us to speak about? And I have anecdotal evidence and feedback from people I know. We read comments, you get your emails, but you can feel free to tell us. And if there's things you don't want to hear about, tell us. It doesn't mean we're going to always listen, but we want to, as Tim said, create a community here that is inclusive and everyone feels a part of. What I'm most looking forward to, honestly, is getting to go places and do this live together and in person and with you guys around, fans around. So whether not committing to anything, but I don't want to make Jordan nervous. Whether it's Nations League, Nations League, Gold cup, maybe go to a Premier League game, go to an Everton game, Go places and be there on the ground with you guys where we can do this live in a. In person. I think that'll just be. That'll be really fun.
- [59:10]
Tim Howard
Yeah. I mean, I think for me, that's it. To grow this show organically with our listeners, create that community. For me, two things stand out for the new year. Definitely want to do a live show. I want to take the show on the road. I want to be amongst our people. I want to feel that energy of what a live show is like, whether that's a Q and A or a moderated session or just landscape and I rapping and doing it in front of a live audience. I know what that energy feels like and I know it's going to be just awesome for everybody involved. So that, that's going to be a huge undertaking, but also one that again continues to build community. Get, get some merchandise out there, make sure everybody's waving it around. Excited about that. I'm also excited about, about bringing on again. We talk about how. I think we had a question recently, Jordan, about how do we continue to build this momentum of soccer in America and build this community. Like, I'm excited to bring on some cross cultural guests on the show, right. That want to get into soccer or have invested in soccer or have some sort of tie to soccer, but they're not soccer people and I want to hear what their journey is like and kind of share that with you all and get a chance to understand how far we have and that reach we have.
- [60:32]
Landon Donovan
That's really good. And Tim, I was just saying, as you were saying that when we were with the Galaxy being in la, obviously a lot of stars, whatever the two for me, I'm getting goosebumps talking, thinking about it now. We would have people come into the locker room sometimes after the game, mostly after David Beckham arrived because they all wanted to meet him, see him, sure. But I was a benefactor of that. But Wayne Gretzky came in with his son one day after a game, which was really cool. And then, God rest his soul, Kobe Bryant came in after a game one day and like having. You don't realize that they're soccer fans, right? But everyone has, everyone who has kids, almost all of them play soccer at some point. And the ones who really love soccer and are part of it want to be there and be part of it. So getting to speak to people I know, Patrick Mahomes, now with Kansas City Current. And it's just there's so many people now involved in the game, which is awesome.
- [61:27]
C
Well, this has been a lot of fun. Just as a reminder to anybody who's listening, you can email me at feedbackfiltered Soccer if you've got questions for future episodes or if you just want to talk about what, what these guys just asked you, like, what do you want to hear about on the show? Let's definitely talk about it. Leave your comments on YouTube and thanks to both of you for the seven episodes we put out so far. It's been, been a lot of fun. I haven't wanted to rage, quit my job just yet. So it's going really.
- [61:52]
Landon Donovan
You've had some moments. Be honest, you've had some.
- [61:56]
C
No comment. No, no comment. I don't know. Listening to you talk about these live shows and thinking about running around, oh yeah, the microphone definitely giving me some fear. But we've got the. We'll get through it.
- [62:07]
Tim Howard
We got. We've got the best listeners and the best production team. Thanks, Junior. Enjoy the holidays, Junior.
- [62:11]
Landon Donovan
Thank you.
- [62:12]
C
Thank you, guys.
- [62:13]
Landon Donovan
Well, Timmy, I was just actually thinking, how many episodes? Seven episodes. It's been awesome, man. Really enjoyed it. Wishing you and your family the very best for the holidays. Thanks to all of you guys for everything. Remember, subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify. I know I'm a broken record, but it helps people find us. Follow the show across all the social media at Unfiltered Soccer. Lots of bonus content, but thank you all. Happy holidays to all.
- [62:40]
Tim Howard
Yeah, thanks so much, everybody. And thank you to our presenting sponsor, vw. Have a great week. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa. Whatever you're celebrating, do it with love with your family and others. We'll be back next Tuesday with another edition of Unfiltered Soccer.