00:00:00
Speaker 1: I know that out of the fifty million people, there's gonna be five million or four million who will never watch a soccer game again. Yeah, that could be.
00:00:07
Speaker 2: But for the that's fine.
00:00:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, But for the other forty five million people, maybe there was ten of them that said, you know what, I want to see more of this.
00:00:17
Speaker 2: What's going on? Everybody?
00:00:19
Speaker 3: Welcome back to Inside American Soccer. I am USM and T insider Tom Boger. I'm joined by one of the greatest players in US M and T history, tab Ramos tab We are now a few days following the US M and t's elimination from the World Cup in disappointing fashion at the hands of Belgium with the round of sixteen. I know you've been back home for a little bit after calling all the great games that you called. I got in early this morning, three am, after flying back from Seattle. I will say, throughout this trip, the travel between the cities, whether it was going from LA to the first knockout game, the first knock game to the second, you look around and there's USM and T people on your flight, Like you bump into somebody's dad or somebody's somebody's partner, or oh, I think that's somebody's kids. And the feeling between the games tab were was much much more positive. And then last night there was a lot of sad USM and T apparel on my flight from my very much delayed flight from Seattle back to the East Coast. So, Tom, I don't know if you've had a similar experience in your travels here.
00:01:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I mean, in old fairness, everywhere I've gone, I've seen US men's national team jerseys. You know, you see them all around the streets, and we've seen them all over the country. And again I was based mostly East coast of the Our national team was not anywhere near here, obviously, they were purely West Coast, but you still saw I mean, I saw national team jerseys every day, every day, everywhere I went, when I went for coffee in the mornings, when I took my flight to Toronto, from Toronto to New Jersey, you're always seeing national team jerseys, and I think, you know, that's obviously a great sign. It's a positive sign. Of course, you see in jerseys from all the other countries too, you know, you know, and if I have to say, I think i've seen Ecuador jerseys everywhere. I've seen Columbia jerseys everywhere I go, so there's always someone with a with a yellow on and I can't tell sometimes if it's Columbia Ecuador, but there's they're everywhere. And uh in Mexico jerseys as well. So those are some of the more I think populars that I've seen. Of course, Brazil is yellow too, so it could have been Brazil. But but yeah, it's been it's been really exciting, you know. And you you know, I do remember back in nineteen ninety four, you know, thinking why can't they just why why can't this just last like forever? Why isn't this the way it is all the time? Right? Uh? And and this is kind of the same, you know, as we're drawing towards the end of the tournament, and obviously I know that our team is out and that a lot of people are obviously disappointed about about that, including ourselves, and you know, at some point our run was probably going to end, right, but the World Cup is still here, and uh, and we have some great games coming up, I mean, the best games coming up. So this this is I'm still really excited about being a fan for the rest of it.
00:03:04
Speaker 3: You and me both My friend particularly though that you could feel it coming to an end, not just because the US are out. But we're recording on Wednesday. This is the first day since the opening match that there's been no World Cup game on today, so we're getting closer to the end. There's only a few games left, but these are the games that define legacies and win trophies, so I can't wait for it. Today we're gonna check back in on the fallout from USMNT after going out in the World Cup to Belgium. Then we're gonna talk about the rest of the World Cup, the some insane round of sixteen games, including Messi's stunning comeback with Argentina over Egypt, and then we're gonna break down the quarterfinal games to come, and Tab's gonna give his DraftKings match predictions. But let's start with the US TAB Monday, it was the most watched soccer game in US history, breaking the record from the game against Bosnia, and if they won the quarterfinal would have set a new record. So on one hand, it's really awesome. Thirty seven million people watched on Fox and another twelve million on Telemundo. It's almost fifty million people watching an American soccer game. It brings a tear to my eye. It's beautiful and I hope that these are going to create lasting connections. And I know it will because it did in nineteen ninety four. The ground work that you and that team did, the legends that you are helped build us this moment. But tab On, maybe maybe a pessimistic side is is there any worry to you that the dud open performance from the usmn T being the one that is now the most watched game in American soccer history.
00:04:39
Speaker 2: Do you think that's gonna have any adverse effects?
00:04:42
Speaker 1: That's a good question. And if the question is is it gonna have any at all? Yeah, it'll have some. You know. But you know, Tom, you've been playing soccer since you were born and as you've you know, grown up, just as me coming up in this country through when I was little. You know, you always find people who are going to be negative about soccer, regardless of what they're watching. And I think, you know, from our standpoint, you know, to have fifty million people watch our national team, I can't imagine that there's anything negative about that. I think it's all positive for me. And yes, of course you're going to have, you know, the American fan who only wants to watch NFL anyway, who's going to say, hey, you know, I tuned the game on just because I wanted that excitement. And I didn't see, you know, the Christian polistic become Tom Brady and throw that touchdown into the end zone. I didn't get that feeling. And yeah, you didn't get that feeling because you don't understand the game. And I think a lot of people who watch the game who have been in some sort of way involved with the game because their kids player or their grandchildren play, who can actually in a way understand the difficulty of passing a ball or hitting a ball over the top, or heading a ball or just the simple things that we do in soccer. I think those people appreciate the quality that they saw, and if they didn't appreciate it on the American team, they certainly appreciated it on the Belgian team. But they did appreciate it. And I think that there's a value there because I'll say this. You know, I'm not a baseball fan. You know, obviously, I you know, as you know, I was not born in this country. But but I but I do know that that's our you know, pastime. You know, baseball is the old American pastime, and I understand that, but I didn't understand it until a baseball fan explained to me why they like baseball, and because to me, baseball looks, you know, in a way like it looks like to some of these fifty million people that watch the game, let's say ten million of them would have felt this way like I feel about baseball. I don't really understand it. Okay, so you go into the ninth inning and it's a shutout, and you know, and to me it's just as boring because nothing's going on. But then somebody said this to me, you know, they said, you know, there's nothing to me like the sound of the ball hitting that the wooden bat. And at that point I got it and I understood that by the sound of the ball and the bat, a baseball fan can tell where the ball is going. They can tell if they got a hold of it or if they didn't, and that has a huge value. And forget everything else, forget the stadium, forget the field they'reund, forget the team they're on, just the sound of the ball and for the soccer fan. We have to remember, and this goes for the people who really understand golf, that it's really difficult to kick a soccer ball as you're running right, And I'm going to the basics here. Maybe World Cup, a World Cup episode is not the time to do it. But for those millions of people, those ten million people that watch it are new, some of them are going to recognize that. You know, when you get on a golf course and you're standing by yourself and you need complete silence, no one making a sound, so that you can hit a golf ball with a club, Well, try hitting a soccer ball running with the same spin that you're hitting that golf ball. And that's kind of what it is. And it's the difficulty of a pass that a soccer fan recognizes when they watch a game. It's not all about the goals. We can watch a gray zero zero game. So I'm hoping that not only am I hoping, I know that out of the fifty million people, there's going to be five million or four million who will never watch a soccer game again. That could be. But for these that's fine, yeah, But for the other forty five million people, maybe there was ten of them that said, you know what, I want to see more of this, And there was definitely another thirty million that said I'm all in moving forward and this is what I want to be watching. So I think was there anything negative about it? Absolutely not. This has been nothing but great. Do I wish our team could have advanced a little bit more, Yeah, of course, because instead of fifty million, it might have been sixty million the next time. But here's where we are, and we've made a lot of progress and I'm really happy about it. It's been great.
00:08:55
Speaker 3: A few things I really liked a lot of what you said there. One like you talked about baseball. It's a great example and even beyond like the sound of the bat, stuff like you talk about it in the pastime, like whether it's baseball or basketball or football. Well, your grandparents might have had season tickets to the New York Giants or the Chicago Bears, and you might have grown up watching, you know, Commander's games, Dolphins games, Seahawks games with your family, like it's ingrained in you. Soccer is speaking just of MLS. MLS, you're only starting to see like the second generation of fans or whatever.
00:09:30
Speaker 2: Like the league is thirty years old.
00:09:34
Speaker 3: Soccer is obviously much a much older across the world, and there has been American soccer fans of European League South American leagues, particularly gat Mecki's, but it's part of the generational build and tab like that's that's why I keep tying it to ninety four like that that is a very tangible like all right, this is where the foundation starts, so that I'm growing up watching like some of my first memories with my family, Like, yeah, giants games for sure, like we were we love all the traditional sports. But I remember, like I was seven in the two thousand and two World Cup. I can hear JP Della CAMRA's voice from that tournament, Like I don't know how much I remember the highlights and stuff too, but that's because my parents were like, this is what we do, you know, on Sundays when we watch the Giants, okay, the World Cup the US were playing, we watch it together and those are the things that help build fans. And a second thread is I like in this in some ways to the Olympic hockey run. I like, I enjoy hockey, but there's just not enough time in the day to watch a billion soccer games. And then also, you know the Knicks that you've heard me scream about for a while, like there's just not enough time today, but I appreciate it.
00:10:37
Speaker 2: But I'm gonna tune in for the Olympics.
00:10:40
Speaker 3: And they like people didn't know who Jack Hughes was, the guy who scored the game winning goal in overtime in the Olympic final, but they do now. And even if you're not, I'm technically a Devil's I am a Devil's fan, but it's not like I watch them all the time, like that guy's a hero now he plays for the Devils. And there's a bunch of people in the country who had no idea before those moments. And maybe there's people in this country who didn't know who Pusick was, or didn't know much about Wes McKinney, you didn't know much about didn't know anything about Flaubaaligan. And now, whether you're gonna tune in for the September friendlies, or if you're gonna come back for the Gold Cup or the Copa America, if you're gonna come back for the next World Cup, this is where it starts to build. And to my point, before of like, yeah, like there, You're never gonna get fifty million outside of a World Cup and that's fine, but the fact that it's a big enough event for this to happen at all is usually positive. And yeah, Toad, we wish that the game went better, particularly for growing the game in this country. But it's I agree wholeheartedly with what you said. It's even though I framed it a little bit negatively, I think it's all positives and it would have been better to go out on your shield kind of like Mexico did, fighting until the death and Canada did as well. But at the end of the day, man like, this run was special and this is while we can be disappointed and critical of how it ended and where it ended, it's still positive tangible moving forward.
00:12:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, because what you want to get is you want to get eyes on the game. You know, that's what maintains the game. And I think we got eyes on it. You know, we have a major network on it. They they I think, are getting good returns on their investment in soccer this summer, and I think that we'll pay dividends for soccer down the road. You know, we don't know if obviously you know it's if it's likely that FIFA continues with with the hydration break, but I'm sure that MLS at some point is going to take it on because that's probably going to be good for business. And I'm not saying that's going to be good for the game, but I'm saying they're probably going to try to find a way to continue to deliver the game to the fans and try to figure out to make money at the same time. So you know, all these things, unfortunately have to come together for this to work. And I think this World Cup just the sheer numbers. Because of the sheer numbers, it just can't be ignored. Some people can choose to be ignored about it and decide that, you know, this sport doesn't matter, but this sport really matters, and actually now it matters in this country too.
00:13:09
Speaker 3: It certainly does, and the country comes together for these big moments. It's a sports country and I'm just really glad that soccer is in that conversations as it should be, and as Tad, we both knew that it was. But you can't argue with those numbers. Sometimes I can get annoyed listening to let's say, like traditional mate like ESPN or Fox on their like shows that focus on the NBA, the NFL and everything talking about the World Cup, and I need to stop myself from being annoyed, like oh, like that's an ignorant opinion or what are you talking about, Like, no, this is fifteen years ago we were saying, like the jokes ESPN would be making jokes, like the anchors would be making jokes about soccer. So again, these are just some of the ways that the games move forward. We'll keep discussing that this fallu but like well and truly, there's gonna be so many stories from this tournament, like there wasn't ninety four, and it's a huge boost for the game and hope for eternal and in the future will keep dissecting what went wrong or what could go right. But back kind of a little bit to the micro here. Balgin put up the statement. They put up a post on social media pretty much thanking the fans, talking about how great of inexperience it was his first World Cup and all, even though he's been thrust in the middle of a controversy that is straight up not his fault. I feel for him there. If there's anybody he's the most calm, cool and measured person in this team. And the way he's handled this from his initial red card through now, he's done nothing but class and I hope that people are recognizing that and are not conflating politics or the US government or even the bad decisions from FIFA with him, because he did nothing wrong. He got a controversial red card.
00:14:49
Speaker 2: We all know.
00:14:50
Speaker 3: It wasn't unintent, it wasn't dirty play, nothing. He was at the center of a controversy that he didn't have much control over, and I feel bad for him. The other piece of news is Mariso Pochatino. No news yet because he said he's gonna wait, take some time and then have discussions with the federation. We'll see kind of where that ends. But TAB from from your seat, what were your kind of favorite moments from this World Cup run for the United States?
00:15:18
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, in terms of favorite moments, you know, you have to say the beginning of the Paraguay game. We're just crazy, you know, the way we just came out all over this team. It just seemed like we could we were world beaters at that moment. We could just we could beat anyone, And it was really exciting to see because he knew it wasn't happening by chance. I mean, we have good players and they were all at the top of their game that day, and I think to see, you know, in particular, the full first half. You know, with a three zero lead, it's hard to make a whole half one moment, but that was that was certainly think what I will take out of this World Cup as that's the team that we want to always be right and so yeah, after that, I thought, you know, the team getting into the second round, I thought, you know, the Pochettino making all the changes for the third game against Turkey, and that second team really fighting to win the game. Obviously we lost it in the end, but that was still a very competitive team. We get into the second round, we have a really professional win. Even though we weren't at our best, we still were able to win a second round game. Of course, a World Cup is bigger now, but we did win a second round game playing with ten men for thirty minutes, and that was really what I thought would bring our team together enough to get us through the next game. I thought that would be fuel for the next game. Unfortunately, the next game couldn't be that. But I think if I had to take the moments, I would say that I would say, first half against Portugal, in the last thirty minutes against Bosnia.
00:16:58
Speaker 3: The first half against Paraguay. Yeah, in the last thirty minutes against Bosnia, I love. I'd like I love that to the again when when Pochatino brought the team together, so the hydration break came five minutes after Baligan's red card or something like that, and when he was saying, this is where we prove we're united. This is where we prove everything we say isn't just words, but its actions, like right now is the go show everybody, And then they outplayed Bosnia at ten verse eleven. It was really special stuff and I hope that doesn't get lost to history. Myself, Paul Scenario and Henry Bushnell at the Athletic we've just published a big inside read about the whole World Cup. I would encourage you guys to read it, not because of me, because I think Paul and Henry are the best and there's some good stuff in here, including like the fact that the game they were eliminated in Seattle, they played in Seattle against Australia and that Australia game is really where the phenomenon of singing country roads with the fans like really really caught on. They did it after the first game too, but the second game went because that was more of a surprise and I don't know if it's spontaneous or not, but like that was a thing. Second game, the whole stadium saying it, and the players loved every second. But it was incredible, like the connection between the players and the fans. So the juxtaposition of that same Bury field, those same blades of grass is where Chris Richards dropped to the drop to the ground like a lot of other players, but Chris Richards had his head in his hand, forehead on the turf for longer than any other player who was out helped up by a couple of his teammates, got some big hugs and while they're on the field in just heartbreak. They couldn't you know, Giorano was sitting out for the game. We didn't fathom anything other than we'd be flying the Los Angeles for the quarterfinal right now.
00:18:40
Speaker 2: This is He can't believe it. We can't believe this is how it ended.
00:18:43
Speaker 3: We can't believe it's over, Pochattino gathers the team as Belgium are the ones celebrating, and Belgium are mocking Donald Trump doing his dance, and the Belgian social media are putting up a picture of Lukaku's celebrating, saying overturn this. And in that moment, Pochettino, who we all think isn't here for the long term, whether he stays for a little bit longer or not, that's kind of the idea. He's out of contract now we'll see what happens. But even in that moment, Pochatino brings the team together. He looks around and he looks at them. He says, quote, belief doesn't end here. We have so much talent, so many good players. We can definitely achieve something in the future. We still gotta believe and that's all we can do, and that's all the team can do from here.
00:19:25
Speaker 2: But it's time for a quick break up.
00:19:27
Speaker 3: Next, we discussed the greatest player ever all my words, I don't know if it's Tabs or the greatest player ever, Lionel Messi in another incredible comeback.
00:19:35
Speaker 2: Win at the World Cup.
00:19:36
Speaker 3: And then we're gonna give our previews and DraftKings predictions for the quarterfox So please rate, review, and subscribe to Inside American Soccer with Tom Bog and Tab Brownless wherever you at your podcast. Welcome back to Inside American Soccer. It's time for our quarterfinal predictions segment, presented by our friends of DraftKings, the sports app that moves the game and is now available nationwide. TAB four quarterfinal matches ahead of us. I'm looking forward to every single one of them. Let's start with Francis Morocco. France is the overwhelming maybe not overwhelming, but they are the favorite at this stage of the tournament to go on and win it. This match is Thursday, Tab. Do you give Morocco any chance of pulling off the upside?
00:20:19
Speaker 1: Well, this is gonna be prob likely. You know, one of the best matchups of the whole tournament. You know, France, as you said, you know, has a great team. We've been talking about them. They just have so many options to score goals, and I know that, you know, Paraguay held them to just a one zero game by defending the whole time. However, I just don't think Morocco will do that. I think Morocco will take their chances to try to win their game, and because of that, they likely will get opened up a little bit. Morocco has a great team. Obviously, we all know about Hakimi, how he gets up and down the field. But he's gonna have to be a little bit more were careful because likely on his side he'll have his club teammates. Either it's either gonna be Barkala on that side or Doue on his side. So he knows those guys really well, and he knows those guys can hurt you. So I think it will be a good game. I like Morocco's chances. However, I think this is gonna be too much France. My Draftkinks pick for this game is France three Morocco one.
00:21:25
Speaker 3: You had me there, you said I like Morocco's chances. I was like, oh man, oh man. They are one hell of a team though, and running into France, anybody's gonna be the ononderdog. But hey, we'll see, we'll see what happens. They are one of two non European teams left in the quarterfinal stage. Let's go to the next game. It's an all European affair, Spain versus Belgium. Obviously this could have been the US. I could still be in Los Angeles right now, or I could have flown from there, but I'm not. I'm home because the US got eliminated by Belgium, Spain or another one of the heavyweights in this tournament. Belgium played Listen, I'm gonna throw out the They won a big game against Iraq. No district for Iraq. Their best performance, hands down, was against the United States. Given the opponent in the stage in the stakes, can they continue that against me?
00:22:11
Speaker 1: Well, A couple of things happened with his Belgium team right because as they were losing the senegalue before they played the US, the coach was forced to take off de Bruyna and Doku and in a moment when they were losing to zero, made the substitutions. Obviously controversial because these are big, big stars, and the team kind of turned things around because of it. Those guys didn't start the game against the US, and I think, if anything, that moment unified this team because I think Rudy Garcia went for it all at that moment, he said it's either this or nothing, because we're finished, and the team responded, you know, on top of that, they had the additional motivation with the situation with the US and Baligan card right, so that was additional, but it only brought this team even more together. And I think Belgium is at a really good place right now. I honestly think that this Spain Belgium game. Let me talk about Spain a little bit. Spain has not been convincing in this tournament, actually at all. You know, they do have good possession, but they're not a scary team. They're not the team that I thought they were going to be coming into this tournament. They're a good team, no question about it. They're still a contender. They can still potentially win the whole thing. But I think they're also a beatable team. Havn't said that. I think they're just gonna be a little bit more than Belgium. My DraftKings pick for this game is Spain won Belgium zero.
00:23:43
Speaker 2: That's the script for Spain.
00:23:44
Speaker 3: They control games really, really well, but they've been they've been a little bit toothless and attack and that's been a disappointment for me. Tap But we haven't heard a ton from Lemna Mal and it just feels like he's due so if he plays to his ability, then this team then I don't have any questions about him. But it's been very elusive for them because they don't have match winners anywhere near that degree in the attack. And if la Vamon isn't driving the game forward and creating special plays, then like you said, they they're not. They're not that scary going forward, but they control games and that'll be a fun one. Next up Norway versus England, Harry Kane versus Early Holland.
00:24:26
Speaker 2: This is gonna be a classic one too. I think Norway. I don't know what you think.
00:24:29
Speaker 3: Norway might be the neutral favorite at this stage, unless you know, are outside of the Leno messy ties with Argentina. But I think Norway has kind of captured captured the world with their play and and and with their fans.
00:24:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean certainly with their rowing, right. I think I think American fans are all in.
00:24:46
Speaker 2: I think this is because that's a that's an easy one to learn, and I.
00:24:50
Speaker 1: Say this, I think I think Norway is America's team. Norway is America Seamon. You know, once I saw Holland with the cowboy hat, I thought, man, if they win the next game. Norway is America's team and they are. It's great at this point, it's a great I think, you know, we talked about if the US had advanced that likely there would be in this country there would be sixty to seventy million people watching our game against Spain. I think in this quarter five of these quarterfinal games, this is the game that's going to draw the most. I think people can't wait to watch Holland. I think he's becoming a favorite in this country by people even from other sports, and I think they will they won't be able to wait to watch this game. I think this England Norway game is going to be a great one. But at the end of the day, at some point, you know, when you're rowing, at some point you're going to hit the shore, I think, and I think in this case England who England by the way, comes from a great win in Mexico, maybe one of their best all time wins, certainly on the road. Jude Bellingham comes from playing a game that I think can be put up with at the at the at the top of individual performances worldwide in any World Cup. Because of the whole circumstance of where he was playing the game, who he was playing against, at the altitude, the whole thing an absolute masterclass from him, and I think in the end England is going to be a little bit too much for me. My DraftKings pick in this game will be England to Norway one.
00:26:23
Speaker 3: I'm very much looking forward to it. And we talk about the Golden Boot race. Holland's up there with seven and Bope has seven and Lino Messi has eight. So let's go to Lino Messi and Argentina. They play Switzerland tab this is the first of all is a Golden Boot race for generation. I know that it sounds silly to say because every World Cup feels that way, but my god, you've got Messy and Poppa and Holland. There are automatic goals pretty much every time they play. Messi and Argentina come back in dramatic fashion against Egypt. That was an incredible, incredible game. And they're playing Switzerland. They're gonna be big favorites. Switzerland are not a team to overlook because it's a quarterfinal. They're really strong. Is there any upset potential here for Switzerland against this Argentina team.
00:27:03
Speaker 1: Let me start framing it this way, Argentina has not looked like the world champion that they were. The last World Cup, Cape Verdi took them to overtime. They won that game three two. Right at the end the game against Egypt, I think there were a couple of really tough calls that went their way, let's just put it that way, to win the game against Egypt. I think the Cape Verdy game was one of those where if you're argent if you're in Argentina's camp, you can chuck it up as you know what, maybe we were not ready for that one. You just had your second scare by being down to zero with fifteen minutes left against Egypt. I don't think they'll be surprised this time. I think this. I think this Switzerland team is much better than both Egypt and Cape Verde, so they certainly could beat Argentina. But I think this will be a much more prepared Argentina team than it was in the last two games. So I don't Switzerland winning this game. I think Argentina will take this game. My draft picks pick for this game will be Argentina to Switzerland one.
00:28:08
Speaker 3: I think we are set up for a one hell of a quarterfinals Slate tab. I can't wait to watch it and then I can't wait to talk to you about it all after these games. So thank you for listening Inside American Soccer. Please rate, review and subscriber you ever get your podcast.
00:28:20
Speaker 2: We'll be back on.
00:28:21
Speaker 3: Monday with a full breakdown of these games and look ahead to the semifinals and more USM and T talk.
00:28:26
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening. We'll be back very bagly.
00:28:35
Speaker 4: New DraftKings customers sign up with code DK one. Spend five bucks to get two hundred and rewards within twenty one days. That's Code DK one in partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours.
00:28:48
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Speaker 1: I know that out of the fifty million people, there's gonna be five million or four million who will never watch a soccer game again. Yeah, that could be.
00:00:07
Speaker 2: But for the that's fine.
00:00:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, But for the other forty five million people, maybe there was ten of them that said, you know what, I want to see more of this.
00:00:17
Speaker 2: What's going on? Everybody?
00:00:19
Speaker 3: Welcome back to Inside American Soccer. I am USM and T insider Tom Boger. I'm joined by one of the greatest players in US M and T history, tab Ramos tab We are now a few days following the US M and t's elimination from the World Cup in disappointing fashion at the hands of Belgium with the round of sixteen. I know you've been back home for a little bit after calling all the great games that you called. I got in early this morning, three am, after flying back from Seattle. I will say, throughout this trip, the travel between the cities, whether it was going from LA to the first knockout game, the first knock game to the second, you look around and there's USM and T people on your flight, Like you bump into somebody's dad or somebody's somebody's partner, or oh, I think that's somebody's kids. And the feeling between the games tab were was much much more positive. And then last night there was a lot of sad USM and T apparel on my flight from my very much delayed flight from Seattle back to the East Coast. So, Tom, I don't know if you've had a similar experience in your travels here.
00:01:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I mean, in old fairness, everywhere I've gone, I've seen US men's national team jerseys. You know, you see them all around the streets, and we've seen them all over the country. And again I was based mostly East coast of the Our national team was not anywhere near here, obviously, they were purely West Coast, but you still saw I mean, I saw national team jerseys every day, every day, everywhere I went, when I went for coffee in the mornings, when I took my flight to Toronto, from Toronto to New Jersey, you're always seeing national team jerseys, and I think, you know, that's obviously a great sign. It's a positive sign. Of course, you see in jerseys from all the other countries too, you know, you know, and if I have to say, I think i've seen Ecuador jerseys everywhere. I've seen Columbia jerseys everywhere I go, so there's always someone with a with a yellow on and I can't tell sometimes if it's Columbia Ecuador, but there's they're everywhere. And uh in Mexico jerseys as well. So those are some of the more I think populars that I've seen. Of course, Brazil is yellow too, so it could have been Brazil. But but yeah, it's been it's been really exciting, you know. And you you know, I do remember back in nineteen ninety four, you know, thinking why can't they just why why can't this just last like forever? Why isn't this the way it is all the time? Right? Uh? And and this is kind of the same, you know, as we're drawing towards the end of the tournament, and obviously I know that our team is out and that a lot of people are obviously disappointed about about that, including ourselves, and you know, at some point our run was probably going to end, right, but the World Cup is still here, and uh, and we have some great games coming up, I mean, the best games coming up. So this this is I'm still really excited about being a fan for the rest of it.
00:03:04
Speaker 3: You and me both My friend particularly though that you could feel it coming to an end, not just because the US are out. But we're recording on Wednesday. This is the first day since the opening match that there's been no World Cup game on today, so we're getting closer to the end. There's only a few games left, but these are the games that define legacies and win trophies, so I can't wait for it. Today we're gonna check back in on the fallout from USMNT after going out in the World Cup to Belgium. Then we're gonna talk about the rest of the World Cup, the some insane round of sixteen games, including Messi's stunning comeback with Argentina over Egypt, and then we're gonna break down the quarterfinal games to come, and Tab's gonna give his DraftKings match predictions. But let's start with the US TAB Monday, it was the most watched soccer game in US history, breaking the record from the game against Bosnia, and if they won the quarterfinal would have set a new record. So on one hand, it's really awesome. Thirty seven million people watched on Fox and another twelve million on Telemundo. It's almost fifty million people watching an American soccer game. It brings a tear to my eye. It's beautiful and I hope that these are going to create lasting connections. And I know it will because it did in nineteen ninety four. The ground work that you and that team did, the legends that you are helped build us this moment. But tab On, maybe maybe a pessimistic side is is there any worry to you that the dud open performance from the usmn T being the one that is now the most watched game in American soccer history.
00:04:39
Speaker 2: Do you think that's gonna have any adverse effects?
00:04:42
Speaker 1: That's a good question. And if the question is is it gonna have any at all? Yeah, it'll have some. You know. But you know, Tom, you've been playing soccer since you were born and as you've you know, grown up, just as me coming up in this country through when I was little. You know, you always find people who are going to be negative about soccer, regardless of what they're watching. And I think, you know, from our standpoint, you know, to have fifty million people watch our national team, I can't imagine that there's anything negative about that. I think it's all positive for me. And yes, of course you're going to have, you know, the American fan who only wants to watch NFL anyway, who's going to say, hey, you know, I tuned the game on just because I wanted that excitement. And I didn't see, you know, the Christian polistic become Tom Brady and throw that touchdown into the end zone. I didn't get that feeling. And yeah, you didn't get that feeling because you don't understand the game. And I think a lot of people who watch the game who have been in some sort of way involved with the game because their kids player or their grandchildren play, who can actually in a way understand the difficulty of passing a ball or hitting a ball over the top, or heading a ball or just the simple things that we do in soccer. I think those people appreciate the quality that they saw, and if they didn't appreciate it on the American team, they certainly appreciated it on the Belgian team. But they did appreciate it. And I think that there's a value there because I'll say this. You know, I'm not a baseball fan. You know, obviously, I you know, as you know, I was not born in this country. But but I but I do know that that's our you know, pastime. You know, baseball is the old American pastime, and I understand that, but I didn't understand it until a baseball fan explained to me why they like baseball, and because to me, baseball looks, you know, in a way like it looks like to some of these fifty million people that watch the game, let's say ten million of them would have felt this way like I feel about baseball. I don't really understand it. Okay, so you go into the ninth inning and it's a shutout, and you know, and to me it's just as boring because nothing's going on. But then somebody said this to me, you know, they said, you know, there's nothing to me like the sound of the ball hitting that the wooden bat. And at that point I got it and I understood that by the sound of the ball and the bat, a baseball fan can tell where the ball is going. They can tell if they got a hold of it or if they didn't, and that has a huge value. And forget everything else, forget the stadium, forget the field they'reund, forget the team they're on, just the sound of the ball and for the soccer fan. We have to remember, and this goes for the people who really understand golf, that it's really difficult to kick a soccer ball as you're running right, And I'm going to the basics here. Maybe World Cup, a World Cup episode is not the time to do it. But for those millions of people, those ten million people that watch it are new, some of them are going to recognize that. You know, when you get on a golf course and you're standing by yourself and you need complete silence, no one making a sound, so that you can hit a golf ball with a club, Well, try hitting a soccer ball running with the same spin that you're hitting that golf ball. And that's kind of what it is. And it's the difficulty of a pass that a soccer fan recognizes when they watch a game. It's not all about the goals. We can watch a gray zero zero game. So I'm hoping that not only am I hoping, I know that out of the fifty million people, there's going to be five million or four million who will never watch a soccer game again. That could be. But for these that's fine, yeah, But for the other forty five million people, maybe there was ten of them that said, you know what, I want to see more of this, And there was definitely another thirty million that said I'm all in moving forward and this is what I want to be watching. So I think was there anything negative about it? Absolutely not. This has been nothing but great. Do I wish our team could have advanced a little bit more, Yeah, of course, because instead of fifty million, it might have been sixty million the next time. But here's where we are, and we've made a lot of progress and I'm really happy about it. It's been great.
00:08:55
Speaker 3: A few things I really liked a lot of what you said there. One like you talked about baseball. It's a great example and even beyond like the sound of the bat, stuff like you talk about it in the pastime, like whether it's baseball or basketball or football. Well, your grandparents might have had season tickets to the New York Giants or the Chicago Bears, and you might have grown up watching, you know, Commander's games, Dolphins games, Seahawks games with your family, like it's ingrained in you. Soccer is speaking just of MLS. MLS, you're only starting to see like the second generation of fans or whatever.
00:09:30
Speaker 2: Like the league is thirty years old.
00:09:34
Speaker 3: Soccer is obviously much a much older across the world, and there has been American soccer fans of European League South American leagues, particularly gat Mecki's, but it's part of the generational build and tab like that's that's why I keep tying it to ninety four like that that is a very tangible like all right, this is where the foundation starts, so that I'm growing up watching like some of my first memories with my family, Like, yeah, giants games for sure, like we were we love all the traditional sports. But I remember, like I was seven in the two thousand and two World Cup. I can hear JP Della CAMRA's voice from that tournament, Like I don't know how much I remember the highlights and stuff too, but that's because my parents were like, this is what we do, you know, on Sundays when we watch the Giants, okay, the World Cup the US were playing, we watch it together and those are the things that help build fans. And a second thread is I like in this in some ways to the Olympic hockey run. I like, I enjoy hockey, but there's just not enough time in the day to watch a billion soccer games. And then also, you know the Knicks that you've heard me scream about for a while, like there's just not enough time today, but I appreciate it.
00:10:37
Speaker 2: But I'm gonna tune in for the Olympics.
00:10:40
Speaker 3: And they like people didn't know who Jack Hughes was, the guy who scored the game winning goal in overtime in the Olympic final, but they do now. And even if you're not, I'm technically a Devil's I am a Devil's fan, but it's not like I watch them all the time, like that guy's a hero now he plays for the Devils. And there's a bunch of people in the country who had no idea before those moments. And maybe there's people in this country who didn't know who Pusick was, or didn't know much about Wes McKinney, you didn't know much about didn't know anything about Flaubaaligan. And now, whether you're gonna tune in for the September friendlies, or if you're gonna come back for the Gold Cup or the Copa America, if you're gonna come back for the next World Cup, this is where it starts to build. And to my point, before of like, yeah, like there, You're never gonna get fifty million outside of a World Cup and that's fine, but the fact that it's a big enough event for this to happen at all is usually positive. And yeah, Toad, we wish that the game went better, particularly for growing the game in this country. But it's I agree wholeheartedly with what you said. It's even though I framed it a little bit negatively, I think it's all positives and it would have been better to go out on your shield kind of like Mexico did, fighting until the death and Canada did as well. But at the end of the day, man like, this run was special and this is while we can be disappointed and critical of how it ended and where it ended, it's still positive tangible moving forward.
00:12:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, because what you want to get is you want to get eyes on the game. You know, that's what maintains the game. And I think we got eyes on it. You know, we have a major network on it. They they I think, are getting good returns on their investment in soccer this summer, and I think that we'll pay dividends for soccer down the road. You know, we don't know if obviously you know it's if it's likely that FIFA continues with with the hydration break, but I'm sure that MLS at some point is going to take it on because that's probably going to be good for business. And I'm not saying that's going to be good for the game, but I'm saying they're probably going to try to find a way to continue to deliver the game to the fans and try to figure out to make money at the same time. So you know, all these things, unfortunately have to come together for this to work. And I think this World Cup just the sheer numbers. Because of the sheer numbers, it just can't be ignored. Some people can choose to be ignored about it and decide that, you know, this sport doesn't matter, but this sport really matters, and actually now it matters in this country too.
00:13:09
Speaker 3: It certainly does, and the country comes together for these big moments. It's a sports country and I'm just really glad that soccer is in that conversations as it should be, and as Tad, we both knew that it was. But you can't argue with those numbers. Sometimes I can get annoyed listening to let's say, like traditional mate like ESPN or Fox on their like shows that focus on the NBA, the NFL and everything talking about the World Cup, and I need to stop myself from being annoyed, like oh, like that's an ignorant opinion or what are you talking about, Like, no, this is fifteen years ago we were saying, like the jokes ESPN would be making jokes, like the anchors would be making jokes about soccer. So again, these are just some of the ways that the games move forward. We'll keep discussing that this fallu but like well and truly, there's gonna be so many stories from this tournament, like there wasn't ninety four, and it's a huge boost for the game and hope for eternal and in the future will keep dissecting what went wrong or what could go right. But back kind of a little bit to the micro here. Balgin put up the statement. They put up a post on social media pretty much thanking the fans, talking about how great of inexperience it was his first World Cup and all, even though he's been thrust in the middle of a controversy that is straight up not his fault. I feel for him there. If there's anybody he's the most calm, cool and measured person in this team. And the way he's handled this from his initial red card through now, he's done nothing but class and I hope that people are recognizing that and are not conflating politics or the US government or even the bad decisions from FIFA with him, because he did nothing wrong. He got a controversial red card.
00:14:49
Speaker 2: We all know.
00:14:50
Speaker 3: It wasn't unintent, it wasn't dirty play, nothing. He was at the center of a controversy that he didn't have much control over, and I feel bad for him. The other piece of news is Mariso Pochatino. No news yet because he said he's gonna wait, take some time and then have discussions with the federation. We'll see kind of where that ends. But TAB from from your seat, what were your kind of favorite moments from this World Cup run for the United States?
00:15:18
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, in terms of favorite moments, you know, you have to say the beginning of the Paraguay game. We're just crazy, you know, the way we just came out all over this team. It just seemed like we could we were world beaters at that moment. We could just we could beat anyone, And it was really exciting to see because he knew it wasn't happening by chance. I mean, we have good players and they were all at the top of their game that day, and I think to see, you know, in particular, the full first half. You know, with a three zero lead, it's hard to make a whole half one moment, but that was that was certainly think what I will take out of this World Cup as that's the team that we want to always be right and so yeah, after that, I thought, you know, the team getting into the second round, I thought, you know, the Pochettino making all the changes for the third game against Turkey, and that second team really fighting to win the game. Obviously we lost it in the end, but that was still a very competitive team. We get into the second round, we have a really professional win. Even though we weren't at our best, we still were able to win a second round game. Of course, a World Cup is bigger now, but we did win a second round game playing with ten men for thirty minutes, and that was really what I thought would bring our team together enough to get us through the next game. I thought that would be fuel for the next game. Unfortunately, the next game couldn't be that. But I think if I had to take the moments, I would say that I would say, first half against Portugal, in the last thirty minutes against Bosnia.
00:16:58
Speaker 3: The first half against Paraguay. Yeah, in the last thirty minutes against Bosnia, I love. I'd like I love that to the again when when Pochatino brought the team together, so the hydration break came five minutes after Baligan's red card or something like that, and when he was saying, this is where we prove we're united. This is where we prove everything we say isn't just words, but its actions, like right now is the go show everybody, And then they outplayed Bosnia at ten verse eleven. It was really special stuff and I hope that doesn't get lost to history. Myself, Paul Scenario and Henry Bushnell at the Athletic we've just published a big inside read about the whole World Cup. I would encourage you guys to read it, not because of me, because I think Paul and Henry are the best and there's some good stuff in here, including like the fact that the game they were eliminated in Seattle, they played in Seattle against Australia and that Australia game is really where the phenomenon of singing country roads with the fans like really really caught on. They did it after the first game too, but the second game went because that was more of a surprise and I don't know if it's spontaneous or not, but like that was a thing. Second game, the whole stadium saying it, and the players loved every second. But it was incredible, like the connection between the players and the fans. So the juxtaposition of that same Bury field, those same blades of grass is where Chris Richards dropped to the drop to the ground like a lot of other players, but Chris Richards had his head in his hand, forehead on the turf for longer than any other player who was out helped up by a couple of his teammates, got some big hugs and while they're on the field in just heartbreak. They couldn't you know, Giorano was sitting out for the game. We didn't fathom anything other than we'd be flying the Los Angeles for the quarterfinal right now.
00:18:40
Speaker 2: This is He can't believe it. We can't believe this is how it ended.
00:18:43
Speaker 3: We can't believe it's over, Pochattino gathers the team as Belgium are the ones celebrating, and Belgium are mocking Donald Trump doing his dance, and the Belgian social media are putting up a picture of Lukaku's celebrating, saying overturn this. And in that moment, Pochettino, who we all think isn't here for the long term, whether he stays for a little bit longer or not, that's kind of the idea. He's out of contract now we'll see what happens. But even in that moment, Pochatino brings the team together. He looks around and he looks at them. He says, quote, belief doesn't end here. We have so much talent, so many good players. We can definitely achieve something in the future. We still gotta believe and that's all we can do, and that's all the team can do from here.
00:19:25
Speaker 2: But it's time for a quick break up.
00:19:27
Speaker 3: Next, we discussed the greatest player ever all my words, I don't know if it's Tabs or the greatest player ever, Lionel Messi in another incredible comeback.
00:19:35
Speaker 2: Win at the World Cup.
00:19:36
Speaker 3: And then we're gonna give our previews and DraftKings predictions for the quarterfox So please rate, review, and subscribe to Inside American Soccer with Tom Bog and Tab Brownless wherever you at your podcast. Welcome back to Inside American Soccer. It's time for our quarterfinal predictions segment, presented by our friends of DraftKings, the sports app that moves the game and is now available nationwide. TAB four quarterfinal matches ahead of us. I'm looking forward to every single one of them. Let's start with Francis Morocco. France is the overwhelming maybe not overwhelming, but they are the favorite at this stage of the tournament to go on and win it. This match is Thursday, Tab. Do you give Morocco any chance of pulling off the upside?
00:20:19
Speaker 1: Well, this is gonna be prob likely. You know, one of the best matchups of the whole tournament. You know, France, as you said, you know, has a great team. We've been talking about them. They just have so many options to score goals, and I know that, you know, Paraguay held them to just a one zero game by defending the whole time. However, I just don't think Morocco will do that. I think Morocco will take their chances to try to win their game, and because of that, they likely will get opened up a little bit. Morocco has a great team. Obviously, we all know about Hakimi, how he gets up and down the field. But he's gonna have to be a little bit more were careful because likely on his side he'll have his club teammates. Either it's either gonna be Barkala on that side or Doue on his side. So he knows those guys really well, and he knows those guys can hurt you. So I think it will be a good game. I like Morocco's chances. However, I think this is gonna be too much France. My Draftkinks pick for this game is France three Morocco one.
00:21:25
Speaker 3: You had me there, you said I like Morocco's chances. I was like, oh man, oh man. They are one hell of a team though, and running into France, anybody's gonna be the ononderdog. But hey, we'll see, we'll see what happens. They are one of two non European teams left in the quarterfinal stage. Let's go to the next game. It's an all European affair, Spain versus Belgium. Obviously this could have been the US. I could still be in Los Angeles right now, or I could have flown from there, but I'm not. I'm home because the US got eliminated by Belgium, Spain or another one of the heavyweights in this tournament. Belgium played Listen, I'm gonna throw out the They won a big game against Iraq. No district for Iraq. Their best performance, hands down, was against the United States. Given the opponent in the stage in the stakes, can they continue that against me?
00:22:11
Speaker 1: Well, A couple of things happened with his Belgium team right because as they were losing the senegalue before they played the US, the coach was forced to take off de Bruyna and Doku and in a moment when they were losing to zero, made the substitutions. Obviously controversial because these are big, big stars, and the team kind of turned things around because of it. Those guys didn't start the game against the US, and I think, if anything, that moment unified this team because I think Rudy Garcia went for it all at that moment, he said it's either this or nothing, because we're finished, and the team responded, you know, on top of that, they had the additional motivation with the situation with the US and Baligan card right, so that was additional, but it only brought this team even more together. And I think Belgium is at a really good place right now. I honestly think that this Spain Belgium game. Let me talk about Spain a little bit. Spain has not been convincing in this tournament, actually at all. You know, they do have good possession, but they're not a scary team. They're not the team that I thought they were going to be coming into this tournament. They're a good team, no question about it. They're still a contender. They can still potentially win the whole thing. But I think they're also a beatable team. Havn't said that. I think they're just gonna be a little bit more than Belgium. My DraftKings pick for this game is Spain won Belgium zero.
00:23:43
Speaker 2: That's the script for Spain.
00:23:44
Speaker 3: They control games really, really well, but they've been they've been a little bit toothless and attack and that's been a disappointment for me. Tap But we haven't heard a ton from Lemna Mal and it just feels like he's due so if he plays to his ability, then this team then I don't have any questions about him. But it's been very elusive for them because they don't have match winners anywhere near that degree in the attack. And if la Vamon isn't driving the game forward and creating special plays, then like you said, they they're not. They're not that scary going forward, but they control games and that'll be a fun one. Next up Norway versus England, Harry Kane versus Early Holland.
00:24:26
Speaker 2: This is gonna be a classic one too. I think Norway. I don't know what you think.
00:24:29
Speaker 3: Norway might be the neutral favorite at this stage, unless you know, are outside of the Leno messy ties with Argentina. But I think Norway has kind of captured captured the world with their play and and and with their fans.
00:24:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean certainly with their rowing, right. I think I think American fans are all in.
00:24:46
Speaker 2: I think this is because that's a that's an easy one to learn, and I.
00:24:50
Speaker 1: Say this, I think I think Norway is America's team. Norway is America Seamon. You know, once I saw Holland with the cowboy hat, I thought, man, if they win the next game. Norway is America's team and they are. It's great at this point, it's a great I think, you know, we talked about if the US had advanced that likely there would be in this country there would be sixty to seventy million people watching our game against Spain. I think in this quarter five of these quarterfinal games, this is the game that's going to draw the most. I think people can't wait to watch Holland. I think he's becoming a favorite in this country by people even from other sports, and I think they will they won't be able to wait to watch this game. I think this England Norway game is going to be a great one. But at the end of the day, at some point, you know, when you're rowing, at some point you're going to hit the shore, I think, and I think in this case England who England by the way, comes from a great win in Mexico, maybe one of their best all time wins, certainly on the road. Jude Bellingham comes from playing a game that I think can be put up with at the at the at the top of individual performances worldwide in any World Cup. Because of the whole circumstance of where he was playing the game, who he was playing against, at the altitude, the whole thing an absolute masterclass from him, and I think in the end England is going to be a little bit too much for me. My DraftKings pick in this game will be England to Norway one.
00:26:23
Speaker 3: I'm very much looking forward to it. And we talk about the Golden Boot race. Holland's up there with seven and Bope has seven and Lino Messi has eight. So let's go to Lino Messi and Argentina. They play Switzerland tab this is the first of all is a Golden Boot race for generation. I know that it sounds silly to say because every World Cup feels that way, but my god, you've got Messy and Poppa and Holland. There are automatic goals pretty much every time they play. Messi and Argentina come back in dramatic fashion against Egypt. That was an incredible, incredible game. And they're playing Switzerland. They're gonna be big favorites. Switzerland are not a team to overlook because it's a quarterfinal. They're really strong. Is there any upset potential here for Switzerland against this Argentina team.
00:27:03
Speaker 1: Let me start framing it this way, Argentina has not looked like the world champion that they were. The last World Cup, Cape Verdi took them to overtime. They won that game three two. Right at the end the game against Egypt, I think there were a couple of really tough calls that went their way, let's just put it that way, to win the game against Egypt. I think the Cape Verdy game was one of those where if you're argent if you're in Argentina's camp, you can chuck it up as you know what, maybe we were not ready for that one. You just had your second scare by being down to zero with fifteen minutes left against Egypt. I don't think they'll be surprised this time. I think this. I think this Switzerland team is much better than both Egypt and Cape Verde, so they certainly could beat Argentina. But I think this will be a much more prepared Argentina team than it was in the last two games. So I don't Switzerland winning this game. I think Argentina will take this game. My draft picks pick for this game will be Argentina to Switzerland one.
00:28:08
Speaker 3: I think we are set up for a one hell of a quarterfinals Slate tab. I can't wait to watch it and then I can't wait to talk to you about it all after these games. So thank you for listening Inside American Soccer. Please rate, review and subscriber you ever get your podcast.
00:28:20
Speaker 2: We'll be back on.
00:28:21
Speaker 3: Monday with a full breakdown of these games and look ahead to the semifinals and more USM and T talk.
00:28:26
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening. We'll be back very bagly.
00:28:35
Speaker 4: New DraftKings customers sign up with code DK one. Spend five bucks to get two hundred and rewards within twenty one days. That's Code DK one in partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours.
00:28:48
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