Former professional club and international player, Broadcast savant, and mood aficionado @MikeLahoud joins us to discuss the state of VERDE and what notes we can take from recent USSF changes.
Suffering From Joy Podcast
MIKE LAHOUD on VERDE and USSF EP 068
[MUSIC] What an eye for Google. Devin Pia has, he wouldn't make the Cyclops jealous. >> Do I look nervous? >> No. >> What was your answer? >> Get his back, I'll get the ball out, get his back up, get his back up, get his back up, get his back up, get his back up, get his back up, get his back up, get his back up, get his back up. >> No, no, yes, he missed it. >> Welcome to the Suffering from Joy podcast. My name's Devin, a little bit of a weird week, no games, but plenty of news, plenty of coaching actions. We got a crack team together this week joining us. Seth, who knows everything? Seth, how you feeling? >> I'm feeling relatively optimistic. We'll take it. I had got woke up this morning by 60,000 Chicago marathon runners running down the street, so, you know, we can see people out and about and move it. >> Yeah, that's good, that's good. I went for a brisk walk and then maybe not quite a marathon, but you know, we'll take it. We'll get the blood flowing. Brad, how you doing? >> I rolled out of bed four minutes before we started podcasting here. >> Awesome. >> Good, yeah, so how was the fundraiser on Thursday other than the fact that you can't read my handwriting? >> Well, I don't know who could, Darren. >> Thank you. [LAUGH] >> Yeah, that was great, we raised, I think, close to $6,000, which was fantastic. We had a lot of fun, we got a lot of comments from people just saying that it was a blast and kind of a cool hangout to do. So, really, thank you for all this listening who came out and supported. Thank you so much, we couldn't have done it without y'all. And we've also been confirmed that, you know, for raffle tickets next time or anything else, that Riley is going to be writing Devin's name on the ticket. >> Yeah, so for those of you who don't know what we're talking about, Riley and I went out for the fundraiser. And I actually ended up winning a pair of game-used Brad Suver signed gloves. And they were trying to read my name on the back and neither Carrie nor Brad could manage it. And then they got to my last name and I was just like, oh, that's got to be me. >> Yeah, the V looks like an arm, man. >> Yeah, like, I'm not going to defend it, I'm just going to say it's usually a little more legible. It's not good, it's not calligraphy, but it's usually legible. But, you know, that's why we type everything now. >> I got paralegals for this stuff, it'd be nice. Scott, you actually went to the USA game last night and might actually have game stuff to talk about. How are you feeling? >> I do, I feel good. It was a really fun match, the weather was really great. This morning, it's nice and cool, went on a walk, got copy. I feel really good about my Sunday so far. >> Nice, yeah, and joining us today, actually, we have a special guest to, I mean, you're on a Twitter spaces with us, but I think this is your first episode episode. Michael Hood, how are you doing? >> Hey, I'm doing well, I'm just trying to digest everything that I witnessed alongside everyone else about the US game last night and trying to purge EFL League 2 games and information out of my brain. It's a lot of soccer, but, you know, it's worth it. >> Who are you watching in League 2? Anybody good? >> Oh, Knox County. They're my pick to get promoted this year, they, purely for the vibes, they have, like, the coolest players to interview and they have the 6 foot 4 striker from Africa who can't stop scoring. So, and it's been a long time for them to kind of get back to glory. So, didn't know that I would be watching Knox County. If you asked me in the summer, Seth, we've talked at Naziyam about who are soccer is going in this country, but, yeah, Knox County, the USM and Z. >> Yeah, and I mean, all of our welcome to Rex and viewers, I'm sure, will at least recognize the name. Cool, cool. So, we're going to kind of open format this. Like I said, we didn't really have like a ton of games. We'll talk about the US game, but I think we all want to jump into the obvious stuff first. You know, we had a little bit of a cooling off period. We had some time to think about the Roto Press Conference. You know, we're Josh Wolf. We're going to have Davey Arnow for a week or so, who knows how long that's going to last. And I think we all wanted to really ask Mike one big question here, which is, when can you start coaching this team? >> Let me run to the store and get a fake set of badges, and I'll put them in, and I'll put my name in the hat. No, this is big. And when I got the news, heard the news like everyone else, I was shocked for a lot of reasons, shocked that it took this long. Shocked just because whenever a manager comes and goes, it's always kind of a shock to the system. But, you know, I know a couple people who wouldn't mind coaching the team. >> Well, I mean, we're always open to ideas. I mean, anybody kind of jumping off the table or any, I mean, I'm sure if you had insider news, we'd already know about it, but yeah, kind of leads or anything that you would, or people you think maybe we should go after. >> I can't, one of them promise that not to reveal their names. So I'm going to check in with them, and I'm on the pod next. I'll see if it's okay to give them the green light, but it's a desirable job from the city standpoint, from the infrastructure standpoint, from the fan base standpoint, so I know a couple of people who are looking at it. >> Okay, good. No, I mean, that really a little bit helps us, and we'll go ahead and wildly speculate and take things out of context and do it fancy, right? >> But Mike Jubile, what Roto says, names that you wouldn't believe, which has been like his macho now for a bunch of different things, like, we think it's actually going to rise to the list of like, wow, like we're actually going to have like A.T. or coaches that are excited in this job. >> I find it hard to believe. I think that's what you say to kind of give it the wow factor. >> Well, I do think that he's very serious about raising the profile of the job. And when you look at Josh's profile as a coach, as a player, his profile is incredible from what he did in Major League Soccer, obviously, is tenure with the US men's national team. He'll go down as one of the most impactful strikers, and one of the probably most underrated players in US men's national team history. But he was a young coach, and this was, he was very green. This was always going to be a growing pains process, and 2022 was a lightning in the bottom moment for all of us. And it's something that I know I'll never forget, just being part of it from the broadcast team standpoint. But then reality set in, reality of being a young coach, reality of young coaches, not learning lessons and being slow to react. So if there's one thing I could see Rodo doing, getting someone who has a lot more experience, getting someone who understands Latin American culture. He has quite the role of decks of contacts. He can go to Spain. He can go through, obviously, through the city system and all their satellite clubs. So those are the two avenues I could see him reaching out to. >> Okay. Yeah, I mean, I'm getting excited already. >> Mike, you mentioned infrastructure, fan base, as being reasons why this would be a desirable job. What about ownership? What are the thoughts on ownership in the coaching community? Because I feel like that would play a monster role in a decision of who you work for matters. >> Well, the question becomes with ownership, who's driving this horse? Is it pre-court? Is Eddie Margaine? >> It's good to see the Minister of Culture in the Austin area at the UT game, not the USM&T game, which I was hoping he did. >> Well, the UT game was in Dallas yesterday. >> Okay, in Dallas, yeah, not even in Austin. No, just to see him involved in soccer is always a breath of fresh air. But that's my question is, who's driving this horse? Because if it's still Anthony, then you'll kind of see the pipeline of what direction this coaching search goes because Anthony's never been that sort of owner, but it's just going to sit on the sideline and not have his influence and not have his say in things. So, Eddie, well, start looking across the border and start looking in Mexico, because he has a lot of connections. He has a lot of stake in Wigamekis and Latin America. So that's always been my question in the last year and a half is, okay, who in the ownership group is the one that is going to be the biggest driver of things in this post Josh Wolf era. >> Did you think it was interesting that when Josh was released from his job last Sunday, that it was just pre-court in Roto out there, that there were no other members of the ownership team for that? >> I did find that interesting, but also my experience and I go back to Philadelphia Union where I felt like we had more managers than wins at some point. You know, it was a tough time when we were rotating through managers, like a roll of decks of cards. And once we got rid of Peter Novak, a lot of the ownership group took a backseat and the decision was made behind the scenes. And we were involved as players in kind of the communication of what direction they were going in, but it was only, I was trying to think of his name, blanking on the name of the representative from the ownership group. There's only one person that showed up to the match the very next week. And that had a pretty defining statement of, we're going to take a backseat. And this season, it's been a disappointment, the season's kind of been awash, and we're going to start reassessing things of what's working and what's not. And ultimately, they ended up getting Jim Curtin, who was already within the system, and the rest is kind of in history for the Philadelphia Union, but it's always kind of like that shock of silence from the ownership group after a big decision's made. It's like the hammer comes down, and everyone just takes a backseat, and they're moving and wheeling and dealing in the background. You mentioned other managerial changes while you were playing specifically some like a revolving door at times at the union. What is it like in the locker room, especially if it happens during the season obviously still a game to go with one coming up this coming Saturday. What's the response in the locker room, have you heard anything from the guys in Austin they're like okay we're ready for a change we're ready for a new voice would love to understand that. Well, I think in season's past you're always going to, and just being behind the scenes, yeah for sure, even last season I heard a lot of discontent, and that comes with when you're not winning game matches. It pisses everyone off, and a lot of the cracks that are there at any club. They then have a voice, and they then have a, wait a second, well I didn't like this that was going on in like the training, why are we doing this, why are we committed to this. And think the thing that, out of many things they ended up getting Josh into trouble. When we see this, if you're looking at the Berhalter coaching tree and it's very similar to Greg, it seemed like he was wedded to a philosophical style of playing more than he was wedded to what benefited his players on the field. One person who just reading his body language and being very candid, Sebastian's Ryucy looked like he was not happy, looked like he was not interested. And I think he is a blockbuster player, when he's engaged, when he's dialed in, he had an MVP caliber here he should have won the MVP in 2022 he's the sole reason why we made the run we did. When your star player is not happy, production goes down, and the thing that started this bad turn of form was the decision Josh made. And I'm sure marketing has something to do with it I'm sure some connection up top has something to do with it, but the decision Josh made to make Ryucy captain, that was the beginning of the end I thought for Josh Wolf. He is a young coaching decision because Sebastian is one of the leaders on the team but you could see a difference in Sebastian Ryucy, you could see him trying to do too much you could see him changing his game because now he has something else to think about and worry about before his sole purpose was to win games for this team. And so, yeah, just I mean just is the kind of fallout there's just there's just a lot to impact there with the Josh situation and kind of locker. Kind of talking about the ownership a little bit here. And I went to sort of like to part this like as a player, how much do you actually want like ownership involved like you know we have a lot of people are Dallas Cowboys fans and so you know like you get the impression like Jerry Jones would be calling plays if he could. Like from a player standpoint, do you want it to just be like the coach and kind of the staff and you never like hey you see the owner and your friendly but, or is it a little more like yeah I want the owner engaged and like coming down in the locker room and talking to you want to say after games and stuff like that. As a player, I never liked seeing ownership directly involved in a locker. Okay, good. That would be my answer to because because what is that communicating. Are we playing for the owner or are we playing for the manager of course you play for the owner because they're writing the checks, but I want to know what the manager is talking about because that's who I'm in the trenches with. And so around rivalry matches so Austin Dallas. Austin Houston Austin LFC when both teams are good. I still that's still a rivalry match for me that doesn't get enough kudos and Major League soccer. That's when I like to see my manager open cup runs leaks cup runs. Opening match of the season. playoff games. Give us speech. And that's it. Tell us you're proud of us. Tell us to make our head up and that's it. I was always turned off and when I see and hear that in clubs. I was kind of. Turned my head a bit and in puzzlement when I see ownership in there to directly involved. And Carl Antilotti, who's the greatest manager in the modern game. Sorry, Pep. Carl Antilotti is my guy. He talks about that in. What's made him so successful is that buffer between him, the sporting director. And the chairman or ownership. Is there's that respect of yes, you have access to the locker room. Yes, you have access to your players. But please respect that this is my my space of operating and this is a sacred space where there's trust and everything built when ownership comes in it changes the dynamic. And, you know, and so, yeah, I just, I've never been that big of an advocate for ownership to be so hands on with what's happening in the locker room on the field. Yeah, I mean, we had felt like we had that from the get go with wolf being whatever it was the third employee of the club and hired before the sporting director. So, I think there's a lot of speculation that maybe roto is going to be a little more in charge than, you know, obviously, Josh was hired before Claudia, he had no say in it, but not just in the hiring of new manager, but kind of in, you know, window to cut loose if that's needed. I don't know, do you have any kind of like views on, Hey, this is how it should be sporting director hires the manager and is responsible to the owner for them or kind of use on the whole situation. I was going to say I kind of had a follow up to a similar line of questioning which is how much of this do you think is roto's club now. Very much so, it's fully his club, because the blank plate. And that was always, that was always something that I found interesting. I think they call them New York City FC think I have to get it right because a lot of my coworkers. My CFC or New York City FC fans take that personally, but what he did in New York. He was able to have a say and have this streamline of conversation. That everyone's on the same page. And so, I thought, Claudia had his people. Josh had his people. And for one season, they were able to make it work. Now there's a blank slate and in roto we trust. And Rotos is a coach. His background as a coach, not a sporting director is his first time being in that role. So, it wouldn't surprise me if the search doesn't yield that diamond in the rough or that name that just jumps out at you and the deal doesn't get done then yeah. You could totally see him being more influential. And you look at that, what that, what's being parlayed by other coaches now, you know, a certain Greg Berhalter, sporting director and head coach, Bruce Arena, sporting director head coach Bob Bradley did that in Toronto. So, I think that's becoming the template of what we might be seeing in Major League Soccer moving forward of someone to be both sporting director and coach and you report to President and ownership. What were some of the likelihood would you see this coaching search ends in roto is the coach. Mmm. It's a good question. Well, my coffee is telling me. 40%. Okay. How much do you trust your coffee? Well, there's nothing spiked in it. It's a generous 40% solely based on the fact that rodeo's background is a coach. It's not based on any intel that I have, but I like to keep an open mind in allowing him to do his job as a sporting director and he does have a network that spans the globe and spans Europe. And so, I hope in an ideal world he can get someone, this part of that network and that wants to be here and wants to be part of that awesome FC. Yeah, from a, from a player standpoint, if this kind of drags out like when do you start worrying like I imagine nobody, you know, was going to be super upset if by Halloween we don't have a new coach or something. You know, ready to have golf course go on vacation, but, you know, player starts signing kind of the end of the playoffs or like January, like if you're a player, when are you starting, starting to think, well, I don't even know who I'm going to show up and play for in six weeks or whatever. Well, after the new year, I always found that to be one of the reality of the upcoming MLS season and now the seasons are starting earlier and earlier, but that was always one okay it's MLS time. It's it's go mode preseason, you can feel it, you can spell it. Your body starts reacting to it. And when there's that semblance of uncertainty hanging over the club, then the players that were under that thrived under the previous manager. And when you have a losing season or a poor season, the players that were comfortable on the previous manager, they start getting uncomfortable and the players that didn't play as much. And there were still no news of a new manager. Oh, man, I was chomping at the bit because I knew this was my chance. And I could go into camp and I could go into the pre pre pre season training sessions and whatnot. And I could see the discomfort of players who were part of the previous status quo. And so there's an internal competition that's already happening between players. Of were you part of the Joshua era or were you on the outside looking in. And so yeah, that that's typically how it works. So to kind of follow up on that, are there any players currently on Austin at sea that you think will benefit from the coaching change and just getting another look or playing in another system. So I'm intrigued to see what happens with Danny, but he's the biggest prospect that Austin has. In terms of his ceiling, Adrian, he and I have always said that he's destined for something big. And being part of the Venezuelan national team fold in the ways that he's becoming is really important for a club. Because he's the player that you can go and sell and ultimately have success with. I would build something around him in the midfield. That's that's a player that let him play higher up the field. Let him play is a number eight and have a manager that's going to not just utilize one aspect of his game of always good on the ball. He's composed, he can break lines. He's going to play as a six. No, let him do that higher up the field. And so that's one player that, although he did play quite a bit of games, I'd like to see him be used differently by a different manager and want to continue to see him find an end product in the final third. And, like I had the experience with me when I went to Miami and I played for Miami FC and I got to play for all sons of Nesta and throughout my whole career up until then I played as a defensive midfielder, because I could tackle. I could read the game. I could run for days. And I walked in to training session, my first training session, and I sat in the middle of the park and Nesta said, what are you doing? I said, you brought me into play as a six and he goes, no, no, I brought you to play as a box box midfielder. And I was like, what? And he said, you can read the game on both sides of the ball. You can pass more than five to 10, 15 yards. When we play games, your diagonal pass is good. When you get the ball, you're looking to combine in the final third and we play small sided. So why would I have you do that back towards our goal and not do that around our opponents box. And I had the most assists in my entire career playing under him, because he saw something different. And he saw something that could benefit the team in a bigger way in a bigger role. And it was part of this. I played more for my national team. I was more successful during that time. And so I'm looking for a manager who can identify that and have that sort of impact on a player like Danny. Mike, I think the most intriguing player on the roster going into next year might be Owen. Yeah. Yeah, considering, you know, obviously his dad just got fired from the job and in his professional career, see me the first time he's playing for someone other than his father on the pitch. How do you think this change may be affecting him from a personal level, obviously it's probably a little tough but then, is it a positive, I think it's personally a positive that he's going to be hearing the new voice next year but yeah. What's your take on that? Yeah, it's tough. I, I've been thinking about him because obviously their family is very close to it. And none of us can ever. Tap into that feeling of what's it like to be a teenager and a young adult and the only coaches and MLS coach that you've ever known as your dad. And the healthiest thing, there was always going to be point when he was going to have to break away from playing at Austin FC or playing for his dad, I should say, maybe not Austin FC. And so now we find out more about Owen Wolf, the young man. Because I've always respected his grit. I've always respected his work ethic and he's played and had to deal with things that no one else in that roster has had to. And if he's played a bad game, there's scrutiny there. If he is a good game, well, you know, there's potential scrutiny of all you're only playing because your dad's a coach. And so if I'm him, the number one thing I'm doing as soon as the season ends and I got this advice from, from a lot of the players, veteran players that I looked up to, get away from the game. Take some time for yourself is Owen Wolf, the young man. Yes, you're going to spend time with family. Just get away from the game and just get away from the conversation of the club, because you're going to have to face the music. And when you come back into preseason, work like you've never worked before. Show that work ethic because the new manager is going to be looking at that. That's going to be any new manager that comes in. That is going to be one of the questions that he's faced with. What do I do with this kid? And what he does in terms of his grit and his graft. No manager is going to say no to that. You know, like whoever the next manager is going to want people who are going to work for him and buy into what he's saying. And so Owen's a coachable player. And if he brings those things, then, hey, he can extend his future loss, Nancy. How do you think it feels like with the way that you think Danny Carter should be used, and where Owen is probably at his best or in a similar position. How do you, how do you feel like those two get utilized together with a new manager? Or does a new manager maybe try to find a way to put them both in the field at the same time more often and go younger because legs in age have been a question for this team for a long time. Yeah, I think that. Owen's ability to cover ground, and we saw that combination of the league's cup, where Danny scores the goal. Danny was playing higher up the field. Owen was playing deeper in the field. And so that caught my eye where Owen's physically gifted. He's a strong kid. So I would actually like to see him learn how to play defensive midfield. I've always thought that that was a place that he could grow into and thrive. And I always got the feeling that Josh kind of wanted him to shine a bit more in the attack. He was a striker as a player. So obviously you're going to want your son to get the shine as an attacking player. And no one's shown glimpses of that playing for the youth national teams, leading into the last World Cup with the U20s. But that little glimpse of Owen being able to break lines on the dribble in the ways that we see with Danny, Owen having the composure, the vision, the awareness where we're pressures coming from. I like that. I want that from a defensive midfielder. And Danny playing higher up the field, showing the offensive product and product that we've seen glimpses of himself. Danny's quick, Danny's crafty. And Danny just needs to be unleashed in the final third and so I would actually look to, if you're going to play both of them together, switch roles, have Danny play higher up. Owen is a defensive midfielder. I want to see what that looks like. When, when you were playing, you went through a managerial change. What was the, was there any kind of common theme for a new manager coming in. I know everybody's like, well, I'm recompeding for a role. I'm going to impress the new guy, but was there any kind of common theme from the managers themselves when they would come in. The first thing was always creating competition. And kind of breaking up that status quo of core players. And kind of setting that tone of. Prove to me why you should still be in my starting 11. And so. And sometimes that comes with a change of captain. And it's hard because Sebastian, as captain this team, more than any player in the last year, two years. And so what tone and message do you send. If you take that captain, see away. From juicy and that comes down to a conversation of, Hey, seven, do you want, do you actually want to be captain? It feels like that's been taken away over the last few matches because he hasn't had the armband now and about four or five matches, right? Yeah. Yeah. And for an Alex. That conversation as well. If it's a manager that likes Alex and I like Alex ring as a leader. I always thought that that's something that he wants. Now, is there places he could improve his leader always, you know, but that's something that wanted the position and you had your best season with him as a captain. And so, you know, I think the number one thing that I always saw was the first couple weeks of preseason was all about competing. And just like we saw with Poch last night, there's going to be some shakeups for your first match. There's going to be a name that usually is there is on the bench. And a team needs that it wakes everyone up and it gives hope for the people that weren't playing as much last season. And okay, well, this is someone that I can actually, I want to play for because they're going to give me a chance. I think the worst thing that new managers do is when they come in and they just rinse and repeat, easy gets them into trouble. Yeah, I got a big kick last night about people reacting to a Western mechanic eating on the bench like, Oh my God, he's never going to play it. You know, again, like he's having a great season. It's like, guys, that's not what he's doing. Calm down. Yeah. It's his first match. He's just trying some stuff out. It's very limited games until the World Cup. So, like, let's just, just let the guy do his job. It's a little hurt right now. Like, okay. Yeah, well, that's many places best too though. Yes, I'm off. Yeah. Moving back to, I guess, the club with this roster constructed right now. And understanding it's going to go through some changes based on free agency and new signings in the off season. What kind of coach tactically speaking, you know, what names that you would not say names that are going to come here right but guys like comparisons. What kind of names which you want to see or what kind of coach would you want to see take over this team has constructed. Well, man, this coach, you probably, if there is a profile, there's ever a way that this could work because he's having success out in the last couple of seasons of Rocky Mountains. I think a manager like Pablo Mastreni would kick ass and take names with a club like Austin FC a profile of a coach who's less about Tiki Taka and more about being direct. You have speed in your team for the last couple of seasons. How many times have we said we could just get speed on the wings. You have speed now. And I would love to see a manager who's going to come in and say, Hey, we're going to get the ball. We're going to put the game in the other teams and we're going to press you. We're going to make life a living hell for you and, and go about it that way. You know, on the other end, it means that you're going to have to be fast at the back. And I think they've improved in terms of, obviously, your John Gallers and the season that see two seasons he's had. I think he's always going to be an asset because of his speed. But that's, that's a sort of profile manager that a manager that has that personality and what I've seen from Pablo and had to have gotten to interview him over the last couple of months is he always finds ways to push players buttons and kind of that wallpaper thing of like, Hey, heard so and so said this about you and get a player fired up, you know, like this, this team and this club needs players who are going to react players who have that chip on their shoulder. And I think our our best season came from having someone like Felipe, who set the tone. And the Ruben Gabrelson's who set the tone was stuff like that who were like, Oh, man, I heard MLS had us ranked in this. You know, so that, that, that, that's a sort of as a fan. That's a sort of sideline presence that I would love to see this team have. I think on a similar note, how important, especially in this league, how much weight you put on MLS experience, whether that's as an assistant playing in the league, whatever the case may be because it is so unique that demands are very different. And I think like, would you give more weight to a guy like a Geo Saverisi, who was available right now and was very successful and Portland over maybe an unknown coming from Europe or South America, wherever the case may be. Oh my gosh. Geo Saverisi isn't on the list for coaches. It's gonna be a long season. No, I'd say that to you. He's, he should be near top of the list. He's something that I played for. And he's one of the best coaches. I've ever seen his ability to connect with players. Obviously, he speaks Spanish and English. He speaks just about every language of the sun. He's a renaissance man. He's a human being, a quality human being first. And he, he takes all the boxes and he's helped develop young players. And he's worked with, I think he's worked with players that came through the system for him, like a hodgy right. So, he's had experiences developing and seeing talent from a young age. And when I played with him, he makes you feel like a million bucks. And he makes it makes you buy in to the collective. And so, I think it's a great shout from a player from manager like Saverisi and his track record is proven. So, managers like that. I would take him over any unproven manager any day of the week. You would even take it with like the style of ball that he played in Portland was very different than obviously that I think we're all fine with it being different than Josh Wolf ball but. Get to get to a sense of like it's different than the style of play that wrote it was been trying to embed throughout the academy up through the next pro team into the first team. Do you see them is that being like the most important criteria and finding a new coach for the show is someone that we're going to be embedded to that way. We got it. This club needs to get away from style of play. The only reason why 2022 was a talking point was that we won games. It's getting that winning feeling back. It. It always used to drive me crazy when I think I think it's in the last 10 years. And I blame Barcelona for this and Pep Guardiola were were were in love with the style of play does the six drop back center backs. I want a team that that has character I want to team that has the intangibles. Give me a team that grinds out wins like I'll take that over anything like doing whatever takes just to get that winning feeling back. I take that over any style of play any day of the week because there's plenty of teams that that play aesthetically pleasing football bar near the bottom of the table. So it sounds like you you want a little bit of the like flash and flare when we can do it but also some practicality. I don't think we can pride McCaller Ted away from Arsenal, but that sounds like that's kind of what we're we're hoping for. Yeah. But give me that any day of the week because the aesthetics will improve. And the season like 2023 the season changed because we won that game away in DC. And it wasn't an aesthetically pleasing match for about 70 minutes that they were they were all over us. But getting back in that game, we became a team that had resolved we became a team that ended up being the road warriors. I want a bunch of warriors. I want a team that's willing to fight for each other first. And then you can always add the aesthetics but if it's about playing champagne Martin was called Margarita football, where it's just spilling out of the cup and the full backs are high it's like get out of town with that man. Like you got to win first one anyway you can first and then that'll happen by by default. So you mentioned players wanting to fight so I wanted to talk about the end of the LA galaxy game. I'm not sure if you guys see you saw it because we're popular it became online. So in a situation like that like as a player what is your reaction to like seeing one of your teammates come in and felt like that and you see their bench get riled up like is it one of those things of like it just kind of becomes that like us versus them and it goes for my guy no matter what. Yeah, you have to. I've been there as a player who got a red card for an aggressive challenge. Maybe you got a couple of my career. And that was something that I was always taught that you can have the conversation afterward, but the best teams, they always go and back their teammate. Even if a teammate's in the wrong right or indifferent you gotta show solidarity on the field, because you're in the trenches together. And so that it's it's a code of it's a code that you live by is a professional footballer. Yeah, and then my follow up is, do you did you think it was an egregious foul the way the Apple TV commentators thought it was. Okay. Let's see. That's so much football in my brain. I seem to pull it up again. Yeah, the commentators just if you don't have the audio handy to if you can just find the video commentators seem to imply that there is no way he was ever even looking at the ball and he was clearly just going in to try to injure, you know, golden boy Ricky pooch and all this. I'm sure you've heard it before. Galaxy Twitter has a pooch in the, in the emergency room, or about a week now. We're not sure if he's actually going to play the rest of the year. So I just looked at it again. It's a crunching challenge. He's going in there to to send a message. There's frustration built it's the end of the game. Give me a break. Ten years ago. We're not even talking about this. Yep. Like who was on the call for that. There was a title. I'll give you one. I'll give you one question on who the ref was, or one guess the ref was, it's in my mind. It starts with it. It runs with Steve Erkel. So, Seth, we had what Kendra, Sam, and who's the other one? And Tyler Karen's on the call. Okay. Well, I will never be one is, I'm being part of broadcast. I'll never be one to go after commentators, but looking at it again. I still with what it's. By the letter of the law, it's a dangerous challenge. But Ricky poos jumps. So high that he could almost land an Olympic record. And yeah, the galaxy. That's always going to elicit emotion out of teams players, but come on. So foul, the referee decided it's a red card. Strong yellow. Yeah. But that's it. I think I called it an orange or an orange plus in there. But yeah, that's it. You know, I think the height of where the challenge comes in. Okay. It becomes dangerous. But it has been a lot worse challenges. Yeah, and a lot of the Austin fans were upset about one that actually they retroactively suspended Delgado for a game on a boot car earlier in the match. So those two things kind of paired together. I think kind of set a rooting off. Yeah. Just to kind of pivot on here a little bit. So, you know, kind of answer this question. However, you want to ownership coach player level, but. There's been a lot of, Oh my God, we suffered through another, you know, like season of terrible football and. You know, Josh Wolf and whatever you want to say there, but like, how do you other than winning? Obviously, how do you get fans back on your side? If you're the club coach players, anything like. Well, it's been, it's been really cool to see Austin fans still engaged with. The second team. So you see, I think a club that does it really well and is actually increased fan engagement has been the Philadelphia Union and they've had an up and down season this year, but. When you play one of the younger players, when you give them a chance. Fans love that. And I think Austin fans have been crying out for more younger players to get a chance. How a player like Valentine Noel didn't feature and didn't end up being part of the season's plans. That's my boggling to me. I mean, if he had a green card, he would have gotten, he would have been part of the plant. I'm pretty convinced on that, but it was international slot management that could have been a little better would have kept him in the picture there. Average average person in the stands doesn't care about that stuff. And here we got to deal with reality, unfortunately, I mean, there's also just a general discussion about like MLS rules in terms of making it easier for the next four guys to get to come up and also like your roster construction of like making sure that you can fill out those supplemental slots that all since been kind of the collectible about. I mean, you saw it again with this year with like a lot's over mirrors, only getting limited to the three games, three matches, I think it was. It's the same thing of like not being able to call it does those FC two guys. Yeah, this is slightly extra weird because he's on loan to FCTO. Yeah. So like, there's a whole like giant dynamic. You know, you have to draw like Charlie day, like type of arrows and stuff to figure that one out. So it's like most. Yeah, exactly. As I've said, many, many times, even I'm not going to bother with that. But there are smart people to do and they explain it to us, which is nice. Anything else you guys want to talk about with kind of like the club or wolf or anything. I know we wanted to pivot to the US a little bit, but I'll kind of leave it open if you guys have anything else. I'm I'm predicting what we're going to question. Where do you see Alex Ring fitting into 2025 off the FC. Ooh, I feel like each off season. That's like the. The multi million dollar question to match this contract. No. Well, he's no longer a DP at least. Yeah. Ooh. This could be could be a tough one to be a tough one for him. Because the position he plays. The position he holds within the club is one of the leaders and you know, capting the team in the last couple matches. The association of being someone that Claudia brought in. My experience, players like that. If it's not your last season, it becomes close to being one of your last seasons and he's got a lot to prove. Out of a lot of players, he's going to have a lot to prove to whichever manager comes in. Because in the middle of the park, yes, you keep a Danny. Okay, you might be willing to work with an Owen. But managers tend to want to chop and change that position. So this is a massive, massive off season for him and I like him as a player. I've grown to like him as a person and just engaging with him. We actually have some common friends and former teammates back in Finland that he played with. And Meadow Camara, a good friend of ours. But this is a massive decision that comes with him in the off season. So I'm really intrigued. It's hard to go one way or another, but that's a position that his roster spots one that tends to be up for grabs. And I think it's hard to get on what profile the manager comes in. All right, two quick questions for me before we pivot here. First final game of the year this week. Obviously, we got a baby or no is going to be on the sidelines. Energy level against Colorado prediction for the game there. We got to hope and think that the team is going to finish strong. The fact that he comes down an international break is a good thing because as a player, it's one more time. And when you go back through what set the tone for the best season the clubs had, it was. It was all against sporting Kansas City where the team didn't have much to play for for the rest of the season. But everyone had that feeling that their jobs were online and no players were told that options were getting picked up. This was going to happen or you had any stake here and they smashed. That was something that was referred to that they had that sensation of weight. We have something here. We just need. Season two and a couple different pieces added to change things around and MLS veteran pieces. So. If that happens, then it builds in the hope for next year. And then second part of the question. When do you expect coach to be named? What if you had to put a date on it? What would it be? I would say December. I would say just before Christmas. Like the week before Christmas. Ideally, there's conversations that are being had. There's flights that have to be made and I would like me. I like that deal to be done. And the final whistle of a Colorado match, but. I think mid December is. Just typically when I. You know, typically when I see things getting done. Okay, Scott, do you have anything else? I have like two quick little rap questions, but. No, go for it. No, I think that's a kind of a good amount of time to spend on awesome before you. Yeah, so obviously it's been, you know, we'll say. Three and a half of four years have been a little rough. We're, you know, I'm sitting here watching the Chicago Bears beat the crap out of perennial losers Jacksonville Jaguars at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium. We're also perennial losers. Is next year, you know, year where we can count on us not being perennial losers, even, you know, with a little bit, you know, about not having a coach and who's going to be here and who's not like cause for optimism. Huh, once the Colorado match ends, the optimism refreshes. That's the beauty of Major League soccer is because there's no relegation. You always have to be optimistic the following year. So I based on what happens in the off season window, both for manager and players, then that optimism, my optimism will be restored. I'm interested to see what what position they end up using us from the car because Seth and you and I went back and forth on this. Watching him play in Serbia for Red Star Belgrade. He played as a striker. Yeah. And he was terrifying to watch a striker and he played in a two striker tandem with. He's sending a lazy. It's Sharif is it Sharif and die. I think it's his name to fact check that, but it was this. Heavy metal sort of football where you got the ball, you got it forward quick. And put it in the other team's end as lightning quick. He thrives when the balls in space for him to run him behind me and get so. I was puzzled to see him constantly get the ball defeat and have to try and dribble by multiple players. Because what what got him notoriety was playing as a striker and running in behind and running at defenders and transitions centrally. So seeing that positional shift, that would give me more hope. That would give me excited excited for sure. Okay, good. Yeah, that opens up an interesting question. Sorry, I thought we're gonna move on to that opens up an interesting question. Do you prioritize because there is a availability to go get a third DP if we want to in the next window. Do you prioritize striker or do you maybe think about us when going inside and prioritize another wing or some more help in the midfield. I'll always take more help in the midfield and that's my midfield bias. That's my midfield bias. I think seeing some of our transitional follies in midfield. At times, always, if you can win the midfield. You get the ball, you get it quicker to get a forward quicker. You get your UC engaged again. You get buccari in the position where I think you'll probably thrive more. You get the best out of this team. So midfield is always my pick. And I guess sorry I'm, I'm derailing. It just hit me in the head as we were talking about changes and everything. Yeah. Oh, Alexander spots ox been very impressive. And in his starts to these finally getting some time. Why does it seem that Josh Wolf takes took so long to integrate new defenders into the scheme. Because you saw the same thing with Rata Vanna bitch. Yeah, in 2023. I actually had actually a friend of mine, Tony Capasso, text me about Spontak. And he was like, I like this guy. He's, he's no nonsense. I like him. I think part of it is. That experience of winning with a group. A few seasons back. And some of that group still being here. As a younger coach, I think you become wedded to that it's almost like a knee jerk reaction when things aren't going your way or. When things are inconsistent. And. It's, it's one of those head scratchers. That ultimately lead to. Why it didn't work out for Josh this season, you know, and if you're a manager that's watching it and you're. You're interested in the job and you're taking it. That's a player that. You put near the top of the pecking order of saying. I'm going to give him a shot. I'm going to get, I'm, I'm not going to make that same mistake. I'm actually going to throw him right in the fire and say, be someone that plays for me. You didn't get enough of a sniff. Under the previous regime, please be someone that plays for me. I want to go to the battle with you. You know. Yeah, I think the center back pairing the starting first, first choice center back pairing is going to be an interesting question going in the next season. With a new manager. Obviously, vice and then was fighting some injuries and I use some other things this year didn't get a whole lot of minutes. You know, we know it because God gave can do hedges. I'm not a hunters and turn his contract situation. I just feel like there's probably the biggest room for change in that spot off of what we already have on roster. Yeah, it has to. I think with spot talk and Seth, we lamented this. I think Austin fans lamented this significantly when Ruben didn't come back. Was we lost the heart and soul of our back line. And he's the reason why Julio got the contract he got and Julio put in the performances, but he put it in under the stewardship and guidance of Ruben. And getting that sort of presence back in the back line. When you have a player like that, who's vocal, who's a personality, who's a leader, who's a winner. It's infectious, not just in the back line, but in the team. And so for recruitment purposes. That has to be a priority. That has to be a priority, because we can talk about the goals we can talk about. But having that leadership presence in the back line. That that is what good teams have every good team you look at through the league. They have that bit of something about them, someone about them in their back line. I mean, back line center back pairing fixed the spine of the team and then worry about the rest of it. And then the bus drive itself right. Yeah, I mean, almost to this point. I did want to wrap up. So we always do on our kind of game analysis. We'll talk about a couple things. One thing we always say is our moment of suffering that, you know, we hated the most in the game. We kind of open it up like pretty wide for you here, but Mike, can you give us like your Austin FC to date clubs existence, like the biggest moment of suffering you remember experiencing kind of watching or being around the team. And that's a bit of a head scratcher. I know. So take a little time here and think about it. I know a lot of people had the like when they sound like almost completely like be lined up and frisco for the first time and a few things like that. The, the, the game that pretty much ensured Ricardo Pepe would be on the U.S. men's national team at Q two, when FC Dallas came in, that's still lingers in my mind that obviously Pepe loves to score in Texas. He loves to score key to. So, I would say just in Texas, because I watched him at Jerry World earlier this year, Copa, an American, he did not love to score easy goals. That game, that game is always the reference point. That was the low point, I think, for not just that season, but of like, it was one of the strangest games I think I've seen the club be a part of. And so that, that takes the cake for me just the way that the match started. The way that it go back to, are you wedded to what's best for your players in the profile or you went into the system of playing out of the back, trying to force this. No, no, we're going to play out of the back at every cost and the cost was high that day. So that that's my pick. What about you guys. Since I threw this off and I knew it was coming, I'll go ahead and go next when we got absolutely like slaughtered in St. Louis last year and like we can't look and like oh we're, we got that fight back and we're going to come back and they just swatted us aside like now. We're just toying with you at this point if it actually looks like it's going to be dangerous we'll just pop into more goals. Yeah. That was pretty low point of just like oh we're not even close anymore like it's, you know, a little bit. Maybe we're a piece or two away and that was just one of those like oh no we need to, we need to hit eject and try this whole thing again. That was the most painful match I've ever attended in my life maybe possibly any sporting event because it was like a nine o'clock kickoff. The heat index was still over 110 and we were up in the upper deck and like the stale air just got trapped in and it just kept going and going and that match. I feel like, like in the Bundesliga they get to a point where they're like oh you're up by three goals we're not going to play out all the stuff it's time we'll do a plus one or something. They still did like plus nine I think there are two goals in the second half stop it's like why are we doing this. Yeah I think there were four total goals after like the 85th minute or something to decide any energy to run or do anything it was bad. Yeah that's not a place you want to be in August. Let me, let me tell you from experience. Is that your answer Seth or you want to go for something else. The biggest actual moment of suffering was just the fact that we came out at LAFC in the Western Conference finals it's just like no effort energy and emotion after like having two of the most emotional wins in the club history. And after having beat that team twice just looking like we were shell shocked and not ready to play and like not stepping off a plane and just, I mean, it was one of those things like the second we walked to that stadium we knew even before the guys were going to get our ass kicked. And we got a screen. Scott Brad either you want to go now go ahead. Yeah. I think mine is actually the other St. Louis match that season the infamous Jared Strau. Oh my God. I'm my trick goal there's. There's this really great picture of Kip and everybody in the crowd at their hands on their head after they realize what he did. And so my, my manager at work at the time, live in St. Louis and from St. Louis and she knew that we were playing them and she was kind of like tangentially we're aware about the team and on Monday we had a one on one. And she was like, Hey, what happened to the match. And I had to somehow explain that to her. Who didn't have like a frame of reference for soccer and I still even like 36 hours later wasn't able to put towards what I witnessed. Yeah, it's no shortage of choices here. I guess I got to take the one that everybody's not thinking about. Three oh to be a let. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. There's nothing about that game in on Rotaric with the best banger of a goal in club history. Yeah, I don't there's nothing to me that that spoke anything. I think that was the beginning of the end. Yes, we can say, well, the kiff goal of the beginning of the season against St. Louis. All right, well, that sucked but it's a mistake by by a kid we can walk over that. To me, the vehicle or the V elect game was the first big red flag of. Oh, this is probably done. And then what two months later, the game that officially moved me to wolf out was the Chicago game at home in the US Open Cup. Remember that those two combined for me were the ones that I think ultimately led to the down downwards file that we have not somehow come out of. Yeah. Well, if you find yourself in a hole the best way to get out is to stop digging so. So we're doing that. Anything else we want to touch on for the club before we move on to the US. It's positive. Let's go USA USA USA. Yeah, we're trying to do the fun stuff last. So we get it pretty really sad and then we're like, Oh, well, not a high note. If you guys keep listening to get a nice normal. Scott, you're actually at the batch. So you want to give us kind of a little brief rundown on kind of your experience there. Yeah, I was in a slightly different section than I normally am since I'm in the supporter section. I was down in 106, which are really great seats. If you've never sat there, you're really close to like the corners on the side and feel much closer to the stadium. The US actually controlled this match pretty decently for most of it until kind of like the end of the game where all the subs came on. I thought the most interesting thing was without way out there, Musa playing on the right wing and very like any very like heels on the touch line style of wing. Whereas Pula Sitch was able to tuck in more and really let Anthony Robinson really have that entire left side. The way that like you kind of saw a lot of Premier League teams do where the left man kind of like tucked in the way that like Samir Nazri did a city in Arsenal and like Gao would do with United. But I thought the US actually looked a lot better with Morris and Buzio in the middle. I thought Morris played really well and I hadn't really gotten a chance to see him with the National National team and I thought he impressed. Scott like attendance wise like atmosphere people loud like how are we doing. I thought the atmosphere was was good and better than a lot of national team games I've seen a Q two, especially in terms of like the supporter section and the drums and like the chance going. The announced attendance was like 20,200 and it looked full just from being there, especially with like with ACL this weekend and UT playing Dallas. The two, the two kind of funny crowd moments was one, the wave was attempted at least twice that I noticed. One going in one direction and one going the other direction neither succeeded in getting around the stadium so that was a positive. And then there was a family sitting behind in the row behind us. And the person who I presume was the grandmother just based on looking at them fell asleep periodically in the first half. Everyone so I would look back at you just kind of like nodding like ice clothes like head back. And it really wasn't like that boring of a match. But it just kind of was like amusing of like, you know, you get all kinds. Yeah, well, that's good. I mean, we like getting all kinds and getting new people out. So, I mean, it's a, you know, friendly and. I've not a great record against Panama lately. Also, also a decent number of Panama fans. I saw a lot of Panamanian flags around and just kind of like them little pockets. And so that was kind of good to see too that it wasn't just like, it wasn't just the US crap, but like we also had some away fans. Yeah. I mean, I watched the first half. It was a little please God, we need somebody to start finishing goals again kind of like a same old, same old problem, but you can tell they were trying some new things, mixing it up some new players and fresh floods and competition. Our manager wasn't doing bounce passes or talking about his Nike collection. So, you know, I was fine. Like I flipped over to college football for the second half. Watch the goals. So I don't have a ton of analysis here. Um, Mike, I bet you. Yeah, I. It was always going to be one of those matches where. Look, if you can get a goal early on, great. But there was a checklist of things that I had in mind before. The match started and. The biggest thing that I want to see was what was the mentality going to be. Because in the last window, the team looked so low on confidence. They looked like they didn't want to be there. They looked unsure themselves. They looked like a team and aside without any direction. And when we reference some of those low points in Austin FC history, the St. Louis matches and I can't believe we all left VLAT for last. I think maybe trauma does that to you from that match. Yeah, the US team psychological defense mechanism. Yeah. Let's just forget it. Set it and forget it. The US team, you could really feel the heaviness of it. What I saw was a change in aggression. They went to press Panama. I loved the shout for Aidan Morris and we can actually give Aidan Morris a shout now because. Place for a different team. And I love the gamble of playing him in Busio because you got to see two young players who weren't getting looks in the midfield. And that question of who can be a backup option for Tyler or who can be the main person if Tyler keeps getting injured because that's a reality, like Tyler's body is not being reliable right now. I thought Morris was solid. I thought Busio is the game progressed. He started showing more of the flashes, getting in the final third, playing some of those slip passes. Seeing Unis Musa play wing back. I text you said saying like it spots a drunk right now because am I seeing this crack or am I drunk right now, am I seeing this quickly. But it was like if you look at it, like that's that's going to be the Tim way I roll and like Tim way is going to be awesome in this system, but obviously you can't see me but I just put air quotes around system but the fact that Poch looks at the personnel that he has and it's like I'm going to design a game plan for today based on the personnel that I haven't used in form. What was another fucking concept. Yeah. Well, I also, I also look at what he did with Christian and Brendan Aronson. So we've been all well who's going to be our number 10 who's going to be this Christian plays in half spaces. He's going to just sits out wide like he's having success at Milan, because he's drifting in centrally, whether it's on the right side, whether it's on the left. And he's playing in those half spaces he has the freedom to go and express himself to come in century as he starts wide. And it's automatic that him and Anthony Anthony overlaps and I thought Anthony Robinson was our best player yesterday. I think he's the best player on the men's national team right now. I think that's a good question. They are a different level. But keeping that connection loved it from Poch but setting Christian up to start in places that he already has success and then giving Brendan the freedom to play in half spaces which is part of his strength. And then the novel concept putting players in positions that they thrive in for their clubs and bring it to the national team, that's shocking. And then Josh Sergeant I was impressed with they didn't get his goal. But I love this movement. I love the fact that he stayed centrally and allowed Christian and Brendan and a lot of other players to go and express themselves. As a poacher, some of the half chances, some of the dink that crosses his footwork in terms of setting and resetting his feet to adjust to service is better than flow. I think flow technically is a more gifted player, but flow likes to run in the channels flow likes to he wants the ball defeat. He's a striker that he doesn't need to get a touch on the ball. He's constantly offering himself and he much would rather get his touches in the final third. So it was refreshing to see something different and it just reminded me more of what we had in terms of a player like a Brian McBride, who was constantly doing his business in the final third was okay, could hold the ball up. It was so physical with the Panamanian center backs, good in the air, but so clever in his movement. And when you're playing with a back three, like Panama does. It's a nightmare when you have a striker who was constantly moving in between the three center backs and constantly offering himself up because you switch off once. And then for for everyone else and you saw it on, on the goals, you know, the moosa goal where surgeons move around. And then it creates base for Christian and Brendan to then combine and then moosa comes off the shoulder because of a sergeant runs so it like those are little details and intricacies that I was like okay, this is a bit different. You're a player. I'm curious. Yeah. You played for your national team. And obviously played club snocker to right. What do you want out of a national team manager and teammates because these are guys that you don't see nearly as often you're not drilling all the time. What are you, what do you want to be able to respond to be able to play your best, because it feels like that was one of the big deficiencies for burn halter was the system was so rigid that it made. And I think if literally every day, it becomes very hard to drop in and out of for a week or two at a time. Yeah, I. When we were in our best for the Sierra Leone national team. We actually loved we love playing at home, but we actually loved going away. And making a statement away from free town. It, it wasn't that feeling. I mean, we almost got to a point where we were. If Ebola wasn't a thing, we were close to breaking the top 50 in FIFA World ranking. We went through a period of a year and a half of not losing, which was remarkable given we're Sierra Leone's small country, but there was this kind of. No, like we're in it together sort of feel and. What I saw from this group when they came of age was that we're not going to back down sort of presence they had against Mexico on the coffee half nations league. And when things aren't going their way, who's going to be the player that makes that crunching challenge Panama last two games that we've played them. Kick foul got very physical yesterday. They have the quality to get goals, but this is the first time in a while I've seen us kick them. Mark Mackenzie was an enforcer, Buceo and Morris getting back, getting stuck in on challenges, winning the ball back immediately and writing some of the moments I think Matt Turner with the double save. Good to see him redeem himself in a moment like that. And so like when I watch a national team, those are the things that I look for is. How do you win the psychological battle because internationally it becomes such a mental and psychological game more than it does a tactical or technical game. You saw it with Greece and what they're able to do and the passing of George Baldak happens right before the match. And they have a choice of are we over are we overwhelmed by this or do we overcome this. Is this one of those unifying forces and they went after England. Like I've never seen a greased side play since. Euro 2004 and there was this. Aggression there was this playing for something that was bigger than anything England can muster. And so like those things, you see those reflected so much more the pride, the hunger that matters more at the international level than I think it does at the club level club the tactics. Yes. The build out all that stuff that's become a focal point but pride. That is everything internationally. Especially region like conca-calf where you know talking about kicking people like not getting anywhere and conca-calf kicking people so no. That was nice to see also shout out to the nice gentleman and at the Greece England game who was decked out in Greek attire holding a sign that said champions of europeal never saying that. Oh wow. So I'll send it to set the send on to you. It's fantastic. Please do. Please do. Perfect. I always got a shout out or excellent shit talk here. Yeah. The background of that name or something. Yeah. Yeah, we'll do the soccer version of a spit and chiclets. Yeah. So I'll just add on like Q2 stadium opened a little over three years ago now and the US men and women are combined seven and no. Wow. So without receiving a goal. Neither team is neither team is considered a goal. That's incredible. I mean, yes, it helps to play Grenada and do that together. But yeah, it's, it's very impressive. Other people this night, Brad, super are allowed to be decent goalies. I mean, right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And as we look at it, I mean, I have no idea how qualified for the 2030 World Cup is going to look like, or even how qualified for the 2027 women's World Cup is going to look like, but as you go through it, like, if there's going to be more matches in Mexico and Central America afterwards, like, Austin's going to continue to host a lot of matches, especially November matches, March matches where, well, I don't know, we did play obviously February match in Minnesota in the last round of World Cup qualifying so I never seen never towards things. But I think that there's just going to continue to be at least annual matches at Q2, which is awesome for us. Yeah. And it should be pointed out. I think that was what the fifth men's match here and the women are coming for their third match in two weeks, less than two weeks. Yeah. Um, so the facilities, it's not just the stadium. I think the practice facilities have a ton to do with it as well. Yeah. You got a $42 million performance center that they get access to that goes a long way. You know, there's obviously a lot of folks, especially on the West Coast to want the gains moved around, but some of those facilities are aging, or maybe don't have the investment in them. And I also flight time. I mean, do you want to fly all the way there if you're coming from Europe is a big question. When it comes to this, I think when you look at these, this program as a whole. In USS and USF soccer. And I'd love your opinion. You're like, but it feels like there's a full energy change with the two coaching changes in the last few months. And almost like a full direction change from top down at us at us soccer. Yeah. No, there is. And the person that deserves all the credit in the world is Matt Crocker. We got to interview him. Last two weeks ago. No, time is just last week. And it was, it was a real moment. Tony Miola, Charlie Davies, did the interview for morning footing. It was cool to meet. And hear Matt Crocker, the human being. Sure, his perspective. And I think what he's done. Is remarkable where he's given this men's and women's program. The tools to be successful. He's, he's gone out and gotten incredible managers. Managers who. No, from a, it's not just the trophies that she's won. It's the culture, their culture setters. And who have had sustained success. They've, they've grown clubs and who have had adversity. And who still have that hunger because there's certain trophies. There's certain things that have been missing in their cabinet. So I was always hesitant. Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, all these names a year. Because that, that hunger aspect. Having managers that, that want to be here, that are like, have a point to prove by being here. That's something that you want and need. And so to see both the men's and women's teams react. In a short amount of time with the two hires that are made, that's all down to Matt Crocker saying, I'm going to put my money where my mouth is. And I'm going to take this into the Matt Crocker era. This isn't just the Marisha Pajatino and the Emma Hayes here. This ultimately the Matt Crocker era. He's laying down the foundations of his legacy with these two hires in real time right now. Before the next World Cup, like it's, it's incredible. This was something I was trying to get to, I guess, earlier with this question. Um, Emma Hayes obviously was a successful national team coach in England. Mauricio Pajatino has never. Excuse me. She was a national team coach. Oh my apologies. Then this is kind of a, this is a, for whatever reason I had it backwards. Um, Pajatino's never coached the national team level. It's obviously the difference between club and national team is, is massive because of the amount of time you get to spend with players. How do you think you adjust to that? It's a tough one. But I think the, because of the, the frequency and I think of, for each of you mentioned that in the hiring process at different points. Of the frequency of, of being able to have access to your players. I think the relationships that he has with the likes of a Matt Crocker, the relationships that. And the respect he commands and he's forming. With the likes of that European based group that he's, he's a, he's a manager that his career spans different countries in Europe. And when you go back to his days at Español. What he did at PSG. And being orange and Tinian. That's a direct, I mean, you're Italian cousins. Pretty much a direct pipeline there. And I'm not sure if he ever spent time in Italy during his playing career. I'd have to look that back up. But, and obviously England. You're touching all the different corners. Of the available right now with your group, the available player pool. And the one pool that he mentioned that needs to be looked at a bit more. Major League soccer. I think he's, I think that was a comment to touch on some of the goalkeeping decisions that, that he will probably make. And I hope he does make in terms of giving different players a look. And having Zac Sefan back in the fold, Zac Sefan's earned that with his performance in the League Cup. As a positive. I want to see him play players doing well in League M.E.K.s. So having to call Brennan Vasquez is give him a chance, man. So those are like patches of manger that gives players chances. And so his strength. Me to demand that the US soccer fan base has been wanting. And there's players out there that have been wanting that we didn't see from Berhalter. Which was for Greg, it was here's my 11. I'm going to, they got me to World Cup. I'm going to be loyal to them to the end. And ultimately cost him a job. Yeah. Were you pro retaining Berhalter after the last World Cup? No, I never was and solely from the reason of what happened between him and Geo. That breaks the trust that breaks the cohesion and dramas going to always happen in sports. We ended up making the decision and thank goodness we ended up getting potch as a result. But we ended up making a decision that ultimately should have been made during that time. His legacy and his job and I thank him for this and we should all and I think we all will eventually thank him for this. To get us back to World Cup was incredible because he had to deal with things and the expectation of things that were pretty significant. But after that and what happened with Geo, it was time. And we ended up giving into player power in a way that we've never seen before. And I was shocked that we did. And that's why was retained was player power spoke out. Now the balance has been shifted back and I hope it continues to be shifted back because which one of those players is going to tell potch what to do. You might laugh at all of them if they tried. And you see them in both the men's and women's. Before the last World Cup, there was this player power in terms of it felt like a bunch of individuals trying to be the new face of you a soccer. When all those players retired from the last two World Cups, it didn't feel cohesive. And then you bring Emma, who out of that group is going to tell Emma Hayes what to do. No one. They're going to listen because they respect her because she commands a respect and Emma has the humility to listen to her players. Potch has the humility. Both of them are very humble, cohesive. I want to work with you sort of people. The sense of looking at Emma Hayes, Emma Hayes feels fun to work for. That's what the men need right now. The women have talented enough players, they were not acting as a cohesive unit. The men need someone who's going to whip their ass a little bit. The fact that there's like, we never try, I mean, you've played, obviously, but I get to a point. Like, how many coaches did you regularly have two hour sessions with? It's a standard to have two hour sessions. That's including the warm up. If you're not doing two hours, like, what? Yeah, when that was said, I was like, oh my gosh, we actually had this conversation. We were doing the max they covered yesterday. Remember Nigel Real Koker who played at Westam and legend at that club and Villa? We looked at each other when our producer was like, how many hours do you think they're training session? Do you think they've been having two hour training sessions that we've been hearing about that? Isn't that cool? It was our producer. It was someone in the background staff. We looked at each other and we were like, that's a standard. That's called soccer. That's what you do. You show up for a minimum two hour sessions. I thought it was interesting that part of it was also him saying his entire career with the national team. Like, that wasn't just a, like, last thing. That was a, like, decade long thing. That's, yeah, that's really surprising. There's this new balance in sports science and all the metrics and all the training periodization. We'd always go through preseason and we would look, especially towards the end of my career, it would be, well, we wanted the heart rate monitors and look at this and look at that. You know, you don't have to train and run hard and do all these things to get freshness. It's fitness versus freshness. And there's certain things that don't change with sports. Soccer is a running game. You have to run to get fit. You have to run for a long time to gain endurance. There's no, you don't need a laptop for that. You just need to do it. Yeah. Part of the fun of it is a global game too, right? Yeah, you know, the richest kid and the poorest kid, you know, for the most part, both go run. Yeah. You know, obviously exceptions, but. And, and the parts that you can manage things and pot to dress this with. Being mindful and you're seeing a lot of players get injured and they get to saw something that there might have been an injury to. Or, I mean, Yamal, which is like, oh my gosh. And that whole Spain team going through it right now with injuries after the amount of games. All those players have played Roger being one of them. And you look through world soccer and MLS growing in games. You can always manage the minutes a player plays. You don't have to play. Post sick for 90 minutes every single game. Yeah. But you got to get them fit. And keep them fit when they're in camp. Yes, I got a big kick out of Pajatito saying, Oh, yeah, I'm not going to run these guys into the ground. I want to return them to their clubs and, you know, decent shape. And she's like, Oh my God, I've never heard an international coach talk like that before. Yeah. We're five international coach. Yeah. Yeah. No coach. It's I think overall, I'm glad that this first game. I'm so, and I was having this nostalgic moment of a Austin will forever be like a second home. To my wife and I. It means so much to me as a person. And it's, you know, Seth. Came to our wedding day and was there their wedding in. It was super cool to have an Austin FC game. Is it the day before Seth? No, it was that morning. It was that morning. Oh, yeah. We're, I was thinking of the broad game. There were a number of us there that were just like, okay, you're like, no, I mean, yeah, both you and Adrian. Yeah. Yeah. So the plan was do the game and then drive back to say I do in Houston, but. It to have us soccer. Frosting to become a, I think it is becoming the spiritual home of us soccer. I know the headquarters stuff Atlanta, the connection. But you can't deny the results. And to see the stadium filled the way it was to see the energy for that to be the place that pauches first game and first win was at. That's really special and it's a milestone moment that I think we'll look back on is people who are invested in Austin. See people are invested and have our own personal memories with the national team in the club at Q2 stadium that that's one of them that we can put in the mix. Like, there's got, I mean, there's got to be a documentary that will all be a part of someday, right? We can hope so. Yeah, I'm lobbying for it. There we go. Yeah. What I mean, we got, you know, we talked about the US kind of turned around the vibes, both on the men's and the women's side and, you know, it didn't take it's on a time. You know, we went some games to make some good signings. Yeah. That's hope for Austin. I've seen going into the off season going into next year. Yeah. No, it's there's always there's always reason to help and I hope I hope that the club gives us all reason to open something because it wasn't that long ago that we were having the time of our lives, you know, and there's been so many flash points and we talked about low points. There's been so many high points as well from Denver day, which was incredible to witness to the sporting Kansas City game that year to the LAFC games in 2022. And there's been flash points at different points in the last two seasons, but I want to get back to that. You know, and I want to try to plan a trip to Austin next year to come watch the game. Yeah, as Roy can't reminds us it's a game and it's supposed to be some fucking fun. So we get back there. I mean, we're, we're running up against time here. Mike, you're not super familiar with our, we try not to do more than 90 minute podcasts about a 90 minute game. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, we're getting into it right now. But, you know, I've been kind of talking a little bit and dominating the like, besides you here. So I want to open it up to Brad Scott or Seth, if you guys have anything you want to jump in on here at the end. I'm good. I'm good. Appreciate the time, Michael. Yeah. Yeah, same. Appreciate you coming on to the podcast. And look forward to seeing you guys on Twitter and being back on it every time soon. Yeah, absolutely. Doers always open. Just let us know. Okay. Well, maybe next match. 17. They won. Yeah, there we go. Let's set it up. I'll go ahead and pencil again right now, right? All right. Let's do it. Seth. We'll plan it. Absolutely. I know how to find you. All right, then. Well, on behalf of Brad Scott, Seth, and for the first time and hopefully not the last. Mike, thanks for suffering with us. Hey, for Austin, Jared Stroud. It's the angle for goodness. The Bears season's gone in on a double joint. 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