USMNT Players Injury Woes, MLS Supports Shield Race Tightens & Tops Off for Yellow Cards in the EPL

Summary

Podcast Summary: Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard

Episode: USMNT Players Injury Woes, MLS Supporters’ Shield Race Tightens & Tops Off for Yellow Cards in the EPL
Date: September 30, 2025

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Overview

This episode dives deep into the injury struggles facing key USMNT players, breaks down the intensifyingMLS Supporters Shield race, and explores recent drama in the Premier League—including yellow cards for goal celebrations and Liverpool’s form. Personal anecdotes, candid takes, and behind-the-scenes insights abound, wrapped in the signature banter and honesty of Landon Donovan and Tim Howard.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. USMNT Players' Injury Woes

[09:31] - [14:37]

• Tyler Adams’ Reception at Leeds: First return to Elland Road, met by boos; execs hinted at an acrimonious exit.
  • Landon Donovan: "Cry me a river, Angus. These clubs are ruthless. Players should do what’s best for themselves." (07:28)
  • Both sides agree trust and history with a club matter; otherwise, players owe clubs little loyalty.
• Gio Reyna, Ricardo Pepi, and the Injury Problem:
  • Concerns grow over key USMNT players’ reliability due to repeated injuries.
  • Tim Howard: "Your best ability is your availability." (10:29)
  • Donovan: Stresses injury prevention is a professional duty, details his personal investment in bodily upkeep.
  • Both caution that USMNT selectors may soon favor available, consistent players over higher ceilings.

Memorable Quote:
"I used to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on taking care of my body. That's part of being a professional." – Landon Donovan (12:11)

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2. Rising and Falling USMNT Talent

[14:37] - [16:14]

• Alejandro Zendejas: Now a USMNT regular, scored twice for Club America.
• Christian Pulisic’s Stellar Form at Milan:
  • Landon dispels rumors of Pulisic-dislike: “I want this guy to succeed at the highest, high. I am not his biggest fan, but I want him to succeed.” (15:49)
  • Both hosts express hope Pulisic’s club form transitions to the national team.

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3. Under-20 World Cup & MLS Young Talent

[16:51] - [20:32]

• U-20 World Cup underway; US squad surprising for featuring 16 MLS roster regulars.
  • Unique in world soccer for clubs to release young starters for international tournaments mid-season.
  • Banter around old-school U.S. youth national team travel struggles (“The hotels were barely built…” – Tim Howard, 18:33).
• Debate over when or if MLS clubs will start to refuse call-ups to protect playoff campaigns.

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4. World Cup Expansion: The 64-Team Debate

[20:41] - [24:38]

• FIFA considering further expansion for 2030.
  • Howard: "No. Too many teams."
  • Donovan: "I love it. I cannot wait to see Uzbekistan or Jordan at the World Cup. That’s amazing." (21:41)
  • Both debate: Does expansion dilute the quality or grow the global game?
  • Consensus: Only a handful of countries (“the big six”) are realistically competitive to win.

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5. MLS Supporters’ Shield & Playoff Race

[28:12] - [36:52]

• Key Results and Storylines:
  • NYCFC beats New York Red Bulls—bad loss for Red Bull, playoff hopes slipping. (Hudson River Derby, 28:12)
  • Matt Freese’s possible head injury has big implications for upcoming USMNT camp.
  • US national team goalkeeper pecking order questioned; lack of clarity if Freese is out—Howard: “I have no idea who’s next in line” (29:57).
  • Frustration at European coaches being asked to comment on MLS despite knowing little about it.
• Chicago Fire’s New Stadium:
  • Big boost with city council approval; could spur stronger club culture and attendance.
  • “Chicago is such a sports town…incredible success. They need that back.” – Tim Howard (34:25)
• Supporters’ Shield Table:
  • Philly top; Cincinnati, San Diego, Vancouver, and Miami close behind.
  • Miami advantage: games in hand; likely to go down to final day, increasing drama for fans.

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6. Top Performers & the Challenge of Young Players in Playoffs

[36:53] - [41:19]

• LAFC’s Son & Bouanga:
  • Scored the last 17 goals for LAFC—unprecedented partnership.
  • Both hosts agree Son is the "perfect MLS DP": still in his prime and drawing crowds.
• San Diego’s Youth Movement:
  • Their run may stall in the playoffs due to inexperience in the backline versus veteran playoff teams.

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7. Premier League Catch-Up

[41:20] - [56:04]

• Liverpool’s Late-Loss Syndrome:
  • Discussed ongoing pattern—are late winners evidence of grit or a sign of deeper issues?
  • Howard: “It’s glass half full… they’re not playing great, but are two points clear.” (44:06)
• Palace Unbeaten Streak:
  • 18-game unbeaten run goes under the radar, both impressed.
• Ekatike's Red Card for Shirt Removal:
  • Both agree: yellow for celebrating with shirt off is a dumb rule, but also that players should know better and avoid unnecessary bookings.
  • “Every time you see this… imagine ‘What’d you get sent off for, tough guy?’” – Donovan (46:07)
• VAR and the Salah Handball Debate:
  • Split on whether it was conclusive; both find soccer’s new handball guidelines murky.
• Manchester United’s Struggles:
  • After a heavy Brentford loss, Howard argues for patience—sacking the manager would just repeat a failed cycle.
• Arsenal’s Comeback at Newcastle & Set Piece Insights:
  • Howard offers a masterclass on defending EPL set pieces, stressing adaptability and the difference in officiating from MLS.
  • “Arsenal have become so good at set pieces… now teams need to counter the counter and change their setup weekly.” – Howard (54:59)

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8. Memorable Quotes & Moments

• "When they go low, we go lower." – Donovan on athlete/fan banter (02:53)
• "Your best ability is your availability." – Howard on player reliability (10:29)
• "Chicago is such a town...deep roots, incredible success. They need that back." – Howard (34:25)
• "He’s the perfect MLS DP" – Howard on Son at LAFC (41:17)

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9. Fan Questions: AT&T Fan Connection

[58:20] - [72:38]

• Jersey Swaps & Kit Logistics:
  • Both detail how many kits and gloves they’d typically use per season. Some clubs were very stingy with gear!
• Is Every Goal the Goalkeeper’s Fault?
  • Howard: "Goals come from compound errors…if someone gives me a hospital pass, the final decision still rests with the goalkeeper." (67:59)
• Life After Pro Soccer:
  • Both candid about lingering aches and the difficulty of staying motivated for fitness after retirement.
  • Working out is now much harder without the daily structure and often necessary for mental health.

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Timestamps of Notable Segments

| Topic | Timestamp | |-------------------------------------------------------------|---------------| | Hair system banter, preamble | [00:00-05:15] | | Tyler Adams, Leeds Reaction | [05:15-09:28] | | USMNT injury woes: Reyna, Pepi, general reliability | [09:28-14:37] | | Alejandro Zendejas, Christian Pulisic discussion | [14:37-16:14] | | U20 World Cup, MLS player release for youth internationals | [16:51-20:32] | | World Cup Expansion Debate | [20:41-24:38] | | MLS Update: NYCFC derby, Matt Freese, Supporters Shield | [28:12-36:52] | | LAFC: Son & Bouanga, San Diego’s playoff outlook | [36:53-41:19] | | Premier League drama: Liverpool, Palace, shirt-off yellows | [41:20-47:17] | | Arsenal-Newcastle, set piece masterclass | [51:15-56:04] | | Fan Questions: kits, blame for goals, post-career fitness | [58:20-72:38] |

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Noteworthy Moments & Quotes

• Availability is key:
  “It got to the point at Everton…I just wanted something in that physio bag to get me through the 90 minutes. The adrenaline will kick in, I’ll figure it out.” – Tim Howard (10:29)

• Set piece insight:
  “The thing about Arsenal, they’ve become so good at set pieces…teams need to counter the counter and change their system just for that week.” – Howard (54:49)

• MLS gear frustration:
  “Some equipment managers are so hellbent on keeping every jersey…I’d buy my own!” – Donovan (61:00)

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Episode Tone & Style

Conversational, often irreverent, peppered with veteran anecdotes and inside knowledge. The hosts are blunt, never afraid to disagree, and bring a genuine lens to issues facing American soccer. Listener questions are welcomed and sometimes roasted—always in good fun.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

This episode takes you from the personal sorrows of USMNT’s injury luck, through the high-wire race of the MLS Supporters’ Shield, and into the packed, controversial world of the Premier League. Whether you want analytics, personal experience, or just a few laughs at the expense of English kit managers or FIFA’s expansion plans, Donovan and Howard deliver.

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Follow-up:
Subscribe and follow @UnfilteredSoccer on your preferred platform, and don’t miss the next episode!

Transcript

[Landon Donovan]

So I went in for a consultation. I'm gonna get, like. They call it a hair system. It's to make us feel better. It's basically a wig.

[Tim Howard]

Amazing.

[Landon Donovan]

Women call it hair extensions. And, like, I'm nervous as hell, like, because I don't know what my. I don't know what I look like with hair.

[Tim Howard]

You're a different breed.

[Landon Donovan]

Just a few years of my life, I want to know what it was like to have. Before I die, like, what it was like to have hair.

[Tim Howard]

I want to know what it's like to be an NBA superstar. But I don't get that opportunity. We just saw you. I get the opportunity. Some things you're not blessed with.

[Landon Donovan]

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

[Tim Howard]

LD, my guy. What's happening? Welcome in, everybody, to Unfiltered Soccer. I'm Tim. He's landing. I have a question for you.

[Landon Donovan]

Yes, sir.

[Tim Howard]

This could be a long intro. I went to the Ryder cup on Friday. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. I had.

[Landon Donovan]

I forgot this.

[Tim Howard]

I had one or two. What are they? What is the golf drink? Transfusions.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, I've heard. I've never had one, but they were good guys. Get that.

[Tim Howard]

I had hospitality Shout out to Wasserman, our agency, for connecting me and having red carpet and all the fun stuff.

[Landon Donovan]

And I walked that invite, by the way.

[Tim Howard]

You didn't. But I walked the course. It was fun. I went with Robbie Mustard, my colleague. What do you like about golf? Because I. I didn't enjoy that.

[Landon Donovan]

You didn't like that?

[Tim Howard]

It was okay.

[Landon Donovan]

You just.

[Tim Howard]

I saw some good shots.

[Landon Donovan]

I appreciate sports, dude. I love sports. If you've ever held a golf club and tried to hit a golf ball and you watch what they do. Yeah, it's insane, right?

[Tim Howard]

But that's what I'm saying. They're amazing. I don't want to hold a golf club and hit a golf club because I stink.

[Landon Donovan]

All right? I don't want to dive too deep into this, but for people who. So the last day they play all the singles matches, right? This tournament. So the last European guy, Victor Hovland, couldn't play because he hurt his neck. So the. The resulting conclusion to that is they Europe gets to split that match so that each team gets half a point. And I'm thinking to myself, who the hell made this rule up, where if you don't play, you still get half a point, right? How's that possible? Yeah, in tennis, I can't play. I hurt my hand. Okay, we'll just say it was a draw and, like, nobody advances. Like, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

[Tim Howard]

Well, I agree. But also, can we end this by saying, from two guys who've taken a lot of stick over the years, shout out to Rory McElroy because the US got butt kicked and the gallery was giving him all sorts, you know, he did he. He gave it right back.

[Landon Donovan]

Did he?

[Tim Howard]

And that's how it goes.

[Landon Donovan]

That's what you do when you go back to Everton. Well, I do give it to you. You just give it right back.

[Tim Howard]

I love the thing about. Well, you're the athlete, take the high route. Nah, bro. Some of the things that get said to us, you're getting it back.

[Landon Donovan]

When they go low, we go lower.

[Tim Howard]

You'Re getting it back. Anyway, let's rock and roll.

[Landon Donovan]

As always, follow on social media, subscribe, YouTube, Apple podcast, Spotify, everywhere. You get your podcast. Leave us comments. I want to hear comments. So I posted something actually, just before the show. Tim. I told you guys this. So I tried the hair transplant. I tried the hair transplant thing. Didn't work. Yeah, I could shave my head. I don't want to do it. I'm just not. I know, but you have a bald and sexy. My head is ugly and like, it's just ugly. It would just wouldn't look right on me. So I went in for a consultation. I'm going to get like. They call it a hair system.

[Tim Howard]

This is amazing. For everybody's listening. This is amazing. Keep going.

[Landon Donovan]

So it's called a hair system. I know. We soften language. It's basically a wig.

[Tim Howard]

Amazing.

[Landon Donovan]

Women call it hair extensions, but I'm gonna go in on Wednesday and get it. Like, they put this adhesive on and then they put it on and like, I'm nervous as hell, like, because I don't know what my. I don't know what I look like with hair since I was 18. I have no idea.

[Tim Howard]

Wait, wait a minute.

[Landon Donovan]

No idea.

[Tim Howard]

We've gone so off key.

[Landon Donovan]

I know, I know.

[Tim Howard]

Wait. I don't know. It's good. It's adhesive. So you have to put that on every day?

[Landon Donovan]

No, it's like every two, three, four weeks. You go back in and they like, take it off, put a new one on. Because the hair will start. It's real hair. And the hair starts to die.

[Tim Howard]

You can shower.

[Landon Donovan]

You can shower everything. Go in the pool. Yeah. You can literally, like Pull it, yank it, and it won't come off.

[Tim Howard]

This is amazing.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, I'm gonna. If they let me, I'm gonna video it and take pictures so you can see the process.

[Tim Howard]

Bro, you. You're. You're a different breed.

[Landon Donovan]

I just want. Look, for, like, just a few years of my life, I want to know what it was like to have before I die, like, what it was like to have hair.

[Tim Howard]

I want to know what it's like to be an NBA superstar. But I don't get that opportunity. I get the opportunity. I get this.

[Landon Donovan]

So when, like, women get, like, hair extensions and all this stuff, like, it's.

[Tim Howard]

Oh, you just.

[Landon Donovan]

Why can't I? Okay, so my question is. And I asked you guys, and you guys had the worst, worst our production, what hairstyle should I do? Because now I could do whatever I want. I mean, literally, I could do whatever. So I just want to know what people think, what hairstyle.

[Tim Howard]

This is great. I mean, come steaming and over the top with haymakers.

[Landon Donovan]

I mean, don't. Stupid. I'm going to get the dumbest comment. Like, mullet and, like, all, like. No, like, what real hairstyle should I get?

[Tim Howard]

I mean. I mean, welcome to the cool kids club. Finally, you'll be a part of the club. All right, let's go.

[Landon Donovan]

Let's move on. Whatever. Okay, Jump right in. Us Mnt on us. Lnt Lots and lots of stuff going on this weekend. The first interesting one was Tyler Adams at leeds. They drew 1 1. Is that right? Yeah. Every time he touched the ball, the crowd booed him, which actually surprised me. I was like, oh. Because I didn't go into the deep details when he left, but it was really interesting. So that was his first return to Ellen Road. And then after the game at the time. Sorry. Lee leads chief exec Angus Kinnear. He said this about Tyler's departure. He said there are players who had the discussions when it was time to leave because they got relegated. So some players stay, some players leave. There are players who had the discussions and did the right things and did them in a timely manner. Then there were players who were perhaps led by their agents to employ tactics which will mean they're not on our Christmas card list. And he was referring to Tyler Adams and Luis Sinistera in particular. So I think. Can you. We've talked about this with the ESAC thing, and, like, what's the best. What's the proper way to leave a club? And what's your take on all this? Because I have a very, like, strong take on this too.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, well, listen, I tell you who doesn't care about this Tyler Adams because he care less. He's a boss. And by the way, as a former Manchester United player, the leads Ellen Road faithful are, in short, interesting. Let's say that, look, a chief exec has a job to do. Angus K has a job to do. If you're Tyler Adams and ends and. Or Sinistera and your team gets relegated and you have an opportunity to play in the Premier League, you play in the Premier League. I don't know what promises were made behind the scenes and also like, that's normal. That's how it goes. I don't expect players, I don't like when players down tools like Esac did over the summer. But that's kind of the way this is moving on the business side, um, I would imagine knowing Tyler Adams, he did things in the right way. It's kind of he said, she said situation.

[Landon Donovan]

For me, my thing is like, cry me a river or cry me a river, Angus. Like, there are so many examples, Tim, of these clubs being ruthless with players and couldn't care less about the player, their family, that they have to move, that they have to. They cut their salary, that they couldn't care less. And so the player decides, look, I'm going to do what's best for me because you're, you're going to screw me over anyway. So my. The only caveat, exception to that is if that club has earned your trust over lots of time. Like, you would have never done that to Everton. I would have never done that at the end to the Galaxy. We would have gone in, had real conversations and just said, look. And actually in 2013, I was on. I was not happy with how the negotiation was going with the Galaxy. And I said, look, guys, I don't want to leave here.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

But I will for the next couple years. And like, let's just, we're either going to get this done or not. But it was not like, go employ some tactics and go in the media and do this. It's like, now, if they've earned your respect, you do that. But for Tyler Adams, what does he care? Like, he needs to do what's best for him.

[Tim Howard]

So that's a good point. I actually, I, when I, when I was after, after nine and a half years, I remember Christmas going into Roberto Martinez's office and so I got for, like, this is my club, obviously, but I need to leave, I need to go home, I need to be closer. And he said, sure. Then he dropped my ass the next week and that was it. But I understood, I understood that.

[Landon Donovan]

You get it? Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

I couldn't tell him, gaffer, I want to leave. Even though I was more loyal to Everton than anything in the world, I couldn't give him that information. And then him go, okay, yeah, amazing. And he had to then go, okay.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, it's fine, fair enough, fair enough.

[Tim Howard]

I'll grant your wish. But then go sit over there. So I was like, fair enough.

[Landon Donovan]

So, so get over it, Angus. Brandon Aronson made his third straight start, which was great. He came off in the 87th minute. Seems like the crowd and the fans are, are, are liking his energy, his effort, which is good because it was a little bit of a change from the past. So that was good. Whether he's in the national team picture still, we'll see.

[Tim Howard]

It helps, I think it helps if he's, if he's, if he's starting playing.

[Landon Donovan]

Start in the Premier League. So we'll see how that goes. And obviously with camp coming up now, as we've been told, this is going to be the first real team and this is the team that's going to be mostly together going forward. So we'll see. Gio Reina was not in the Gladbacks squad. He has a thigh injury. What I was thinking about this morning, Tim, and this is falling into a little bit of Ricardo Pepe got subbed off in the first half with an injury. Ricardo Pepe's further along on the totem pole in the pecking order than, than Gio is, but these guys are becoming what I would say is unreliable. And whether it's through performance or mostly through injury or both in Gio's case, if you're a coach, like, you just need to know you, what you're getting and these guys are becoming unreliable and so I just, it's hard for me to imagine them continuing to get called in or, or in Ricardo's case, starting games if he's, he's not reliable in that way.

[Tim Howard]

I, I, look, this is not an indictment on Ricardo Pepe or Gio Reina. Both players who I really like. You know this because you and I played together for a very long time. It's, you know, I think the NFL started this saying like your best ability is your availability. And what I would say and, and you know, that you know the same people that I do at Everton. And it got to the point. And by the way, I'm not saying this because I'm Superman, but the availability part was always like right here was Always at the forefront. So there wasn't a. Yes, I had a high pain tolerance. Right. And so some people are just unlucky with. With injuries. I get that. But there was a part of me and, you know, our physio, I would just. There's nothing. There's. There's got to be something in that bag, that physio bag. There's got to be something in that medicine cabinet. Give it to me. Get me through this. 90 minutes. If I have to not train as hard or whatever it is, get me to that opening whistle and I will perform. The adrenaline will kick in. I will figure it out. I will not be injured. And by the way, I was injured a lot, but you didn't know it. And so, again, I'm not asking for a pat on the back. It's me telling some of these players, you just have to be available. You have to find a way. You have to find a way.

[Landon Donovan]

Okay, so this where we disagree on the unlucky part, because I don't think it's lucky or unlucky. There are moments, you know, I remember, like I was chasing a ball and I fell and I jammed my knee into the ground and had, like, a bone bruise that is, like, so pain.

[Tim Howard]

I couldn't.

[Landon Donovan]

I couldn't walk, so I had to come. But as far as, like, the muscle injuries and this is happening, this was one of my questions for you. So many guys on this national team are injured a lot, you know, do you think about it? I mean, they're just not available all the time. And so I don't know if it's a modern football thing. I don't know. But one of the things that is not. Is not luck, is how you take care of yourself. And again, I am not suggesting, because I'm not with these guys every day, but I used to spend. No, people don't know this. I don't share. I didn't ever share this public. I used to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, Tim, on taking care of my body. Pilates, yoga, doing structure alignment, the way I eat, the way I did things. Hundreds of thousands of dollars out of my. Out of my pocket to make sure that I was available. And I also took care of myself, right. Again, not looking for a pat on the back, but that is part of being a professional and being able to play at the highest level. And so I'm just wondering when you get all these muscle injuries, also being aware of your body, right? Like, what to do, how to train, how to, you know, and so it's just happening a lot, man.

[Tim Howard]

It's a lot. You make a good point. I was, I. I was similar. I'm curious about some of these guys. I don't know a ton of them. Personally, I'm curious about them because I was the same way. I think I oftentimes tell some of the younger players and it falls on deaf ears. But invest in your business. What's your business? It's the Tim Howard something. I'm my own business. So I had a physio and a massage therapist and a chef, you know, on retainer yearly, right? So like, yes, I was getting. I can go to the club and get stuff, but four days a week at home before bed, I was getting a massage, I was getting physio, right? And I wasn't asking for the club to pay for it because it was my career and it was important to me to be available because if I was available, I'd get all the things that I needed to get. So, yeah, it's an interesting point.

[Landon Donovan]

I brought a chef with me to Everton, by the way, but that was mostly. Cause the food in England is shit. Okay, Moving on to Liga Iemeccis, Alejandro Zendaya scored twice for Club America. This is a guy that's like been under the radar, but he scored with the national team in the last camp and he scored a phenomenal goal. If you haven't seen it, go watch. He receives a ball top of the box, a little bit shaded left. And I thought he's just going to take a touch and smash it. And he just dinks this little chip into the far post over this. So nasty. But he's starting to like. Well, he's been playing well, but he's starting to show up. And he showed up for the national team in the last camp and so don't be surprised if he gets called into.

[Tim Howard]

I think so. I mean, he's got some. He's got some real talent in the four areas. Certainly we saw he has, he has a nose for goal, but yeah, again, for me, completely under the radar. We'll see. As you mentioned with this, apparently from. From this point forward it's going to be, you know, what essentially the squad is. Is meant to look like. So we'll see.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah. And then the only guy hotter for the national team right now than him is Christian. And his assist on the weekend is so good. He receives a ball almost near midfield, like clips it around the corner, beats the guy to the. Gets the. Gets the ball before he gets to the touch or to the sideline hurdles past the next guy, dribbles into the box, and then rolls a ball across the box to the far post, which was like, you don't even see it on tv because you're like. You don't even know there's someone arriving there. And then he scored a goal to boot, and he is just at the. Like, at the very tip top. And I just want to address something quick. One of my friends texted me and they're like, landon, last week you were singing Christian's praises, and I thought you were like. I thought you hated him and I thought you wanted him. And I'm like, what are you talking about?

[Tim Howard]

That's just fans. Fans and friends.

[Landon Donovan]

I know, but, like, I want this guy to succeed at the highest high. This is why I'm disappointed when some of the decisions he's made, but because he has this possibility and I want to see that with the national team to take us. So, like, I am. I'm not as. I'm not going to say I'm his biggest fan because, you know, his friends and family and all that are. We all want him to succeed at that. And he is flying right now. So long. May it continue.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, listen, he's. He's. We've. We've said. We've said this all along, so. Tell you. What's your friend's name?

[Landon Donovan]

I can't tell him.

[Tim Howard]

All right, well, tell him. Tell him to listen to this episode and keep these receipts, because we have a lot of receipts. We've only ever said Christian Pulisic is a brilliant player. Christian Pulisic actually told us in a rebuttal, when he's on the pitch, he scores, which we agree with. Yeah, he's an incredible form. You know, Milan, top of the table in Serie A. Yeah, life is good. That's great. That's an amazing thing for the team. We all love us mnt.

[Landon Donovan]

Let's keep it going. And then in October, I mean, let's see that too, and just keep that form because we need that all the way through.

[Tim Howard]

Yep.

[Landon Donovan]

Yep. Okay. Exciting. I'm excited about this. This is off our radar, by the way. Under 20 World cup is now underway, and I was just totally. Until Andrew brought it up. I was like, what? So we're recording today. Monday. The US Plays tonight against a massive powerhouse, New Caledonia. If you don't know where that is, Tim didn't either. It's in the Pacific Ocean, but they get underway today. 16 of the players from this squad, 16 of the 21 are MLS rosters. Which I thought was very interesting, and it never happened that way in the past, which is very good. A lot of whom, by the way, play very meaningful minutes for the club team, which is an interesting dynamic. And I want to ask your opinion on this. Around the world, U20 players.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

Who are playing for their club teams do not get called into the U20 World Cup. Like, La Minamal is not with Spain right now.

[Tim Howard]

No chance.

[Landon Donovan]

No chance. So just this dynamic, will this ever shift? At what point will it shift where there are teams that are fighting for playoff spots with some of the players that are now gone. For the U, which is, by the way, I understand both sides, it's a huge opportunity for them. There's tons of scouts there. It's a huge opportunity. But will that ever shift where MLS clubs say it should.

[Tim Howard]

It should shift.

[Landon Donovan]

Not leaving.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, it should. I mean, again, we. To your point, I've been. I've been at clubs when we've had younger players, and. And the club hasn't even. The club hasn't even, like, returned the email.

[Landon Donovan]

They're like, what, 20?

[Tim Howard]

I'm jealous. I have to say, I'm jealous because my under 20. My under under 20 World cup was in 1999 and 1999. Yeah. 1999 in Nigeria.

[Landon Donovan]

Right.

[Tim Howard]

The hotels were barely built. Stadiums were like. I don't know, we would get stuck in, like, elevators because the electricity just wasn't working, you know? And. And, like, I think I left for Nigeria and my mom was like, all right, I'll see when I get back. I think she might have gave me a calling card or something. Nobody was watching this. Certainly. Certainly unfiltered soccer podcast wasn't covering it. So I'm a little bit jealous of these players, but we're going to give them some love. No, that's going to be New Zealand.

[Landon Donovan]

No, 17s was New Zealand. Argentina was my 20s.

[Tim Howard]

Oh, all right.

[Landon Donovan]

And we. I'll never forget. So we play. It was in Mendoza, Argentina, which is like the west coast. It's the wine country, right near Chile. And after we got eliminated, I went up. Oh, wait, was that. I think Mooch was our coach. No, maybe it was Wolfgang. No, it was Wolfgang Sunholtz.

[Tim Howard]

Wolfie. I know. Wolfie was my. My.

[Landon Donovan]

I went up to. I think it was Wolfgang. I went up to his room and we sat and had a glass of wine, after which I don't know why, but it was just like, good, dude, man. Oh, by the way. On the way home.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

I'll never forget this. On the Way home from Argentina. On the flight, a bunch of us had way too much to drink and we ate these empanadas in the airport.

[Tim Howard]

Before we got oh no, oh no.

[Landon Donovan]

And I woke up to like the flight attendant pulling me up to get up because I was passed out in the like in the bulkhead on the ground and went straight to the bathroom and just puked all over. So disgusting.

[Tim Howard]

People forget the use the U.S. youth Soccer Days when you're sitting in coach.

[Landon Donovan]

You know the bulkhead, it was right before the bulkhead. So there were like five seats there and I was just passing. There were like four of us like laying on top, like dogs huddled on top.

[Tim Howard]

I remember flying to different parts of Asia. You're in your khaki pants and red U.S. soccer polo, traveling to the airport with a backpack 20 hour flight and you're like, what? Good old days.

[Landon Donovan]

Okay, so we'll be watching that us again starts tonight. They play. I forget who's in. Oh, New Caledonia, France. Wow. And then South Africa.

[Tim Howard]

It's good group.

[Landon Donovan]

It's going to be great. Okay, last thing here. So we're the expanded World cup talks have resumed. And for people who don't know, Matt Hughes of the Guardian is reporting that FIFA is not planning to expand the 2030 tournament, but they are talking about going to a 64 team World Cup. And. And let's not. We can't speculate on what is going to happen or not. But what's your take? Should we do that or not?

[Tim Howard]

No. No. Why you shouldn't do it. There's too many teams.

[Landon Donovan]

Why?

[Tim Howard]

But why it's too many teams. I don't know.

[Landon Donovan]

That's not an answer. You can't just say there's too many.

[Tim Howard]

It's my answer. Like what per the good. What purpose does it serve?

[Landon Donovan]

Don't you know that FIFA is trying to grow the game? That's what. That's their mission. They don't care about money. They're trying to grow the game.

[Tim Howard]

I'm not being critical. I'm saying if there's money involved, maybe I don't like it.

[Landon Donovan]

Okay. I love it.

[Tim Howard]

You do?

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, I love. I cannot wait. This is going to sound so stupid. I cannot wait to see Uzbekistan and Jordan and hopefully some obscure CONCACAF team who's net Kurasa or be it playing a World Cup. I think that's amazing.

[Tim Howard]

It dilutes it ld.

[Landon Donovan]

It does like cares.

[Tim Howard]

You know that you don't root for.

[Landon Donovan]

Iona when they play Kentucky in the NCAA basketball tournament. Like, it's fun. To watch? No.

[Tim Howard]

A little bit. I mean, yeah. NCAA tournament, sure.

[Landon Donovan]

You just don't, like change. That's why you don't want me to get a hairpiece?

[Tim Howard]

No, I want. No, I desperately want you to get a hair piece. It's. I don't mind change. I'm just. I don't know. The World cup is like. It's like, special. And if everyone can get in. I don't know. I don't know.

[Landon Donovan]

Okay. So I want somebody to give me a good reason why. Because, like, even Victor, who I love, President of concacaf, Canadian, fellow Canadian. Montagliani, said the suggestion, quote, doesn't feel right and believes the expansion would damage, quote, the broader football ecosystem. Okay, but like, give me a real answer as to just did.

[Tim Howard]

He brought up. But it brought a real football ecosystem.

[Landon Donovan]

Right. What is that?

[Tim Howard]

I feel the same as him. It doesn't feel right. I don't know. It's just like. I hear you.

[Landon Donovan]

I think it's better for the sport. Look, there's so many. The World Cup's been only won by how many countries? Six or seven or eight or something?

[Tim Howard]

It's.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, so expand it. Like, I want more people to have the chance to be at the party.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, but it doesn't matter. They're only going to be there for a day.

[Landon Donovan]

But that might help them grow the money that comes into a country. Just give Federation.

[Tim Howard]

There's enough money in Congress in that money. I want to be part of a World Cup. Well, you got to earn that. Listen, I will say this, though, to your point, we'll probably get on this.

[Landon Donovan]

At some point this year, by the.

[Tim Howard]

Way, stuff to qualify. I do believe that, that, that the World cup winner can only come from six countries. That's my belief.

[Landon Donovan]

Ever.

[Tim Howard]

For the foreseeable future. Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

What are those six?

[Tim Howard]

So I think it's Brazil, Argentina, Spain, France, France, Germany, Germany. And then you're getting like, Italy, England, like Italy, slash, England. So that's six.

[Landon Donovan]

Holland or Netherlands. Maybe. Maybe.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah. Yeah. So I do. For the foreseeable future, I think that that's where your. Which is kind of wild. I mean, not wild. They're the best teams, but, like, you.

[Landon Donovan]

Can see a team. Like you could see the next tier of teams getting on a run, but then to win six or seven in a row, it's just.

[Tim Howard]

But you see what I'm saying, right?

[Landon Donovan]

No, I know. I see what you're saying.

[Tim Howard]

I think, like, if someone were to say to me, like, if I could get a bet in Vegas, that said, like, you can put however much money on the fact that one of these teams is going to win. I win that bet. 100% win that bet.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah. I don't know who else can win it. Not England.

[Tim Howard]

Maybe not. Maybe not.

[Landon Donovan]

Not England for sure. All right, let us take a break. When we come back, we will have some of this week's MLS action and the latest from the Premier League as well, right here on Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and presented by Volkswagen.

[Tim Howard]

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

[Landon Donovan]

As the U.S. gets ready to host the world for soccer's biggest moment, Volkswagen is helping people discover new turfs and new ways to play the beautiful game right here in the US from deaf.

[Tim Howard]

And power wheelchair soccer to beach and futsal, VW is actively supporting all the communities and teams within the U.S. soccer ecosystem. They've signed U.S. soccer talent from across the portfolio of the federation and will be helping to give these less popular forms of soccer a platform moving forward.

[Landon Donovan]

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.

[Tim Howard]

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 nothing better than feeling like someone has your back and that things are going to get done without you even having to ask.

[Landon Donovan]

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

[Tim Howard]

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

[Landon Donovan]

A keeper you know is defending your.

[Tim Howard]

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

[Landon Donovan]

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

[Tim Howard]

The AT and 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.

[Landon Donovan]

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

[Tim Howard]

AT&T connecting changes everything.

[Landon Donovan]

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

[Tim Howard]

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

[Landon Donovan]

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

[Tim Howard]

It starts with the people. The crew makes you feel seen. You're not just seat 31A and the planes. Comfy seats, mood lighting, fresh new plane smell, and hours. Hours of the best entertainment.

[Landon Donovan]

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.

[Tim Howard]

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.

[Landon Donovan]

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

[Tim Howard]

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. All right, LD time to chat some MLS. Hudson River Derby, New York City, FC3, the Metro Stars, otherwise known as the New York Red Bulls.

[Landon Donovan]

2.

[Tim Howard]

Jurgen Klopp was in attendance.

[Landon Donovan]

Oh, why?

[Tim Howard]

Well, he's global director of global football, Ambassador to the stars for Red Bull, isn't he? Rebel football.

[Landon Donovan]

Let me ask you this. Two days before he actually got on the flight to New York, had he ever heard of the New York Red Bulls?

[Tim Howard]

Of course. He oversees global football. Yes, he does.

[Landon Donovan]

Could he name one player?

[Tim Howard]

Better question because you're not answering. No, I'm not answering, but. No. But this is a better question. What you just asked me. Two days before he got on the plane to go to New York to see Red Bull, had he ever heard of the Metro Stars?

[Landon Donovan]

No chance.

[Tim Howard]

No chance.

[Landon Donovan]

Metro Donkeys. No chance.

[Tim Howard]

He heard about that.

[Landon Donovan]

All right. Bad loss, Bad loss for Red Bull. By the way, they're five points back now, Chicago for the last playoff spot.

[Tim Howard]

It's tight.

[Landon Donovan]

So that aside, I think for US national team fans, the most concerning moment of the weekend was that Matt Freeze came out with a. What we're assuming is a head injury. So that could absolutely impact his ability to get called into the next camp. I guess from a assume, Tim, right now that he does not get called in. Okay, let's knock on wood. Hope he's okay. But for whatever reason, he's not called in. He's in concussion protocol. Whatever. What happens? So who starts and what. Yeah, who starts? Will start as. And let's say someone starts and plays amazing in both games. Now what? I'm just playing this out.

[Tim Howard]

I don't know. I don't know. Because I don't know what the pecking order is for the U.S. men's National Team. I have no idea. We've got. We've got two guys in last camp that I.

[Landon Donovan]

Zero chance of that.

[Tim Howard]

I don't know if they're national team caliber. That's a lie. I do know. And the two guys that I think are in the top three hands down, Zach Stefan and Matt Turner haven't been in. So it's a great question. I hope Matty Freese. It's not too bad. But to. But hypothetically speaking, I have no idea. Zero idea. I'm right in saying that, aren't I?

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah. No, I have no idea. I don't know. I was just thinking. You've been in some. All these situations you've been in, and now what? And. And without speaking to Marisa Pochettino and asking directly. We don't know if we have to assume right now he believes Matt Fries is the guy.

[Tim Howard]

Sure.

[Landon Donovan]

Like the guy. But now if he's not in a camp, what happens?

[Tim Howard]

I mean, I'm guessing. I'm guessing Matt or Matt Stefan. Matt Turner or Zach Stefan would. Would play because you'd have to. You'd have to assume if there is no Matt Freeze, and he happens to be the front runner, which again, we. We think we're. We're. We're. We're taking an educated guess at Then. Then that would be the next thought, next option. But we don't know. Honestly, we don't know.

[Landon Donovan]

I guess we're gonna see. I hate. I have to say there's something I hate. And it's not Jurgen Klopp's fault. It's not. But I used to sit in press conferences. We would play Real Madrid in a friendly at Rose bowl or Chelsea or Barcelona, Man United or whatever. And inevitably the. The reporter in the room in the press conference would say, hey, what do you guys think about soccer in America and mls? And they'd be like, oh, it's growing. It's getting better. It's.

[Tim Howard]

And.

[Landon Donovan]

But they had no idea. I mean, they literally could not name any player. Nothing. They knew nothing about soccer in America. They just doesn't. So Jurgen Klopp was asked about MLS. He said, I'm 100% sure in five years time we will speak completely differently. The kids coming up, it's just all this General B. I hate this. It's not his fault. Starting playing soccer earlier, training, getting better the place where you can play and training, getting better everywhere. I can tell you the quality is really, really good. Good players, a lot of talent, high intensity. I think MLS has spot now. Let's work with it. I just get sick of people asking these guys question because they don't know anything about soccer and that's fine. It's not their fault, I don't care. But like I'm just, like, just.

[Tim Howard]

It's, it's a bit of, it's a bit of, it's a bit of lazy journalism as well. You know, like, it's like it's not on your club, it's not on the coach at Real Madrid. It's like, it's this concept of like you can phrase the question better. You know, you can actually be more forthright and basically say soccer in America is on the up and up. And you know you can, you can. As opposed to just this, this softball question of like what do you think? Because you're going to get that answer every time.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah. And it, it's just like, like why do we care so much what they think about. That's the other part.

[Tim Howard]

That's the other part.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah. We're trying our best man. Like we're getting there.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

Okay. So old school MLS rivalry. Not the hell is real that Columbus is probably more interested in. But Chicago Fire 2, Columbus Crew nil Crew are now 8th in the East. They've kind of been a under talked about disappointment this year because they've just expectation wise. Crew have been so good and Wilfred Nancy has been so good. They've had a lot of, a lot of injuries. But it's been, I think disappointing. But I think that's looking like it's going to be a preview of that playing game. Chicago, Columbus. So that, that'll be interesting. Bigger news, big picture. Chicago Fire just got city council approval to build a new 22,000 seat ownership funded stadium in the city. And it's in this like whatever this new development area is called. Have you seen the.

[Tim Howard]

I've seen the renderings. I've seen. It looks beautiful. Really, really awesome. I mean I hate having been a part of a franchise in Memphis again, USL that was trying to get a stadium built. We failed miserably. Trying to get a stadium built. Not our, not our fault. And I know how difficult it is. And so sometimes by hook or by crook, you'll just, if you can get approval, you'll do it. But like this concept that like, and I'm sure it was, it was well intentioned, but like to build that stadium out in Bridgeview. What was it called? I don't know who the sponsor is now.

[Landon Donovan]

It was Toyota at one point.

[Tim Howard]

At one point, you know, you build it in Bridgeview, which is in the middle of nowhere, takes eight hours to get to from downtown. And then like, there's no training facilities, so they built a field in the parking lot. I trained on that field. You might have trained it. Yeah. And you're just like, this was never going to work. And again, I'm being critical of people who got a stadium built, which. So it's. That's amazing. But like, Chicago is such a town, such a sports town. The Chicago Fire again from its inception in 1998 under Bob Bradley, some deep roots, incredible success. Like, they need that back. And this is pretty cool if it's downtown.

[Landon Donovan]

So in. Yeah. Playoff picture of Chicago. Chicago are game back now. Two points back. So they could, they could host that playing game. And in the past, him, that would be like, okay, it's. You don't have to travel. You got a little home field event now. It's actually like real money too, to, to fill up the stadium and have a game, a playoff game. So we'll see how that plays out. Your dynamo went down to Nashville 3 to 1. Tough place to place. Yeah, it's a tough place to play.

[Tim Howard]

Tough place to play for sure. Not great game.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, not great. And. And Houston on the outside looking in. Right. I believe right now. So let's hope they can get over the hump. Current Supporters Shield standings, Philly on top. Cincy four points back. San Diego two points back. Of that along with Vancouver and then nycfc.

[Tim Howard]

It's gonna be so tight.

[Landon Donovan]

And Miami. Miami have at least a game in hand. They have a game in hand on Vancouver. On Vancouver. And two in hand on the other. So they could make a climb. But it'll be fun to watch.

[Tim Howard]

I said this to you the other day. I said the other day, like, this is gonna go. I have a feeling the Sports Shield is gonna go down to the last day.

[Landon Donovan]

And like, right.

[Tim Howard]

And like that's what. That's the hope for mls, right, is that there's like you have three different cities where it's just like they're hanging on for dear life, you know what I mean? Like one game finishes and then everyone's like on the, on the phone and they put it up in the stadium because the other one's an injury time or something. So hopefully that's how it happens.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, Philly, I think avenged that 7 nil defeat to Vancouver with a 6 nil throttling of DC. I sent in the group text. New DC coach is getting off to a fly, flying start. That poor guy, man, he has no idea what he walked into. Just an absolute disaster for dc. Great for the union though. And again they are, they are looking down on everyone else. So it's theirs to lose at this point.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, it is.

[Landon Donovan]

Late game San Diego. A bunch of my friends went to this, actually lost at home to San Jose and just, you know, obviously I pay close attention to San Diego. They are, they're a team that's going to struggle, I think in the playoffs and I'll tell you why. They're playing a lot of young kids, particularly in the back, which is great and great for development and I think that is sort of their ethos and what they want to do and develop players and whatever. But when you get to real games at this time of the year, I mean, San Jose is just more experienced, especially their attacking players. And San Diego deserves something out of the game for sure. But these games are hard, man, and you just need players to make special plays. So they need Chuki Lozano to make plays, Dreyer to make plays. But I think they could struggle a little bit in the playoffs.

[Tim Howard]

You make such an interesting point because I think sometimes people forget, like you watch a game in the middle of the season, it's like, yeah, okay, you know, let's have some really good plays. But when it comes down to October, November, playoff time, it's like every second matters, every play matters, you're bigger. And so sometimes that's lost on the youth. It's like they don't have those experiences to draw from. So in the big moments and it's fine. Margins, right. And they don't have. And yeah, not to say that I'm not in favor of playing young players because I really am. But at these moments, but if you have the experience.

[Landon Donovan]

So like San Jose is a great example. My first year, I was the only young kid.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

And it was all veterans, like real guys who had played in real games throughout, so it was fine. And I was an attacking player, so I wasn't as reliable. But like playing starting a center back, you know, an 18 or 19 year old center back or left back. I mean it's, it's going to be tough. Playoff time. Seattle, Vancouver, drew 2, 2. Big story here. Brian White back, back two goals in his first two games back from an injury. So my question for you is, does he get called in?

[Tim Howard]

Well, yeah, let's see.

[Landon Donovan]

You know, Brian Pepys out now.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, Brian White is. Pepe's out. He's a player. When I saw him, like when I saw him play live in Houston about a month or two ago, his movement was, was good. It was exceptional. I just thought, I see, I see what the hype is about with him, but that has to then translate to the international stage. And it doesn't always, doesn't make you a bad striker. It doesn't always translate just because the windows open and shut quicker. Do I think he can do it? Possibly. Do I think he'll get called in? Yeah, I think the coaching staff and Pochettino and his staff will be looking at that because he scores goals. Right. And so I think you need to be given opportunities, particularly if you're scoring goals and doing really well in your domestic league. Yeah, you deserve an opportunity.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, I think he's not a guy we're going to rely on. Big picture for the national team, I don't think. But like give him credit, man. He's put together a few phenomenal seasons and deserves it, so.

[Tim Howard]

All right, ld, it's time for the unfiltered refresh. Sponsored by Coors Light. Choose Chill. Get Coors Light delivered. Go to coorslight.com USLNT all right, who chose Chill from this past weekend in mls? Give me. This is going to be hard for you. I think I know your answer and this might be slightly different.

[Landon Donovan]

It does pain me. But it's not just this weekend, dude. These two are unbelievable. Son and Buanga for lafc. Listen to this stat. This is crazy. They have combined to score LAFC's last 17 goals. Just think about that for a minute. The previous record was 15 and that was this season, by the way, Sam Surridge and Mukhtar from Nashville, which is wild 17. If you are an opposing team, don't you think at some point you'd say just get around those two and make someone else beat us? Right? But those two are. I remember when Son went there, I texted someone who played against them recently in MLS and I said, how is Son in person? And he was like, dude, he is so good. And I was just like, imagine now you have to deal with sun and Buanga coming at you. It's crazy.

[Tim Howard]

You know what, you know what sun is to me? He's the perfect MLS DP because he's got, he's got a lot left in the tank. You know, he's committed. He understands the weight of his country and who he is to them. And. And by the way, silky smooth. Can still glide past. Like he's literally.

[Landon Donovan]

And he puts butts in seats. It's like the perfect. He's the perfect.

[Tim Howard]

He's a perfect MLS DP everywhere.

[Landon Donovan]

Every stadium you see, just Korean contingent everywhere. And he, yeah, he's been the perfect mvp. So I hate to say it, you're right. But those two choosing Chill lately. So cheers to you two. Sadly, sadly for choosing chill. Okay, let's move on to the Premier League. Man, there are some tasty games this weekend. Nothing more tasty than Palace Liverpool. So we talked about Liverpool continuing to win late, right? And this time they got beat late. Right? Just give us your thoughts on the game as you watched and we'll get into the Mosala handball and the controversy and all that.

[Tim Howard]

Well, you know, Liverpool's so interesting because. Because of all the late goals and late winners, four or five of them coming after 83rd minute or something. Like there, there's something special in that, right? Like there's something, there's something where you say like this team is resilient, they're experienced, they're willing, you know, Slot said they're willing to run longer and harder, which is why they're getting those goals late. Which I agree with all of that. The other side of that, which I hadn't really, I had heard it, but I didn't really give it too much credit, which maybe is starting to come, come back is people were saying, the critical people about Liverpool were saying, yeah, but that just means they're not playing particularly good because they're having to like barely hang on and barely get results. So I take that on board, which is. And then it happened again, right? So they have to come from behind. They draw late on, and then palace get the winner. So, so then you can make the argument they're actually not playing particularly well as champions. So I tend to think it's, it's, it's good that they're scoring that goals because I do believe in that, in that theory of the resiliency and being able to be stronger and fitter than everyone else. But the fact of the matter is it's glass for me. It's glass half full with Liverpool because they're the champions. They've added some. They've added some real talent to the squad that they're trying to, you know, Ekatike, Virtz, Isaac. They've added some big talent in, in major areas and those guys haven't like hit the ground running. They're having to figure out how to fit into the system and how to fit into the Premier League. Not isac, but the other guys fit into the Premier League. So, yeah, I'm actually going well. Hang on. They're two points clear at the top of the table. They're not really playing particularly well, so that's actually a good thing, isn't it? Because they're going to get better, so we'll see. But I think it's good for the Premier League in terms of the balance at the top.

[Landon Donovan]

This is just a side note, which is a crazy side note. Palace are now unbeaten in 18 games, which is insane. 18 games.

[Tim Howard]

I mean, that's going back to last year, last season. And palace do everything quietly and I think that's actually a compliment. They're on an incredible run.

[Landon Donovan]

You mentioned Ekatike. So he got the reason he wasn't available because he got sent off in the Carabao cup for a game winner against Southampton and he was celebrating like he just won the World Cup. Took his shirt off. He was already on a booking, so he took his shirt off and got sent off it. Should this rule still be around this shirt? I mean, I don't know why they. I don't know what the impetus was to make this a yellow card. I mean, it is. Right?

[Tim Howard]

The thing about it is, is the. Did we not address this last week?

[Landon Donovan]

I thought.

[Tim Howard]

Well, we talked about it, but we didn't talk about on the show. It's stupid if someone made the rule. Yeah. And what was the reason behind it? I don't know. Look, if you.

[Landon Donovan]

Oh, you know, what was it because people were having like undershirts with like messages and. Right, sure. So just make that the rule.

[Tim Howard]

Like you can't have anything. My point is if you have. If, if you're wearing red or blue and you're on and your undershirt is red or blue or you're. Or you're just bare chested, it's fine if you throw your shirt up in the air, your teammate can go get it. It's fine if you have a slogan or if you take your shirt, you throw it in the stands, sure you get yellow carded. But to take like, you know me, other stupid celebrations I see every weekend, you know what I Mean, so, like, what? It's dumb. Change the rule. Change rule.

[Landon Donovan]

But, like, a TK has to, like, how. How dumb.

[Tim Howard]

That. I agree with that.

[Landon Donovan]

I agree.

[Tim Howard]

If the rules in place. Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

God, what are you doing? It's so. It is so embarrassing. Every time you see this, take off their shirt and the ref goes, sorry, yeah, yellow card, red card. And you just go, imagine sent up.

[Tim Howard]

What'd you get sent off for, tough guy?

[Landon Donovan]

So dumb. The Mo Salah. Handball. Just. What's your take on it? Is it a handball? Is it not? What do you think?

[Tim Howard]

Well, I thought it was a handball, but the. And we looked at it 18 trillion times and loads of replays and zoomed in and Var showed us some angles and we at NBC had angles. It's still not like, if you're asking me if I. If what I saw it barely nicked his hand, I say yes.

[Landon Donovan]

What?

[Tim Howard]

But I don't know if it's, like, overly conclusive because. You know what I mean? Because the more you zoom in, it gets a bit grainy. So I think it did, but whatever. I mean, in the end. And then it didn't matter. Right, Right.

[Landon Donovan]

So, yeah, yeah. It's just that it's obviously created a lot of controversy and he's also kind of getting pulled, so his hands kind of. But. But when you just look at it in real time, you're like, why is his hand up there? Can't put your hand up there because, you know, so. All right, well, whatever. Okay. Brentford at home battered United, three one.

[Tim Howard]

Boy, boy, boy.

[Landon Donovan]

This is the simple question. I mean, is it time? What do they do with Amaram? Is it time it. Tim, It's. I. I've been of the opinion, like, give him time he needs. Give him a transfer window. Give him to. But this is not looking good, man.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, I mean, I think the. The. So. So go back, right, 3:1. Brentford played really well. They deserve. They deserve the 3:1. When that's not a flattering scoreline. And then you go back to last week, and it was Chelsea, right? And so you're like, if Chelsea doesn't get a man sent off, they're up.

[Landon Donovan]

A man after five minutes. Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

If Chelsea is going to man sent off, you're like.

[Landon Donovan]

And they almost lost. They still almost found a way to draw.

[Tim Howard]

I don't know if United wins that game, right? So, like, there was just, like, sigh of relief, but, like, I. Yeah, I think Chelsea end up probably beating them on the day, right. Which again, shows. Shows us kind of where they are. And then and then Brentford. Look, I said on Saturday, silly me, before the game, that United had, like, in their next 10 games. Again, silly me, I was looking at it, trying to find a silver lining. So in the next 10 games, I was like, there's a. There's like eight games. Like, I see eight wins in there. This big one of them. No, I know, I know. Hear me out. I know, but I haven't won eight.

[Landon Donovan]

Wins in two years.

[Tim Howard]

I know, but I'm trying. I'm like, they could do it. They can go on a run. Because the run has to start somewhere. And, man. No, I don't think you sack him. I know. I'm calling crazy. I just. I think you have to. And there's been some dark days for Manchester United over the last 11 years, you know, or 10 years since Alex Ferguson retired. But, like, I think you got to continue to ride it. I know it sounds crazy, but, like, what are you going to do? This is what. Sorry, LD. So by default, this is what they've done since. Since Sir Alex Ferguson came and went. They. They pick a manager, they get the players, they get a new director of football and then they rip it up and then they go again and again and they do an experienced manager and then a young manager and an experienced manager. Yeah, like, what are you going to do? So let's fire him today. And then what? Let's go then. Get who? Because by the way, he was staunch that this is his system. He ain't changing. Go, give me the players to fit. So you know what he did? They went and got the players to fit this system. A nine, two tens underneath. The width comes from the fullbacks. That's how it works. I still think. Stay with it. They need two sixes, they need a goalkeeper. They need at least one or two center backs.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

And we don't know if Shesko is a real deal, so we have to wait. So you. So. So I still think you're five players away from. From getting this thing right.

[Landon Donovan]

It's at least one more window.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, right, well, at least two more windows. Right, so. But my point in all that, and I say it every week. Well, I don't say every week when. When a manager is on the verge of getting sacked or he's in a hot seat. I always say, in order to not get sacked, you don't have to be amazing. You just can't be this crap. Yeah, no, it's true. Like. Like Mangan. I don't have to do anything extraordinary. They do have to be Brentford, you Get what I'm saying? So, like, that's kind of. And if you don't do that, then everything I'm saying is like, yeah, the ownership's gonna have to have a look at this.

[Landon Donovan]

That was for those who follow football. American. That was the Miami Dolphins on Thursday night. It was like there was all this talk about, do they fire. What's his name? I forget a coach.

[Tim Howard]

Mike. Mike.

[Landon Donovan]

Mike McDaniel.

[Tim Howard]

Mcdaniels.

[Landon Donovan]

Mike Mcdaniels. Do they fire him? Do they da da da da da. Do they not Mike McDaniel. And they played pretty well against Iing as Buffalo. And so like, okay, they just weren't crap. They were competitive. So, like, at this point, pick up a few points here and there, win a few games. Just don't be. You just can't keep going like this. You can't. All right, Newcastle, Arsenal, Arsenal. This time came from behind, really, I thought, gritty, gutsy win by Arsenal. Not an easy place to play as, you know. And big time win for them.

[Tim Howard]

Amazing.

[Landon Donovan]

Especially with Liverpool dropping all the points.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, they had to. I mean, the pressure was. Was shifted on to Arsenal because it's like, you know, not only are they trying to keep pace, they're trying to. They're trying to claw back some points. And Arsenal lose. So then Liverpool lose. So you're like, well, Arsenal have to win. They go goal behind. And then, you know, it was a good game of football, I have to say. Really good game of football. Arsenal, Arsenal had some good chances. Nick Pope, the goalkeeper, played really well at the beginning of the game. And in the first half made a ton of saves. But Arsenal, you know, they, they, they keep going. They're one of those teams that, like, they're willing to take risk at the end of games. Not me. They don't take a ton of risk all game, which has been a criticism. But they certainly got some timely contributions. They're really deep, really, really deep in their fit. And that's something that Mikel Arteta hasn't had. He had. He's had small squads up until recently, so this is also a learning curve for him and for Arsenal.

[Landon Donovan]

I love watching games at St. James's part. Like, every time you watch a game there, it's entertaining because it's just, it just, it's. Every time they pan to the crowd, you're like, oh, it looks amazing.

[Tim Howard]

Favorite stadium to play, like, outside of. Like, like Goodison at the time.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

I mean, Newcastle's Newcastle, Man United. The best place to play.

[Landon Donovan]

Last thing on that game. So With Arsenal set pieces and corners, can you just walk people through? I love this about England because I hate it in mls. Wherever I was playing, a corner kick and you kind of crowd the goalkeeper to make it hard. And like if you nick the goalkeeper, touch the goalkeeper at all, the ref would always blow the whistle and give a foul and I'd be like, come on, man. Like. But in England they don't care. Like you. I mean you can, yeah, you can treat them just basically like any other player and they don't. They're not going to blow the whistle. So as a goalkeeper, how do you handle that? Like you're getting crowded bunch and you know the referee's not given. You know, you can't just like embellish something and get a call. How do you handle that? What do you. I mean what's the.

[Tim Howard]

As a goalkeeper?

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, as a goal. What's the counter to that?

[Tim Howard]

Well, I think as a.

[Landon Donovan]

Just pray.

[Tim Howard]

I think as a goalkeeper you have to be. You have to be really super strong. You have to, you have to be throwing people out of the way. You've got to, you know, you've got to redefine the ball and not get. It's hard but try and not get caught up in, in, in, in the mix because you know there's a ton of players in there. The referees, referees let it play. But the other part of that is you are going to be strong. You have to get. You have to be physical and sometimes get fouled and alert the referee to it. I mean, I think about the Arsenal set pieces and I always remember David Moy saying this and I chuckle. But it's true. We were always resilient at Everton, as you know. And on Fridays, for those of you who don't know, he'd basically name the team. On a Friday he'd tell Jimmy because it'd be chucking down rain, say, Jimmy, go get the big coats. Which basically meant we were going to stand around the 18 yard box with our coats on doing set pieces in the driving down freezing rain. But he would always say to us when he was really upset, he'd say it's one ball. So you're conceding goals from a corner, it's one ball. Go head the fricking thing. And when I look at Arsenal, like the thing about Arsenal, they've become so good at set pieces that they end up seeing. So what their set piece coach does is they study Newcastle. This is how Newcastle sets up, right? And then we're going to do our blocks, get Our runs. Do all the things what you need to do. And this is an evolution what teams need to now do, because everyone's so afraid. Right, Landon? So at the Galaxy, at the national team, at Everton, basically we go, this is how we defend set pieces. That's it. This is it. We put people in these positions. That's it. So you're giving Arsenal the advantage the week of the Arsenal game. You need to counter the counter and basically go, we ain't. We ain't defending. They're going to watch all week and they're going to pin us and block us because they think this is how we're defending. We ain't defending that way. This week we're changing our system, so you have to count it. And the other thing about Arsenal set pieces, which, which is. Which is. Which blows my mind. They have amazing. They have amazing delivery. Oftentimes with Saka or Rice, they're only. They're only aiming for one person. It's only ever Gabrielle. That's it. Everyone else is a vehicle to block. Now, every now and again, Saliba gets free. I'm not saying you don't have to mark, you have to mark, but this whole concept of like, Gabriel, yes, he's good and the delivery is good, but find out where he is, block him off and go head the thing, you know, And I love Dan Byrne, but if you look at, if you look at the goal, they concede and the guys are tired.

[Landon Donovan]

Jesus Christ, they're tired.

[Tim Howard]

But in the end, Dan Byrne, who's 6 foot 11, he doesn't get off the ground, right? So he's tracking him, he's pulling, he's holding, doing all the right things and at the moment of impact, he doesn't jump. So conceptually this is simple, but they're very good at it.

[Landon Donovan]

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

[Fan/Caller]

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[Landon Donovan]

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[Fan/Caller]

Ask your doctor about eglis and visit epgliss.lilly.com or call 1-800-lilyrx or 1-800-545-5979. This episode is brought to you by State Farm.

[Tim Howard]

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[Fan/Caller]

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[Landon Donovan]

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[Tim Howard]

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[Landon Donovan]

Seriously, it's $15 a month. 3. No big contracts. 4. I use it. 5.

[Tim Howard]

My mom uses it. Are you.

[Landon Donovan]

Are you playing me off? That's what's happening, right? Okay, give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront.

[Fan/Caller]

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[Tim Howard]

See mintmobile.com welcome into the AT&T fan Connection where we take your questions and comments and we respond mostly in a good way. Jordan, how are you? This is your time to shine. Welcome. Why are you wearing a Liverpool jersey? For what purpose?

[Fan/Caller]

Because I support my club even if they don't win.

[Tim Howard]

Oh, that'll Chestnut.

[Landon Donovan]

Oh, nice. Nice one. Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

Did you. Where were you watching the game this weekend?

[Fan/Caller]

I was home.

[Landon Donovan]

What was.

[Tim Howard]

What did you say? The moment Eddie and Katya chest sit down. Left foot volley. Bang bang. What did you say?

[Fan/Caller]

I don't think I can say what I said on this podcast, but no, you can.

[Landon Donovan]

We're unfiltered I.

[Fan/Caller]

A really good friend of mine who became a Liverpool fan as a way to, like, you know, sometimes people need a team in order to, like, get into a sport that they don't know. And he's been trying to convince me to become a Bills fan because I don't know anything about American football. And so he was watching and he texted me and he was like, what the actual. And I was like, yeah, wow.

[Tim Howard]

No, but you. You did him a disservice. You should have made him an Everton fan so he could suffer. So he can suffer.

[Fan/Caller]

The suffering is not necessary, guys.

[Landon Donovan]

It is.

[Fan/Caller]

It's not.

[Tim Howard]

It is. You became a Liverpool fan. Guess what? Everything's nice and comfy and cozy now. Some money. We win, blah, blah. No, you spent money in the. In the Brendan Rogers era. Tell the people. You spent money. You spent a fortune on Andy Carroll. The money was spent. You just stunk. You beat me.

[Fan/Caller]

And sometimes that's. That's true. Sometimes you spend a whole lot of. You guys were just talking about Manchester United. Sometimes you have a lot of money and you still suck. So, you know, why. Why make things harder than they need to be? I also think that if you have a friend who already has a club, like, assuming their club so that you can build, like, a group of people who really love a. Really love a club is fun.

[Tim Howard]

I know. I'm just mad because even those terrible Liverpool teams put a whooping on me. So that's just how.

[Fan/Caller]

I'm sorry, Tim.

[Tim Howard]

That's all right. Let's jump in.

[Fan/Caller]

Let's talk about some questions. Yes, these are kind of interesting questions. They're a little different than some of the questions we've had in the past. So this first one is directed at Landon, but I think you can both answer this question because it is about jerseys. This question is from Todd via YouTube. Landon, when you were in the Premier League, how many jerseys would you use in a city season and maybe speak a bit about the equipment side that soccer fans don't see? I see some players sign jerseys. They go for thousands of dollars, but other times, a player will just give one to a fan. Do you have a set number of jerseys from the team? Or, like, how does that work?

[Landon Donovan]

Well, first of all, mine did not go for thousands of dollars. If you check ebay, it's like $29.99 max. I do not have. I don't have the perfect answer because. Because it always depended on the equipment manager or the kit man, as they say. So, like, I used to have One in San Jose, we called him Monty. This guy was the cheapest, cheapest dude you've ever met. So I'd be like, monique, it's my best friend. I've known him since I was 15. Kyle Beckerman. Can I. Can I trade today? Go. No, mate. Like, no chance. No chance. Just wonder I'll buy it myself. And so, like, some. Some equipment managers are so hell bent on keeping every jersey. And it used to be a budget thing in mls, which is crazy to say, but literally that was like 100 bucks coming out of the budget. And then in LA, Raul Vargas, the man, the absolute legend's, been there since day one in la, literally anything I needed, he'd be like, what do you need? Give it to me. So how many would I go through in a season? I assume, like, you don't take the jersey home and wash it and bring it back. So I'm assuming, you know, pretty much the number of games, but I would always get a new jersey at halftime, too. I would change my jersey at halftime too. And I don't know if everyone does that.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, no, I'm. I'm the same. So. So in the Premier League, we were getting. You get, you get two shirts a game, right? I would always change it halftime as well. D. So first half shirt, put it in the, in the bin, take the second half shirt. So I always wear two. And then I would. I would not. I wouldn't keep my jersey after the game unless there was like some sort of significance or if I played well and kept a clean sheet. I don't even. I don't even know. Like, I. I would trade a lot. I would. I would oftentimes trade. Trade jersey. So if I traded a jersey, then obviously one of the two comes out and has to be replaced. But if there was any significance on the game, for whatever reason, if we, if we beat a big six team, you know, Arsenal, Man United, Liverpool, something like that, the Darby games, I kept. Yeah. I mean, for me, you would get.

[Landon Donovan]

Tim, you would. They would say, you can have two every game.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah.

[Landon Donovan]

You're allowed to keep these two.

[Tim Howard]

You wouldn't know. You wouldn't take two, but you definitely take one for sure. Every game. And then my gloves, my gloves, I.

[Landon Donovan]

Didn'T think I had.

[Tim Howard]

I use a new pair of gloves every game. Unless. Unless I was, like, on a roll. And if I, like, I kept a clean sheet the week before and I was like. But I. I probably went through. God, how many games this season? 4050 games. I probably went through 150 pairs of gloves with training and games.

[Landon Donovan]

Wait, would you. You would open the brand new pair for game day?

[Tim Howard]

No.

[Landon Donovan]

Or would you break them in?

[Tim Howard]

I break them in for two days.

[Landon Donovan]

But you wouldn't want to keep them broken in like a baseball glove. You need to break in like.

[Tim Howard]

No, because I could get one of these. Yeah, I could get them. I could get them perfect in two days.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

And then boots and boots. I try. I, I tried to keep my boots. Now we're both Nike guys, so your supplier will, will come out with new colors. And so I don't even know when what the cadence is every six weeks or every week. So I would try and stay with my boots as long as I could.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

But when they bring out new color, contractually have to wear. But yeah, that was boots. I didn't go through a lot.

[Fan/Caller]

I'm thinking you guys made fun of me the last time I asked follow up questions. So I won't be doing that anymore. So I'm moving on in my. This question is from Kimmy via email. And she said, as an outsider to the game, I always thought that if a goal was scored, it was the goalie's fault, as it is their job to block shots.

[Landon Donovan]

Right.

[Fan/Caller]

And logically, it seems that if the ball goes in, they didn't block the shot. I'm following you, Kimmy. So far we're on the same page. I am learning, however, that it is not always the goalie's fault.

[Landon Donovan]

No, it is.

[Fan/Caller]

Can you explain to someone who never played why this would be the case? It seems like a silly question, I know, but I struggle to understand, for example, how a field player may have done something incorrect that eventually led to a goal and there is nothing a goalie could have even done to try to save it. I will just, just say one thing. I feel like we talked about this recently with something that happened with the U.S. men's National Team, like why is Tim Ream passing the ball to the goalie kind of thing. So Kimmy, maybe go back and listen to one of those episodes of the show too.

[Landon Donovan]

Go ahead.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah. So there's millions of people who agree with Kimmy and they're in my.

[Landon Donovan]

They're in my direct message, say hundreds of millions.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, you your shit. I think. Yeah. I mean, I think the. What I would say about. As you, as you begin to grow in the game, and Landon and I are analysts and we understand the game and a lot of people do it a high level, you begin to realize that goals come from compound errors. So Every now and again, a guy's gonna pick up a goal, a ball, and go bang. And you're like, well, we can't really add any errors up that just happened. But if you start to look at. Tim Ream was a perfect example, right? That Tim Ream goal and land. And I talked about this. Not just Tim Reem and Matt Freeze, but if you go into a weekend and watch soccer, you could. You could rewind the tape probably 20 or 30 seconds and go, that guy missed that. That guy should have made a better decision. Bank goal. And maybe the goalkeeper's involved in that. And so goal. The majority of goals get scored based on compound errors throughout the team.

[Landon Donovan]

So.

[Tim Howard]

But yeah, that's the goal. That's why the goalkeepers have the responsibility and do what they do that their. Their job is to save the ball ultimately.

[Landon Donovan]

So. Yeah, and that's. I mean, because you were so good at it, and it's why you're on the number one soccer podcast in this country and other guys aren't. Right. But you. You can almost assign, by the way, this. I've been asked pretty much every question in the world. I've never been asked that question. Well, I've never heard that question asked. Phenomenal question. Can we. You could almost assign a percentage. Ish of blame, which would be, I think, accurate, because in a lot of cases, like the Tim Ream one we can use as an example, the first pass back to him, there's a lot of. You got to put a lot of blame on Tim Ream, but in that moment, then his decision making. Matt Fries. Decision making should be better. And then when the guy picks up the ball, there's not any real blame on that because the guy bangs it into the far post. But, like, you know, you can. In some instances, you say the goalie absolutely should have saved that. In some instance, you say 0.0 chance. And usually it's somewhere in between.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah. And you make a really good point just to put a bow on it. If you just get. Someone wallops the ball, if Atlanta picks up the ball against me and he just smashes it and I have no chance, there's no blame. But if there's a decision to be made, like in the Matt Freese case, if there's a decision to be made, if someone stitches me up, I'm in control of my decision making. Don't always get it right. And I might fail and make the wrong decision, but no matter what happens in front of me, I'm in control of my own decision making.

[Landon Donovan]

Right.

[Tim Howard]

So if someone gives me a horrible hospital ball back to me, right. I can say, well, you're dumb, you shouldn't play me that ball. But I'm in control of whether I try and control it, bring it down pass, or just lump it into the stands. So if that ball goes in the back of the net. Yeah, I can go back to the compound errors of like, well, he shouldn't have done this and he shouldn't have done that. But ultimately the last final decision rests with the goalkeeper.

[Fan/Caller]

Yeah, I. No, not going to do that anymore.

[Landon Donovan]

Okay. There are no dumb questions except follow up questions from Jordan.

[Fan/Caller]

Okay, so this is your, this is it. I'm only asking one more question and I've had it with the two of you. Josh, via email, says, and I think this is a lovely question, how are you guys feeling? You guys both have had long careers at the highest level. Are you hurting or are you feeling okay? And how much is fitness important to you now after a lifetime of having to stay at your maximum fitness, which I feel like, Landon, you just talked about some of that. Does that become ingrained or are you just done with it?

[Landon Donovan]

Such a great question.

[Tim Howard]

Thank you for caring about us. There's so many people, there are so many people who don't care about us in the soccer world. We get criticized all the time. We get yelled at by soccer parents. Yeah, there's so many things that happen. But thank you for caring. Landon.

[Landon Donovan]

Man, it's not just an age thing. It's just miles on your body too. And sometimes when I'm, I, I'm still look like I'm physically in decent shape. And so some people will be like, oh, why don't you do this? Or why don't. And I'm like, you have no idea how much it hurts. Like if I went and ran a mile today, just my whole body, but especially like knees and things like, like, oh, it just aches. And that's just a cumulative, your body just being worn down and worn out. What's interesting for me is, and it's a little different for Tim, but he, he was getting a workout, right? Like an aerobic workout too. But I was doing that an hour, an hour and a half every day for like 25 years. And when you stop that, and especially someone who's deals with depression and like, that is a huge piece of not feeling depressed is working out and having endorphins and getting your body going. And so when you don't have that built in for your schedule, it becomes difficult. Right? And My wife always knows. She's like, you need to work out. I need to work out. Because that part was just natural and a given, and now it's such a pain to, like, go work out. And, like, it's so boring and annoying, but it does suck to not have that built into your everyday life anymore.

[Tim Howard]

Yeah, I mean, I think that's. That's a. You know, the. The running part. So, like, I tell people all the time, like, so I stay fit. That's the. It's something that I. I love. I love to be fit. I have control over it. I work out every day. The. The running part, like, so I couldn't run a mile without. Without something either, like, popping or tearing, right? Because my. My muscle fibers are so. So broken down that literally, I can go. And then by the end of it, I can feel my calf doing this, and I'm like, that's. That's gonna. That's gonna go. So I can. So I can do. I can do bike and ski, ergo, and I can do tons of aerobic activity. I just can't run that pounding. My body is too broken down. And the other thing I'll do, which I found really interesting because I've had, like, two muscle tears from doing. One was playing, like, flag football with my kids, and one was playing soccer. Just, like, I jumped into, like, an adult league for one game, and that was it.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah.

[Tim Howard]

Right. But what I realize is any controlled movement that my body, that, like, if it's like a. A deadlift or a squat or any sort of, like, movement that I know my body, I'm telling my body to do, there's no problem. The second I get into a reactionary situation, playing basketball, playing whatever it is, and I have to change direction, bang, it's immediate. Like, within. Within 20 minutes, my. My muscles fatigue, and I can, like, I feel something pop. It's crazy. I start to be in control of all the movements.

[Landon Donovan]

So, in short, we feel like crap. We're whole.

[Tim Howard]

It was worth every. It was worth every second.

[Landon Donovan]

Amen. Amen.

[Fan/Caller]

Landon, I. Now that I have heard the two of you say this, I'm. I'm wondering if I should maybe side with you on the question of how many of the Lady Vols are going to start score on Tim in this penalty shootout.

[Landon Donovan]

Because here's the thing, though.

[Tim Howard]

It's four yards. I'm in control. I know if I'm going left or.

[Landon Donovan]

Right, and, like, there's a reason why he's the best ever. Like, the competitive. When I golf with people or do you think they're like, God, how do you, like, do that? Or, how did you make that putter? I'm like, dude, you just either have that or you don't. And he's got it, so.

[Tim Howard]

My money, Lady Vols, listen up.

[Landon Donovan]

Listen up, balls.

[Tim Howard]

I'm coming for you. You know when I'll be there. I'm gonna. I'm gonna. I'm gonna release the date, but you better be. You better be sharpening those tools. Are you gonna come, then? Are you gonna come to Knoxville?

[Landon Donovan]

I would love to. When is it?

[Tim Howard]

It's. I want to say.

[Landon Donovan]

You say Nashville or Knoxville?

[Tim Howard]

Knoxville.

[Landon Donovan]

I've never been to Knoxville.

[Tim Howard]

You'll love it. It's. It's.

[Landon Donovan]

I know. I want to go around a great.

[Fan/Caller]

Smoky football game, man.

[Tim Howard]

Let me check the schedule. I think it's going to be a Thursday, like the 23rd. Let me check the women's soccer schedule and the football schedule. We'll get you to a game.

[Landon Donovan]

Let's go. Would love that.

[Tim Howard]

And then Donovan at the Lady Vol's. Tim Howard, penalty shootout.

[Landon Donovan]

Wow.

[Fan/Caller]

I just like this because it means that Landon's going to come back and tell us what really happened.

[Landon Donovan]

Yeah, I mean, Tim will try to. No, you'll edit the video.

[Tim Howard]

I won't edit the video. I. I'm. Listen, I'm. I'm here for it, guys.

[Landon Donovan]

I will give you the real behind the scenes.

[Tim Howard]

You'll see.

[Landon Donovan]

Thanks. All right. Thanks, Junior. All right, Tim. Another great episode. Thank you all for being with us. Go USA Tonight against the powerhouse New Caledonia. Remember, as Always, subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, anywhere else. You get your pods and follow across all social media at Unfiltered Soccer for all the bonus content.

[Tim Howard]

Thanks, everybody. Another amazing episode. LD. Thank you to our presenting sponsor, VW, our Fan Connection sponsor, AT&T, our Unfiltered refresh sponsor, Coors Light, and our additional sponsors, Cafe Bustello and Virgin Atlantic. Have an amazing week. We'll be back in two weeks. Two weeks with another edition of Unfiltered Soccer.