Futbol Americas: Brenden Aaronson Breaks Through

22:26I think it's significantly coincided with the form of Fulham. Fulham got off to a slow start. Raul got off to a slow start. A lot of stuff, you know, you need goals. Goals win games. Goals then create kind of a buzz. And when you get a striker that gets hot and then you kind of keep a few balls out of the back of the net, you get some players that come back into the equation from injury. And all of a sudden, you've got that confidence not only as an individual but as a team. Everybody benefits from it. And I think Raul helped Fulham benefit. And the other players in their form have helped Raul benefit.

23:03And in the end, if you're a Fulham fan or an ex-Fulham player, you're excited to see Fulham have that success. I think it's pretty evident. It's very simple. I've found it a lot easier to score goals when I'm on the field. That helps, sir. Rodrigo Muñiz was the guy who was on the field. He was the younger, healthier, stronger, more informed forward, and Marco Sido has given him the lion's share of the minutes.

23:28Herc Gomez:He gets injured. In comes Raul Jimenez and proves, hey, the old guy in the tank who's going to be 35 at the World Cup, by the way, still has something here. And what Raul provides that I think is so important, He's not only a goal scorer, unbelievable goal scoring record, but he's a facilitator. There are some passes, assists, the vision, the technical ability, the touch in the final third. Look at this pass right here. That's not normal. That is 9.5, 10, you know, playmaking ability. He's a complete forward, so he's just a player, and he's a guaranteed from the spot. One of the best penalty kick shooters in world football today.

24:05Herc Gomez:He's a guy who makes you more of a well-rounded team, and he gives you for his old, and I say this respectfully, for as mature as he is, he gives you such an honest work ethic in the way they defend, in the way you can structure the team. He really is the complete package for your team. He's getting those minutes today. Muñiz isn't getting those minutes. He's getting those minutes, hence why you're seeing the production. Yeah, he's really made a name for himself in the Premier League. I'm not saying that he's top five in the Premier League case, but he's one of the more recognizable players that we've seen in the league because of that work ethic that he's put in throughout the years.

24:40Now, what does this mean for Mexico and the World Cup? How much are they kind of leaning on him being healthy and in good form? Well, they're going to because there's no other real natural goal scores for Mexico right now. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, if they had a 25-year-old Chicharito, you wouldn't have to worry about this. And even when you had a 25-year-old, you still need somebody to compliment you. It was Oribe Peralta who was starting. There was always something. But I agree with you. Right. So now you've got somebody that you're thinking, okay, just like we got done talking about Brendan Aronson, you got somebody that maybe when the season started in August, you're thinking, is he going to be a part of this?

25:24Can he still produce? And to Herk's point, was it necessarily playing? Was it? Then circumstances change. You have a busy schedule in England over Christmas, New Year's. You catch form at the right time. You now go into that second half of the season. And I'm not saying you got to have the same kind of production, but you have to have continual production, not necessarily five goals in six games or whatever, but keep producing. Finish with 10, 12 goals, 13 goals. Fulham ends up in a good mid-table position. Everyone's in a good buzz going into the World Cup. And Mexico says, hey, look, he's doing it at this level.

26:07He's going to do it at this level as well. You want the good news or you want the bad news? I always like the bad news first. You want the bad news? Yeah, rip the bandaid. It's Raul Jimenez y diez más. That is the bad news. You don't have a viable, confident goalkeeper. You don't know who your right back is. You don't know who the second center back is for Johan Vasquez. You have no idea where Edson Albers is going to play, if he's going to play center back or if he's going to play defensive midfield. You have no idea who's going to accompany and be the danger man for Raul Jimenez. Is it going to be all your hopes on Gilberto Mora, teenage Gilberto Mora, who's on the right-hand side?

26:41Herc Gomez:And you don't have a playmaker. Is your playmaker going to be the same playmaker he is for Toluca? Because he's not shown that, Alexis Vega. He's not shown that with the national team. There's so many questions about this national. The only question you don't have. Did you see the big smile on my face? The only question you don't have is what you're going to get out of Raul Jimenez. Right. That is the bad news. The good news is if he's playing like this, I don't care if he's 35 years old next summer. Absolutely. If he's playing like this and you're with that fan base. Age doesn't mean anything.

27:10Herc Gomez:And you're with that venue. Azteca. The altitude. The smog. The pollution. Bring it on. Under that sun. Bring it on. Bring it on. that's somebody you can count on. And he's looking for his vindication. He's looking for his Raul Jimenez moment that he's not had in three World Cups. 2014, he wasn't the man. 2018, wasn't the man. 2022, he went hurt, wasn't the man. He's not scored his goal. He's not been the man. He's looking to be the man. This is good if you're Mexico, that you have your best player in form. But going back to what Casey said, you're six months away. can he still do this in form come summertime 35 year old asking him to be well for I'm not saying they're going to go eight games but if you have a realistic opportunity of winning a world cup that's eight games in a short span tournaments are a young man's game yeah Mexico doesn't want to go into it saying we can only play him for maybe 60 minutes for each game I don't he doesn't want to go into that tournament thinking that either yeah I think the way he plays his fitness I don't think it's a problem.

28:19Yeah, agreed. All right, let's move on. We're going to run it back with another player. Maybe the Mexican national team is still eyeing. Who knows? Julián Quiñones scoring his ninth goal of the season. No, Case, explain this. I don't know what. Ayo. Shaq is traffic. Yeah, Shaq is traffic indeed. Case, thoughts? What are you doing? What are you doing here? You have one job, and I'm so tired. to not do that. I'm going on a rant. Here we go. I am so tired of... Clock it, January 8th. When I hear a coach talk about the first thing they say about a goalkeeper is how good he is with his feet. I lose my mind.

29:03Your job is to keep the ball out of the back of the net. If you completed a pass in wherever the heck you thought you needed to be to receive that pass to begin with, kick it in the 10th row. I don't care. Do your job. Yeah. And I'm losing my mind with this. I'm hoping that it is starting to shift. And coaches and fans and everybody, because fans got sold this. Fans stopped for, what the hell's my goalkeeper doing this stupid stuff for? And then all the coaches would say, oh, no, this is what we need. No, keep the ball in the back of the net. By the way, that was Cristiano Zanlazar, that Julian Quinonez is on an absolute tear.

29:48Whether that does him any good for the Mexican national team, I don't know. That goal is going to do him good. That tear. Creating that pressure. He doesn't seem to be del agrado of the, you know, like, that he's not well liked, looks this way by Javier Aguirre in the Mexican national team. Yeah, it would be maybe a little bit of a surprise to see him in the World Cup roster for sure. this is no surprise though Available weekdays Are you working tomorrow? I am working tomorrow Oh finally This guy was off for three weeks Anyway, it's available on YouTube At Aura Onunca ESPN Quick time out Some breakfast intel you want to know about Kodiak Frozen Power Waffles and Flapjacks are built for busy mornings Heat it, eat it, and you're out the door No long prep, no complicated game plan They're packed with 12 to 14 grams of protein per serving, a good source of fiber, and crafted with 100 % whole grains, not refined white flour.

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31:42No rest for Atletico de Madrid or Real Madrid. They were in the Spanish Super Cup semifinal. Quite the atmosphere. No surprise there. A lot of Madrid fans, by the way. Let's take it to the second minute, though. Indeed hurt by Fede Valverde. Worst thing that could happen to Atletico is then they've got to come out. They can't just sit back. This is both well-struck and an absolute mess by the wall in John Oblak. That's impressive. I would have liked one more person in the wall. I would have liked that wall at least. What's going on here? This is the start of it. And this is where it looks like it's a little bit funny.

32:18And look, Vinny's kind of laughing a little bit. Yeah, Diego Simone and Vinicius Jr. just going back and forth for those listening. Who knows? To be a fly, I wouldn't say on the wall, maybe near the bench. 55th minute, though, Real Madrid. Would Rodrigo get the last laugh? Gonzalo with a good movement, opens it up. Good ball by Valdez. Rodrigo Lenormand here. I don't know why he makes it that easy for Rodrigo. Good finish by Rodrigo. Look at this. Got to make him feel you. It can't be as easy. And honestly, without doing a whole lot of luck, you're up. Well, Rodrigo missed a good chance earlier.

32:49He did. And so that was a great redemption moment. 58th minute. Atletico in Madrid. Case finally putting one in the back of the night. Yeah. Yeah. Sorlot is just a beast in the air. He gives just a tiny little nudge. creates the space and then just dunks it. And this one you thought, okay, is Atletico going to get that opportunity to find an equalizer? Lots of subs come on. And then, you hear the crowd? You hear the crowd? Just pointing it out for Vinicius Jr. is Diego Simeone. You know, in case he hadn't noticed. And Vinny Jr. reacting a little bit to it. Valverde, I would have loved to have heard that comment too.

33:31but 96 minutes again the question is who would get the last laugh and opportunity for Atletico de Madrid. Real Madrid wins it 2-1 and here are the coaches after this one especially on the incident.

34:02I don't know what he said to me. And for me, not everything is worth. I have to respect the rival. And everything that happens in the field has a limit. I wanted to ask if you can tell us what happened in the first part of the rotation with Vinicius, as in the next part of the change. What conversation have you had? No, I have nothing to mention because what happens in the field is Since we were young, he stayed there. Nothing to comment.

35:00Ah, I plead the fifth. It was Simone. Has this ever happened to you guys? The opposing coach coming at you? No, not. I had a moment with Jurgen Klopp. Where. The Mines? Yeah. Okay. And we conceded a bad equalizer late in a match. And at Borussia Park. and Klopp runs from the goal back behind my goal, celebrates with the fans while the game's still going on on the re-kick, right? Next season, we play Mainz's first match of the season. I make two or three big saves, one against Connor Casey, and win the game like 1-0. And Klopp says something to me as I'm coming off the pitch like good game, Casey, or whatever, And I said, oh, sorry, I didn't give you a chance to come celebrate behind my goal this year.

36:02And then we kind of walked in the tunnel. It was it was a whole lot of nothing, but never something that was so visible, something that was like so in the moment during the game with a player coming off from two of the bigger names. And it wasn't the player saying it to the rival coach. It was the coach saying it to the player, which, to Xavi's point, win with class, lose with class. And this is something I don't remember ever seeing. In CONCACAF terms, the closest that we've ever came to this in CONCACAF was seeing Javier Aguirre kick a Panamanian player, or was it an Honduran player? In a Gold Cup back in the day.

36:46That's the closest we have come to anything similar. I've never seen this. I've never seen the player jawing to the head coach, the head coach jawing to the player. Well, we saw this in Guardalas, too, a few months ago.

36:57Herc Gomez:But not to this extent where you can visibly see that he's taunting the player and telling the player, do you hear that? Do you hear the crowd telling the player that the president of the team is going to get rid of him? And then at the presser kind of making light of the situation, first by saying, we don't, you know, this is beyond code, we don't talk about this, and then saying, hey, I don't recall. You know, I've got a complicated memory. But look, we've all had coaches that, you know, are definitely more gregarious and talk a lot and maybe say something. And it's usually good natured. Like you saw like the first time you thought, oh, maybe they're just kind of joking around a little bit.

37:35But clearly, Simeone was everybody knows Vinny Jr. will implode. Yeah. And so you could just see Simeone trying to get him to do something. And there's no need for it. Yeah. So this is what Vinicius Jr., because of course it continued on social media. Someone posting Cholo Simeone versus Vinicius. And he responded, has perdido otra eliminatoria, meaning that you lost another knockout round. That's now, I believe, 10 out of the last 15 against Real Madrid that Cholo Simeone has lost. And the funny thing is that this game was maybe a game you can make a case for that Chole Simeone and Adeligo didn't deserve to lose.

38:19Yeah. Agreed. So it kind of adds a little sting to Vinicius, who didn't have, quite frankly, a great game. We're talking about him right now because of this situation, not because of the good football that he played.

38:33Herc Gomez:The once, two seasons ago, Ballon d 'Or candidate maybe should have won in the eyes of many, in my eyes included. Today we're talking about him because it's extra cancha, extra football, what happens outside of that green rectangle. And the fact that it was initiated not from Vinny or not from a fan or not from a hard tackle from another player, but initiated from the opponent's manager. But you know what I think? You could think of what you want the class that Jolo Simeone showed or did not show, but I think this goes to show you that the opponent now thinks they can get under Vinicius' skin.

39:09and that there's a way to take him out of that talent level and into their world. Yeah, rival fans are doing it. Rival players are doing it. A manager needs to be a little above that. And I think that's the point that Xavi was making. Yeah, all right. We're going to talk about what Diego Simone did as a manager during this game and in last game because we saw Johnny Cardoso again getting some minutes here, New Jersey's own Cardoso coming off the bench for Atletico Madrid in back-to-back matches, playing 30 minutes against Real Sociedad in the quarterfinal and earlier today in Atleti's semifinal losses we just saw against Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup.

39:53What did you make of his participation today, Case? In all honesty, I didn't see a lot of him, which is okay if you're a defensive midfielder. And I think a lot of times I thought, and you guys mentioned it or alluded to it, that Atletico Madrid for large sections of this match were the better team. Had more possession. But every once in a while, Real Madrid would show you that class. But I think Johnny got off to a rough start. Then he got injured. You know, and now he really has to fight hard to be able to get minutes and to prove at a club with a ton of talent, with a deep squad. I have a feeling that this World Cup is going to come a little bit quick for him.

40:42I was very surprised he didn't start today, if I'm being honest. I was too. Pablo Barrios wasn't playing. He's a big part of that, you know, Atletico Madrid center midfield. They go with Koke and they go with Connor Gallagher. Not exactly that presence in the center of field, that sticking to him, if you will, Johnny Cardoso. I thought Johnny would have gotten, because when Johnny's healthy, he has been playing throughout the league. He doesn't get the start, but he comes on. And I thought they did very well. I agree with Casey oftentimes as a defensive midfielder. The less you see of him is the better.

41:11But he was behind the ball. He was orchestrating. He was breaking up a place. He got on the end of a few set pieces with his head.

41:18Herc Gomez:slowly but surely Johnny needs to earn his spot, earn his place in a very, I would say, difficult setting playing for Cholo Simeone. Maybe suits his style, but isn't an easy feat by any means. But he needs to do it quick because he is still, for the U.S. men's national team, he is still where Malik Tillman once was. Great club player, not doing it for the national team until Malik Tillman did it for the national team. So Malik Tillman was doing well at Rangers. He was doing well at PSV. He's doing well at Leverkusen. But there was always something missing with the national team. That's been the M.O.

41:53with Johnny Cardoso. Internacional, Real Betis, Atlético Madrid. But he hasn't gotten that going with the national team. And I agree with Case.

42:02Herc Gomez:You've got six months to make a case and earn your place. Well, it's less than that. Well, it is less than that, Chris. And you're right because there's only two fixtures for the national team until pretty much the sendoff for the World Cup. Yeah. So you have to prove to Pochettino that your form at a club the size of Atletico Madrid is so good that you can't ignore him. And so far that hasn't been the case in his tenure at Atletico Madrid. Some of it because of injury and some of it because you have this guy named Koke who has played a couple matches. Pablo Barrios has been phenomenal. He's making a chance to be in the Spanish Nationals.

42:43Yeah, it's, you know, Connor Gallagher was brought in to play that role as well. But because and then he had been pushed out wide at different times. But but Johnny doesn't have the physical ability that that Connor Gallagher has to be able to play out wide. So so, yeah, it's a it wasn't easy. But again, get your club football right and then see what happens with the national team. Yeah, the clock is ticking. It's crazy how fast this World Cup is approaching. and I'm sure Johnny Cardoso feels the same and making a move right now would be really difficult for him to be able to adapt and to have those minutes here with Atlético de Madrid.

43:21Let's talk about another move that we saw, but before that we want to remind you that the Super Cup final is coming up for the fourth year in a row. We'll look through Barcelona versus Real Madrid Sunday 2 p.m. Eastern coverage beginning at 1.30 p.m. You can watch that on ABC, ESPN Deportes, and the ESPN app. Do you know what the scariest sound to hear on the factory floor is? Silence. That means something somewhere broke. Production has stopped and now you're paying workers to wait while the team troubleshoots and fixes the problem. Finally, there's a proactive way to reduce equipment downtime thanks to MaintainX.

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44:33soccer, you're connected to a portfolio of brands designed for how you travel. Some offer complimentary breakfast. others give you room to spread out, space to stay productive, or extended stay comforts. So whether you're a traveling fan or part of the team, Marriott Bonvoy celebrates the moments that live on before and after the game. Marriott Bonvoy, where game day checks in. All right, let's take it to another move that we saw over the break. American coach Pelegrino Matarazzo is Real Sociedad's new manager. The team currently near relegation. Matarazzo last. Coach Hoffenheim from February 2023.

45:10to November 2024. His new contract in La Liga lasts through 2027. Case, I know you cover the Bundesliga a lot, obviously, with experience there as a player. Matarazzo has this reputation, right, of kind of saving these teams near relegation. Yeah. Can he do this with Real Sociedad? Oh, of course he can do it. You know, I called the match against Atletico Madrid this weekend. And one thing that I mentioned was Matarazzo has no equity in Spain. In Germany, he'd been there a long time. He'd had some assistant coaching jobs, obviously did some good things at Stuttgart before that, got to Hoffenheim.

45:56So the fans knew him. He was a name. Nobody in Spain knows him. So he needs to have instant success. And so calling that match and thinking he's got to get a result here. Now, they showed things. They showed, you know, we talked about, you know, he's one of those managers that likes to press, likes to win the ball in advanced positions. Sometimes that leaves you exposed defensively, but you take the good with the bad. We saw moments of that. Also, it's difficult. I think any manager is always going to have the ideal way they want to play. but then they have to adapt to the players they have until they can bring in players that can play the way you want to play.

46:50But you have to get the results to have the time to be able to do that. And then also what's difficult, you have some, you know, let's take, you take a guy like Olazbo. I want you to chase every, loose ball, every, you know, just press, press, press. That guy can't. You can't do that. So there's a point where you have to say, okay, I can't lose the squad by asking people to do things they can't do. Can I find those little pieces that can give us enough goals to stay up and enough, you know, not conceding goals at the other end and that's going to be the key for them. The bad news is they're in 15th place.

47:34The good news is they're four points out of ninth place Elche. So it's a very tight race. And then Girona's turning a corner. Yes.

47:41Herc Gomez:And they're starting to play better. The good news is his squad is way too good to be in 15th place. Right. The good news is he's got the players to play a certain brand of football where I don't think you need to be worried about a relegation battle and to be playing just digging for points. The bad news is this club still has the stench of Imanol Alhuacir. and he was a legendary coach there did good things built a very good squad it's going to be a tough act to follow one that nobody's done yet that is the bad news there are good things for pellegrino materazzo pellegrino is hardened in the way that he's had these relegation battles before this is a breath of fresh air a breath of life for him to have an actual club where he can do something of worth i do think the player personnel at the moment is enough to get them out of 15 place out of the danger zone and he will be fine he will make his mark this is an important moment in american football when you look at conca calf when you look at north american football there aren't a lot of good managers there aren't a lot of recognizable figures in management he's not recognizable in his own country he's recognizable in the bundesliga in germany and now he will be known everywhere in that region where Sociedad is and in La Liga.

49:04Herc Gomez:It's an opportunity for him to stake his claim, make his mark in America, in North America, to prove that if there ever is a coaching vacancy, and I'm talking national team, he could say, hey, if we're talking Americans, who has my pedigree? Because there are not a whole hell of a lot of coaches who have done what Pelegrino Matarazzo has done. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what he can do here in the next few months and see if he can turn things around with Real Sociedad, maybe that vacancy here that we kind of alluded to, the U.S. Men's National Team. Does he have a bio club? You never know.

49:38I'm not saying I'm the same. Can we get his contract, please? All right, we want to remind you what's coming up, though. Do you think you want him? Speaking of Real Sociedad, they face Osasuna Tuesday in the Copa del Rey. You can catch that 3 p.m. Eastern on ESPN Plus and streaming live on the ESPN.

49:57All right, that nod nod wink wink from Casey Keller a few minutes ago. He was referring to Wilfred Nancy. Now his managerial experience in the Scottish premiership was very short-lived after only eight games. In his short tenure, Nancy lost six of those eight games. And he was sacked just 33 days after leaving Columbus Crew in MLS. Yes. So the first question that comes to mind, Case, is obviously, did he get a fair shake at the job here with Celtic? What's your definition of a fair shake? More than 10 games. Well. More than 33 days. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think results, you mentioned, you're at Celtic.

50:43If you were at St. Johnston, but Celtic... Excuse my ignorance. Is that a team in the Scottish Premiership? Shush. You don't get to lose six out of eight games in the league at Celtic, regardless of who you are. If you're Ancelotti, you're getting fired for losing six out of eight games at Celtic. Now, there's more context to that. Because my ex-manager, Martin O 'Neill, who coached at Celtic a long time, had a ton of success, came back as the interim manager. I think he won seven out of eight games as the interim manager. Right. With the same squad. With the same squad. Yeah. And obviously the fans love Martin because he was a longtime Celtic guy who had a lot of success.

51:33So, from what I had heard was that then Nancy came in and wanted to basically change everything. And the players were like, wait a minute, we just won seven out of eight games doing it this way. Now you want, and he, it just wasn't going to happen. And, you know, I mean, is there time, back to the part where I was talking about Pellegrino. you have to give yourself time to be able to change the squad, to play the way you want to play. You can't just come in and say, you do that. No, just let it breathe a little bit and figure it out. I'm seeing a lot of backlash from the MLS community on social media about what happened and what this means for them.

52:31And I'll get into that in a second. But welcome to world football. It's 33 days. It's eight games.

52:36Herc Gomez:A team like Celtic, I don't think, lost more than four games last year. They lose six of eight. Six of eight. That's on Wilfred Nancy. Wilfred Nancy is paid to get results. Yes, you are absolutely right. You don't hire a Wilfred Nancy to stay as you were. You hire him to give a shock to the system and change things. So it is not on Wilford Nancy to say, I am sticking with the same so I can keep my job. It's on him to get results, to figure a way to convince those players in his way of getting results. I watched a few games. I saw the numbers. They were a lot better than their opponents, and they still lost.

53:15Herc Gomez:This game is very simple. A few phases. Defense, attack, put the ball in the net. Whoever does that the most will win. Don't let the other team put the ball in the net. They didn't do it the most. They lost. But he did it in a club where you're not allowed to lose six out of eight in the Premier League. You're allowed to lose six games in the season. In the season. Right. Yeah. I cannot speak for how ignorant or incompetent the Celtic board is. It is not my job. They made a mistake hiring Wilford Nancy. Sure. Because you don't hire a manager midseason to change the culture of a club. To change the style of a club.

53:53Herc Gomez:The methodology, the tactics of a club. You give him his time with a proper preseason and his own proper signings, and then you judge him. But you went out ignorantly and did so, so this is on you as well. But if you're Wilford Nancy, what do you want? This isn't Major League Soccer, and I say this respectfully. We're going to get two to three years to implement your project and see it work. Wilford Nancy is 48 years old, and he has, at the top flight, a little over four years as a professional head coach. And he hit the ground running at Montreal, and he hit the ground running at Columbus and he's produced some beautiful football.

54:25Herc Gomez:Beautiful football. If you are for Major League Soccer, if you are a fan and you think this is a black eye and it was unfair, both can be true. Both can be true. It is a black eye and maybe it's unfair, but welcome to world football. Yeah, there's no question that teams around the world are too quick to change their managers. And there's also an argument that MLS is too slow to change their managers. Both can be true.

54:58But Herc made the point that the Celtic board clearly made a bad decision. Wilford made a bad decision. You don't, at Celtic, you don't lose six out of eight games if you're Celtic and only one person's made a bad decision. There's a lot of blame to go around. And I think the problem was is the fans, the Celtic fans were in full revolt. And the board had to say, we need to take this. We need to make this. We need to say, yep, we got it wrong. Let's get rid of this guy. Let's bring Martin back in. And you know what they're going to do. Celtics are going to go on to win every game the rest of the year and win the league.

55:47Yeah, and Herc, I want to go back to what you were saying about MLS. What does this say about MLS? If he had success at Columbus Crew and quite the success to go to the Scottish Premiership, go eight games, and crash and burn, essentially. I don't think it says anything about MLS. I'm not going to judge Major League Soccer for one person succeeding or failing, you know, before or after they left. But this gives me Bob Bradley at Swansea vibes. This gives me Jesse Marsh at Leeds vibes. This gives me Chris Armas, assistant coach at Manchester United vibes, where they're going to see the Yank. They're going to see the Major League Soccer product, and they're going to unfairly, if we want to admit it, like it or not say this is major league soccer's best this is the prodigy that came out of major league soccer maybe we don't look at head coaches for major league soccer for a while i i don't share that sentiment but i think it will exist it's a knee-jerk reaction christy i'll give you an example so when you used to see how you moved to the premier league as a manager Jose Mourinho didn't get to the Premier League because he almost got a team promoted in the Danish second division.

57:19He won the Champions League. With Porto, by the way. With Porto. So then the fans are like, I'm not quite sure who this guy is, but he just won the Champions League. Right. It's hard to deny their success. Yeah. You know, when you come in and you say, wait a minute, who's this guy? Where's he at? What has he done? It's the point I made with Pellegrino. Yeah. Is there isn't that, oh, man, look, this guy just won the Bundesliga. This guy just, you know, look, he just got this, you know, he was at Stuttgart and they just won UEFA Cup. You know, there's like, oh, hey, let's give this guy some time.

58:06And so I think that's what makes it even more difficult if you're coming in without necessarily the resume or as a player as well. I mean, let's say if I took a different route and decided to go coaching and I had some success, I did some different things. What, you don't think if I went back to Millwall, the Millwall fans would be like, would give me a chance? If I went to Leicester, the Leicester friends would give me a chance because there's a recognition. They know that I was part of it. How old is Martin O 'Neal? How old is Martin? Martin must be in his late 60s, early 70s. We're pretty much out of the game at that point.

58:44He was the head. And they're introducing a younger, different breed of generation. He took the job as the head of the coaches association. Yeah. Yeah. You know, after, you know, but yeah, Martin was. But it's because of what Case is saying. They go back to the tried, tested. Yeah. The guy that has the equity with the fans. Yeah. I mean, it was it was the opportunity that that was given. Maybe that could also be a positive that Wilford Nancy could take away its experience, good or bad. Can I just say something really quickly? Yeah, let's wrap it up. For Wilford Nancy, I'm hoping he takes his time to decide where the next step is.

59:19If you really want to get paid for a couple of years. So, he should be okay. I think there's going to be a line of a major league soccer team. Oh, yeah. I don't think that. But if his dream is to coach at a higher level in Europe, I think the next – That took a step back. The next – Yeah. I think it took a step back, and the next job is imperative that he knocks it out the park. Yeah. All right. We're going to stick with MLS news that we saw over the last few days. This is bad news for LA Galaxy. Ricky Puch missed last season due to that torn ACL in his left knee. He won't come back now until 2027 after confirming the midfielder underwent a new surgery for that same injury, same knee.

59:56He said his recovery was, quote, one of the hardest and most complicated moments of his life. Understandably so. It was heartbreaking when he first got this injury case. I mean, at any point in the season, right? But right before that MLS Cup final here for LA Galaxy, misses last season, won't come back until 2027. I mean, how much of a blow is this to LA Galaxy? Well, it's a blow to the Galaxy, but it's a blow to a young player who had, you know, come to MLS and had success, you know, where he'd kind of bounced around a little bit trying to find that. These are these are these are gut check moments here.

1:00:34You know, these are is is there something left? Is there you know, is this career ending? You know, I mean, obviously, surgeries have gotten so much better and recovery has gotten in the rehab and everything that goes into it. But when you spend a year rehabbing, and let's be honest, ACLs now are six to eight months. So you spent a year rehabbing and then you blow it out again and start all over from scratch. And you're even at the beginning saying you're not going to be back this season. That's worrying. it's worrying on so many different levels let me start with the the player and what ricky must be going through yeah that's when i did my acl i thought my career was over yeah i was ricky's 26 years old i was 26 years old i thought i would never be the same again i wouldn't play again you get to be in a very dark place he has now spent a year in a dark place and will probably spend another year in an even darker place thinking of what is going to be of his future coming off an MVP-like performance where you get injured in the Western Conference Final to take your team to the MLS Cup Final and you're thinking, I finally made it.

1:01:47After being one of the crown jewels of La Masia at Barcelona and flaming out there to thinking, I may never get another chance, to finding your way to Major League Soccer and being an important piece in a big club. You're the man. It must be very difficult for Ricky right now to wrap his head around what the last 13 months, if not more, have been like, and what the next 12-plus months will be like for him. So I feel for Ricky, I really do, and his family.

1:02:18Herc Gomez:If you're the LA Galaxy, this is a worst-case scenario. You have built around Ricky Pooch. You are in a salary cap system, a salary cap league that punishes, not my words, Will Kuntz, your general manager, that punishes teams who win for winning. You cash-strapped him the following year. So now you can't, in a sense, replace your star player. And you couldn't replace him for 2025. And now it's 2026. He's not going to be available for him. And you built around this player. My question is, where was this mishandled? ACLs can happen. Yes, they can. There are some of the finest orthopedic surgeons, not just in the States, but in the Los Angeles area.

1:03:01Herc Gomez:you allowed Ricky Pooch to go do this in Barcelona. You allowed him to do his therapy in Barcelona, his rehab in Barcelona. And then when they realized it wasn't taken, you allowed him to go back and go under a knife again in Barcelona. You went back to the same well. Why isn't he under the supervision of the LA Galaxy? Why isn't Ricky Pooch at home in Los Angeles being taken care of what is it that you think the rest of the world has that Los Angeles or in or around the United States you can't get I think this could have been avoided I don't think it's a freak accident I'm hoping for the best for Ricky Pooch but this is career altering things we're talking about right now the only way Ricky Pooch comes back to be the same player or a better version is if Ricky Pooch himself gets himself there.

1:04:00Yeah, it's heartbreaking, like you said, primarily for Ricky Pooch on the business side, for LA Galaxy, for the fans. Not good news at all. It was heartbreaking to begin with, and it's still a new heartbreak here for Ricky Pooch and LA Galaxy. Want to remind you what's coming up this weekend. Some FA Cup action for you, actually, tomorrow. Retsam vs. Nottingham Forest, 2 p.m. Eastern on ESPN Plus, and streaming live on the ESPN app. All right, we will be back on Monday. Yes, we are back for 2026, and in style with the lovely exclusive Tyler Adams. We'll be joining the show, so very excited to hear from him.

1:04:43Gentlemen, any plans for the weekend? A lot of work. A lot of work. Work, work, and more work. Herc's dialed already. He just got back. Thanks for hanging out. We'll be back Monday.

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