Futbol Americas: USMNT Shine in Blowout Win vs Uruguay

13:14Alexis Nunes:Yeah, he did. He's got a lot of cultura. Look, part of the narrative for Mauricio Pochettino in this window, and he's stated this time and time again, not only this window, but in windows before as well, is saying, well, nobody has a spot safe here. Nobody's guaranteed a spot in the World Cup. Well, in Christian Pulisic is, but okay. Nobody has a spot. Nobody else. Okay. When you have a performance like this, and look, I'm not American. You are American now. I'm not American. But I can tell you that this is a historic performance by the United States. Yeah. And when you get this sort of result and this sort of performance against a team like Uruguay, those players that were on the field just beat a team who's known for their cultura, for their culture, for their mentality, for their toughness.

14:21Alexis Nunes:Managed by a guy who has historical importance in South American soccer, in Marcelo Bielsa. And so these players that play today, not the guys that are absent, these players have taken a major leap forward in the eye test for Mauricio Pochettino. And so I go back to the initial point that I brought up. He said nobody's safe. Well, this sort of performance, this sort of result gives leverage to Mauricio Pochettino to double down and say, hey, you weren't here and this happened. You all didn't play. Big timers, you all didn't play. And this happened. Have any of you beaten Uruguay 5-1? Have you been dominant against a team of this quality?

15:09Alexis Nunes:Any of you? Any of you are big timers? No, you haven't. These guys were. And so it does bring about a sense of competition. Now, we know that Christian Pulisic is in a different category. Now, Pochettino won't say that. We know this. He's going to play. But then there are other guys that are like, So there is a competition. There is a competition for spots in this team. So Western McKinney is not 100 % a starter. And I think that gives Pochettino leverage to work with and it gives him strength within the locker room that he had right now and it gives him strength to argue with the big timers as well and say, hey, you want to do this or not?

15:51Alexis Nunes:You want to buy in or not? These guys are bought in and look at them.

15:56Kasey Keller:Well, it seems like there's now a healthy competition for positions. But if there's one position, Casey, that we are not seeing quite a competition in, and it seems to be locked down, at least in the eyes of Mauricio Pochettino, it's your position, the goalkeeping position. Matt Freeze now. What were your thoughts on his performance today and just overall this window?

16:14Herculez Gomez:Well, not just only this window. I mean, you know, Matt's done fine. And yes, there's been some mistakes. But there's still, even with these latest wins, there just hasn't been that even like one marquee performance where you go, that's our new guy. And so what really surprises me out of all of this is clearly Ali and Herc talking about everything that Pochettino has been saying. Positions are open. You got to fight for it. There's nobody has it except for maybe Christian, but nobody has it except for some reason, Matt Friese. So you would expect almost that the that the oh, well, of course he has it.

16:58Herculez Gomez:Because look at these these these matches that he played in these performances that he put in. But that's not the case. So it really surprises me that there there hasn't been more competition for the goalkeeping position simply because I haven't seen Matt lock it down. I haven't seen that performance. No, I'm not at training. I'm not seeing that if he's completely dominating training, then you keep thinking, okay, he's dominating here. So eventually it'll show on match day.

17:29Kasey Keller:What more are you looking for in these performances?

17:32Herculez Gomez:Well, there's always two things that you're looking for. When you're playing against a team or your team's getting dominated, can you come up with these two or three key saves at moments that make a difference? Or when you're playing in matches like these last couple matches where you don't have a lot to do, everything you do is clean. Every decision is clean. You come for this cross, that's clean. You collect this ball at the top of the box. You relieve any kind of pressure from your defense. And we saw a couple moments against Paraguay, and we obviously saw a couple moments in this match where that wasn't the case.

18:09It's more important that you don't make the team feel uneasy, feel insecure about what's behind them. You don't make them all of a sudden get into a defensive posture because they're worried about who's behind in between the sticks. It's clear to me that Marisa Pochettino has already decided on his number one for the World Cup, and it's Matt Freese. And what he's doing right now, why nobody else is playing, because if you look at the roster today, you have Patrick Schulte, three caps, Saletano and Jonathan Klinsman, zero caps. He's saying, I need to give Matt Freese all the experience in the world, all the games in the world before the World Cup, because he doesn't have a lot of experience.

18:43So he's my number one. I've already chosen. That's what Mauricio Pochettino is telling us. It's not an opening competition for the goalkeepers anymore. It's Matt Freese's. So now Matt Freese, like Kay said, if you're not going to come up with a spectacular save, you've got to be clean. You've got to be secure. You can't make your team feel uneasy.

18:59Kasey Keller:All right. Well, let's talk about the man of the match then. That's Alex Freeman. I mean, Kirk, your thoughts. Listen, this is a player who many were criticizing of why he was playing, why he was on the national team. And he's been very clean. MLS, you know, young player of the year. He's a player who goes very well going forward. And you're questioning maybe the defensive attributes to his game. He played out of position today as a third center back. And he proved that he can contribute to the team. Off a set piece and off a ridiculous 1v1 where he took a bunch of Uruguayan players, most notably Ronald Araujo, who plays Barcelona, and puts the ball on the back of the net.

19:37He seems every opportunity that he's gotten to get better, to have more confidence, to feel secure, and it's showing up now in his play. If we were asking this question maybe a month and a half ago, if Matt Freeman was anywhere near the World Cup, I would say probably not. Today, I would be very surprised if he's not on that World Cup.

19:56Herculez Gomez:if he's not there come March. But here's my question, and we talked about this the other day, about the goal that Gio scored. And we said that's a bonus. Correct. Still, to me, the second goal is a bonus. Do I like to know that a center back can pop up and help my team and score on a set piece? Of course. But you're still going to be a judgment when you're going to be playing teams in a World Cup that are going to have a lot more possession, and you're going to have to be great defending. And the question I still have for Alex Freeman is, with only basically one season under his belt as a starter in MLS, and friendlies, basically, for the national team, to what you're talking about, Matt Fries, does he have that experience where he has to really defend under pressure?

20:47Herculez Gomez:And that, to me, is still the biggest question mark.

20:50Kasey Keller:Alec, your thoughts on him?

20:52Alexis Nunes:Well, he may not be starting the first game of the World Cup, but I think he'll be in the squad. He's been one of those players that over the last few matches continues to get opportunities under Marisol Pochettino and does a good job. And today, obviously, the goals, and this is his second goal in particular, was great. And that in itself, I think, in some ways, makes a very clear impression. I look at Alex Freeman as a guy that Mariso Pochettino trusts more than he does others. And even though he may not have the experience this is when Pochettino looks at it and says I don't care about other people's judgments I don't care about their lack of experience I care about what I see and what I've seen from this guy when I've given him opportunities is positive performances and so Alex Freeman has done himself a favor tonight in particular.

21:47Alexis Nunes:But I would argue that he's done himself a favor in previous matches as well. And that he's been building up to this moment where he then scores two goals in this, again, historic result against Uruguay. And you go, all right, if you're putting a list together, which I'm sure Pochettino is, along with his staff, is going, who gets on that bus? Who gets on that plane? Alex Freeman is on it. Now, whether he's starting or not, that's a different conversation. But I think he's made a very strong case for himself. Yeah, just thinking of Alex Freeman on a set piece, it makes me think of how good the U.S.

22:24Men's National League has all of a sudden gotten on set pieces. You have people who can now serve a very good ball, and you've got a lot of size. You've got a lot of presence in that box, and you've got a lot of goal scorers who on a set piece can be the difference. Well, what are we talking about?

22:36Alexis Nunes:Sorry, I was just going to say on the set pieces, I don't know what the role of Sebastian Berhalter could be in this team. I think it's apparently, yes. But when you see him take a corner kick and you see him taking a free kick and you see him in set pieces and you see the quality of service and you're sort of kind of 50-50, 60-40 on what the selection process is going to be, you go, give me this guy because he can have an impact. And how do you have an impact when you're a good, in this case, free kick taker or corner kick taker or a set piece taker? You can have a huge impact in a World Cup.

23:16Alexis Nunes:How many of the World Cup games are decided on a set piece, especially for the United States? And so a guy like Sebastian Berhalter, because of those qualities, may just find himself with an opportunity. And that's when I say those guys that aren't here, for whatever the reasons may be, they're not taking set pieces. They're not scoring goals. They're not winning these games in the manner which they did, and these guys are. And for a manager, you need to see it. You need to see it. And he saw something special today from his team.

23:47Kasey Keller:All right, I zoned out for a second there because I heard there was a goal in the Jamaica Curacao game, but it was ruled offside. I'm not going to lie, nearly passed out right now. But anyways, we move on, and we want to talk about Mauricio.

23:57Alexis Nunes:It was a goal for whom?

23:58Kasey Keller:I think it was for Curacao. The producer told me, do not check your phone, and of course I was going to check my phone. Anyways, like I said, hanging by a thread over here, but I am the professional. So let's talk about Mauricio Pochettino, shall we? Casey, because for the last couple of games or ever since he came into the USA's managerial position, we have pretty much been nitpicking at his tactics, at his in-game management, at his press conferences. Now looking at this window, what did you make of it?

24:24Herculez Gomez:Alexis, what we were basically nitpicking is there was no results. You know, you can do a lot of things. You can say a lot of things, but in the end, whatever you say has to be implemented on the pitch. And then when it's implemented on the pitch, the results come. And it wasn't happening. We weren't seeing the strengths that we've seen from the U.S. over the years. And then we also haven't seen some style of play from players that are now playing at big clubs. and it's supposed to be this now, you know, let's play on the back and let's do this and that. So where I will give Maurizio Pochettino a ton of credit now is we're not talking about that anymore.

25:11Herculez Gomez:That's turned a page. He now has a group of players who are fighting for the shirt, fighting for their positions on the team, fighting to get results. and through that the results have come and that's that's where so if if if ali got him to change the culture and and the culture's been changed and i don't think now we're gonna have another conversation of do these guys want to be here do they look like they want to fight to be in a world Cup squad? Because I think we've completely turned the page on that, and that'll give Pochettino credit. But I think it's important that he

25:56Alexis Nunes:himself moves past that. Correct. That he's not talking about it, because he is the one that continues to bring it up. And so, now that you're seeing it, then alright. We got there. We did it. We've achieved that. We turned the page, and we move on to the next thing. And unless you see signs that the team is regressing in that aspect, you don't have to continue to bring it up and continue to bang that drum because it sounds to me or at least he's in danger of sounding like see I told you oh very much I had the answers all along we're the profession yeah see I told you see I brought this now the players buy into it and so here we are now that's why we're getting results I think it would be important for him to say okay this is a message that now has been understood by these players.

26:42Alexis Nunes:Let's move on to the next step. It's just we are judging him by his own words. He wants a footballing culture like Argentina. Well, there's a lot of things that come with that footballing culture like Argentina. When you get paid$6 million a year, when you are now one of the highest paid international managers, there is a certain expectation that comes with that job. And when you're not delivering on the field, and when the news is off the field with the best player on your team, when in the first windows you're sending this player, instead of going to play against Mexico in Guadalajara, a big rivalry game, you're sending him with his club and you're saying that's not important.

27:17And then when he decides not to show up in the summer for a Gold Cup, that's a secondary tournament to the U.S. men's national team for nine of the last 11 tournaments, you say, no, now it's important. Well, there are a lot of things that he paints himself into a corner with that we need to hold him accountable for. Now it's starting to resonate on the field. But those are his words that we are judging him by. So, Marisa Pochettino right now, and I agree with Ali Holdheartedly, if he wants to stop with this narrative, it starts with him. I'm sure U.S. Men's National Team fans don't want to hear about the next Premier League job that he's hoping to get at every chance he gets.

27:50Herculez Gomez:There's the other thing we kept hearing about as well.

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29:30Kasey Keller:Speaking of Mauricio Pochettino, let's hear from him. This is what he had to say on matchday minus one. We were not playing official games because we were already qualified in the last year that we took in charge. I think we were about to bring players and to play for everyone, friendly games. But not for us. The problem was that we take one year maybe, or seven, eight months, to convince. The players, the federation, the fans, the media, the staff, that for us cannot be friendly games. Because if I said to you that you are playing in Manchester United, come to play a friendly game, if you are Manchester United coach or fans, you say, Pochettino is taking a risk with you because he is playing too much games.

30:26Kasey Keller:Why he may play, no? How is your name? Felipe. Why play Felipe, taking a risk if nothing happens? Oh, bad luck? You suffer some problem. And then, wow, Pochettino has no clue why we take a risk, take a risk with a player that needs to be ready for the World Cup, if that's our friendly game. How we evolve, how we develop, how we are to perform and to prepare our journey when we arrive to the World Cup. And that is the problem. Yeah, but this was about to convince, because playing the World Cup is not important. No, it's important. Play, no, it's not important. No, no, it's important. But the problem was the mindset that we already changed here.

31:09Kasey Keller:And until then, how are you going to perform? If you come here and you want holidays. If you come here and say, no, I don't want to put the legs, because if I get injured and then I'm not playing in my team. Yeah, but how now we are going to win games? How we are going to convince the people to support us? How we are going to improve in our game? How we are going to put our standard high? That is the problem. Question that we're in the past. We need to analyze, you know, the reality, not the things that are bullshit. You know, things that are reality. And then, okay, we can talk in this way. But come on, it's about to trust, it's a confidence.

31:52Kasey Keller:When we arrive here, we are not amateur. and all the coaches like Costa Rica like Mexico that they were suffering they are professional why don't work? why doesn't work? because of the coach, coach out but sometimes it's not the coach okay but the easy thing is to blame the coach, the coach, the coach no the coach, no the coach, no the coach what is going on behind the the scene? no? Mike? no?

32:24Kasey Keller:All right. So a lot to take in there from Mauricio Pochettino. Party mouth, but it's OK. Casey, what stood out to you from what he had to say?

32:33Herculez Gomez:Yeah, we talked about this a little bit the other day from this interview. And it was just basically that, you know, I think now with the results that have come, it is time to stop talking, like like Herc said, about some of that. But I think also there are, you know, there's still contradictions. You know, I'm not going to take him to to Mexico because I want him to go back with his club team. But then, well, they better come in here and play. If they don't come in and play, then how can they be a part of that? So, look, I would like Mauricio just to be like now. Hey, guess what? We figured it out.

33:11Herculez Gomez:Yeah, we're now playing. We're competitive in every match. Guys, you're coming in here with the right attitude. You saw it today with a historic performance, like Ali said. And now this is the standard. You all know it. If you let it drop, I've got people that have proven that they can play to this standard. Kirk? It's just a walking contradiction. He talks about you're not here on holiday. You come here, you put your foot in the tackles. These aren't friendly games. These mean something. They're preparing for something. You're allowing players to stay home. Apparently, Christian Pulisic's too injured to be here on this U.S.

33:49men's national team. He played in AC Milan's friendly. 90 minutes. Chris Richards, he was too tired. Played with Crystal Palace, 90 minutes. Malik Tillman couldn't be fit enough. Played 45 minutes. Alejandro Sendeja's the same thing, 45 minutes. Johnny Cardoso, sure he didn't play, but that's a tactical reason, not a health issue. We can go down the line. The amount of times he's contradicted himself, and I agree with Ali wholeheartedly. He's the first one to kind of take that shot. Let it go. Move on.

34:23Alexis Nunes:I think I have to believe that some of this has to do with things just getting lost in translation and the fact that he's unable to communicate what he's thinking in Spanish and give it the same tone in English.

34:40Kasey Keller:Yeah.

34:42Alexis Nunes:The message of Marisol Pochettino in that particular press conference is not wrong. It's just how the way he, the way that he packages the messaging and also the length of the message. If he had just kept it to the first part and just focus on the fact that you've created this culture and this mindset in which you know that playing these games for the United States in preparation for the World Cup are not friendly matches. and you need everybody committed to that and understanding that these are competitive moments. And to him, to deem the games not only as preparation, but to be important for the players.

35:24Alexis Nunes:You just package that the way that I just said it, and there is nobody that can sit back and say, well, there's something wrong with that. No, you're essentially, as a national team coach, you're making the national team the priority, and you're asking your players to do the same. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. But he didn't say that. It's just the way he, and because he gets lost in the way that he's trying to say it in English, then somehow he doesn't find a way out and connects it to the pressure on coaches and how coaches get blamed. And those are two different conversations all together.

36:00Alexis Nunes:And that's where I think he gets in trouble. If I were advising Mauricio Pochettino and I were part of the PR department of the United States, which I know they have. I have dealt with these people in the past. OK, I would tell him, Mauricio, less is more. Yeah. Less is more. And don't try to get cute. Don't try to explain too much. Just answer the specific question. Don't go into cul-de-sacs because your English is not good enough to get yourself out of those cul-de-sacs. Your theory is not entirely wrong. I've seen... That felt like a backhand. No, it's not. I'm with you because I've had the same theory and I've seen his press conference where Anglo reporters who don't speak Spanish as a second language will attempt questions in Spanish so he answers directly.

36:55And he does the same thing in Spanish, Ali. He will do the same thing in Spanish.

37:01Alexis Nunes:I was trying to give the guy a bit. English as a second language and the same is not easy. I took the classes. I think, honestly, I would have a conversation with him. I said, no need to engage in all of this. No need to engage in all of this. Less is more. Don't get caught up in trying to explain every situation because that's not your job.

37:25Herculez Gomez:When I was in Madrid, I gave a 30-second response to a yes-no question. So I understand sometimes when something gets lost in translation a little bit. It took you a long time to say no. That was a lot of going around the cul-de-sac. I made a couple laps around it. The cul-de-sac.

37:45Kasey Keller:Never thought I would bring that in.

37:47Alexis Nunes:Well, you know, I'm a resourcer like that. ESL, English as a second language.

37:51Kasey Keller:ESL, English as a second language. You did it, baby. Well, speaking of Mauricio Pochettino, as you said, we love to listen to his words. and we're going to have more of them later on in the show. We love to try to decipher it, especially now that Ale is like the Pochettino Whisperer. Oh, wow. Ale is the Pochettino Whisperer.

38:08Alexis Nunes:All right, well, make sure to check out our other show, ESPN FC.

38:12Kasey Keller:It is on every day of the week. I'll be back hosting tomorrow alongside Ale Moreno, the Pochettino Whisperer, and Shaka Hissup Plus, Don Hutchison, will be joining us.

38:26Kasey Keller:All right, let's talk more about the U.S. men's national team. Stock up and stock down. We want to know whose stock has soared in this international window and who's, well, kind of crashed, I suppose. Casey, we're going to start with you. Tell me your stock up first.

38:42Herculez Gomez:Well, I think there's several stock ups. I mean, when you win two matches against good competition, a lot of player stocks are going to go up. and Gio Reyna who'd been in the wilderness came in got a great goal a couple assists in two games clearly showed the quality Sebastian Berhalter shows that there's there's a piece to his game that that could make it difficult to leave him off the squad Freeman as well showed him that as Ollie said when he's been asked he's shown up you know a couple great goals showed he can score on a set piece as well. I still have some questions with Matt Freese. I'm still wondering, are we going to see a performance that gives us the confidence?

39:28Herculez Gomez:Because clearly Pochettino sees it, and I guess I'm just waiting to see it as well.

39:33Kasey Keller:All right, Herc, what about you? Your stock up? Listen, Giovanni Reina is an easy stock up, and I agree with Giovanni Reina, but I'm going to go Major League Soccer. Just overall as an entity. There are a lot of players who play in Major League Soccer. You want to do appearances in MLS Cup or what? No, no, no. Listen to me. I've been very critical of some of these players. I've been very critical of their collars. But over the last few windows, and especially this window, we look at Max Arfsten and how he continues to improve, and he's an asset in the final third. You look at the emergence of Christian Roldan.

40:10You look at the set pieces of Sebastian Berhalter. You look at Alex Freeman and what he's doing. There is a serious shout for how important these players that Mariso Pochettino has empowered have been this last window. They're all under the same umbrella. They get put into the same category and sometimes unfairly. And I've been at fault with that as well. I raised my hand. But they played well this window. So I say MLS. What's your stock down? Oh, is that going to go stock down now too?

40:40Alexis Nunes:Yeah. Are you going stock down or no? Go ahead.

40:43Kasey Keller:But Ale, you go in first.

40:45Alexis Nunes:All I was going to say is this is coming from the same guy who last week when I was in Florida, Medicas, was having a go on MLS because of the play. I just said it. With the playoff structure. So, Don. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don. Where's Don? Don Garber. Listen. Let's get out of here. Don, no, no. Don't mind those two minutes that he just spent trying to talk up MLS. He spends most of his time criticizing MLS. I'm doubling down on MLS Cup playoffs. That's terrible structure. Terrible. And obviously they've recognized it too.

41:18Herculez Gomez:They're going to change the whole structure in two years.

41:21Alexis Nunes:It seems like they're stuck up, stuck down. It's like, MLS. Hey, MLS. Hey. So my appearance is my way, MLS. All right.

41:32Herculez Gomez:Now you're stuck up. Go give me your stock down. Do I go stock down here? Yes. All right. Honestly, I found it very difficult to do stock down in this window. Because we're nitpicking at one, maybe two mistakes. The Joe Scali mistake in the first game where he gets out of position. He wasn't out of position. He's a center back. He's a third center back there. And between him and Sergino Dest, there was a miscommunication. Gets played over the top. But that's what I'm saying. I'm nitpicking here. And then it's today, well, Matt Friese. And I think you've covered it very well, Matt Friese. Ali, you know what it's like to play sometimes when the goalkeeper's not sure.

42:08I think right now, Mauricio Pochettino knows that's his man. I don't know if the rest of the U.S. men's national team know that's their man. And to me, that's worrisome. That is worrisome.

42:21Alexis Nunes:Do I go stock up?

42:22Kasey Keller:Yes, we're allowed to go stock up. All right. I'm hanging on because Jamaica are down to 10 men.

42:26Alexis Nunes:Oh, yeah. That's still time 0-0?

42:30Kasey Keller:Oh, yeah. No, there's going to be a meltdown on this show very shortly. I might throw my laptop. Wouldn't be the first.

42:39Alexis Nunes:Stokov Curacao.

42:41Kasey Keller:Stokov now in Jamaica. All right.

42:44Alexis Nunes:Eloy Rune is our guy.

42:46Kasey Keller:I think so. Sorry.

42:48Alexis Nunes:Wait a minute. So, Stokov, look, I think outside of Christian Pulisic, in my estimation, the player who has the most upside to make an impact for this team in the attacking half and the creativity aspect of this team is Gio Reyna. And think if he had not had a good window in these opportunities that he had against Paraguay and then coming off the bench against Uruguay. If he had been poor, if he hadn't played well, if he hadn't done the things that he did and show how much of a difference maker he can be and how much of a different player he is as compared to everybody else in the context of the United States men's national team.

43:35Alexis Nunes:If he had not done the things that he did in this window, there is an argument to be made that he's not playing at Gladbach, he's not doing what he's supposed to do at the national team, then if you're Mauricio Pochettino, based on the evidence that you have in front of you, you go, I don't know that this guy is actually on board with what we want or what we need. So for him, it was critically important that he had a good window and he had an excellent window. Gio Reyna stuck way up. certainly in the context of where he was coming into this window.

44:04Kasey Keller:Are you going to call him daddy?

44:06Alexis Nunes:No, that's reserved for Alex Freeman. I may call you a puppy. There we go.

44:14Kasey Keller:I think he deserves a little puppy.

44:16Alexis Nunes:He gets a little puppy.

44:18Kasey Keller:100%.

44:18Alexis Nunes:His puppy was good, too. More goals now. As it pertains to Stuck Down, while I agree with the Matt Freeze conversation, and I think that's an obvious one, I'm going to say, not just because of his performances, but also because of the performances of those that played ahead of him, stuck down, I'm going to go with a little Ricardo Pepe. Oh.

44:40Kasey Keller:Because he missed that chance that he had? Well, yes.

44:43Alexis Nunes:And not only that. I mean, that in itself says something. But I'm also going to say, Balogun seems to have separated himself from the rest in terms of who plays a number nine position. Haji Wright, I think, and we were discussing it while we were watching the game, He's a handful. And when he stays in a central position, he's difficult to deal with him. He also gives you a different aspect. Yes. A different profile. Absolutely. And so then, Ricardo Pepe, you kind of go, well, he gets a chance, misses that opportunity, and then doesn't play. And you're like, uh. While his performances were certainly not great, the performances of others have elevated them ahead of Ricardo Pepe.

45:26Alexis Nunes:So you put that combination. If you're here and these guys are moving, yeah, your stock is going down while everybody else is rising. What happened? What's the matter?

45:34Kasey Keller:Sorry, we have just been awarded a penalty, but they're checking it. So how many more shots can I throw? But just, no, we need those. But actually, it's interesting, just because we were talking about Hadji Rice, of course, off camera as well, and just while we're raising everyone's stocks too, has he raised his stock as well? Absolutely. We're speaking about those at the front and cementing who is the big for the U.S.

45:57Herculez Gomez:I don't see Haji Wright as a starter, but I see him as a guy that when maybe you're down 1-0 and you know you need to play direct and a team maybe is going to sit in a little bit with an extra defender. I mean, there's a profile that you want a guy in there to put a shoulder on somebody and flick a ball on and do some stuff. So absolutely. And yeah, I give Haji definitely stock up. I do see Haji as a starter. Okay. In the same way we saw him start last World Cup, he was starting against England in probably their best game when they played against England. And then he came off the bench against the Netherlands and ended up scoring a goal.

46:34I don't think we're going to see a situation where there's one nine who plays plus three games, starts plus three games. I do think Marisa Pochettino is going to evaluate those type of situations. And was he clean today? Not his cleanest. But there was a lot of fight in his game. There's a lot of occupying defenders. There's a lot of that dirty work that sometimes a nine has to do. He provides that. And when you're a team that's probably going to be on the back foot for the majority of the games you play, you're going to need somebody like that.

47:02Kasey Keller:I know we have to move on, but I'm just going to let Ali in on this because this is your area of the pitch, and you do love some dirty work as a number nine. As a number nine.

47:12Alexis Nunes:I actually think that Hadji Wright could do an even better job of the hold-up play, given his size. And I think that would make him an even more valuable piece. Yeah, an even more valuable piece for Mauricio Pochettino. I think he has this tendency of starting drifting towards the left hand side instead of staying in between the two center backs and actually playing with his back to goal, which I think he can do when he chooses to do so. But he starts drifting down the left and if he does that with the national team, this team loses structure because now you don't have the into-out runs that Balgan can give you.

47:48Alexis Nunes:You don't have the hold-up play that potentially Hadjuraj could give you in between two center backs. And so you're kind of going, all right, well, what are we trying to do? So I would suggest that Hadji Wright, while I think his stock went up in this window and Pepi's went down, I think he could do more for this team than what he actually does. I see more potential for him. But having said all of that, in this conversation, Balogun is in a category of his own, and then it's everybody else.

48:16Kasey Keller:All right, well, the USA has taken care of business very impressively in this international window, but club football is back at the weekend. And so is La Liga on ESPN Barcelona up against Atleti Club de Bilbao. They will be back at the camp now for the first time in ages, Saturday, 10, 15 a.m. Eastern time. I'll be there. Ale will be there here in studio, not at the camp now.

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50:33All right.

50:34Kasey Keller:Time to check the mentions. Shall we? We should also check in with my mental health, but we'll move on. Herc, first and foremost, are Alex Freeman and Max Arvston musts on the roster, and are they even starters? Musts on the roster? I don't think anybody's a must on the roster besides a Christian Pulisic, but I think they both probably make the roster, and I would not be surprised if one, if not both, start a game at the World Cup. They've grown immensely since January camp that we've seen them, and Max Arvston, I repeat, He is not a good defensive back, but a wingback, if you're needing to press, unlock a defense.

51:16He's a very good 1v1 player. You see him primarily on the left, but when he was on the right, he provided Giovanni Reina a very good service with his right foot. I mean, little step over, creates separation, sends the ball in, boom. That type of player is going to be vital, so I could definitely see both of them getting a game.

51:31Alexis Nunes:There's such maturity now with your gray hairs on your beard. I know. I've just noticed you've got a couple more gray hairs. I'll tell you what's going to give me gray hair. That's quite maturity. I'll tell you what's going to give me gray hair. What?

51:44Kasey Keller:I said I'll tell you what's going to give me gray hair. We'll move on. We'll move on. Next question is for Casey. Casey, it honestly feels like Freeze hasn't been tested much in games, and then he has the play at the end of the half when he's called to make a play and doesn't convert. Should Mauricio Pochettino try another goalkeeper too? How confident are you in Freeze?

52:04Herculez Gomez:I'm not confident. Simple as that. But only because he hasn't given me a reason to be confident. We talked about it a little bit in the show, but there's two things to goalkeeping. There's certain goalkeepers that struggled when they went to a big club because they only have one or two actions a game. Because their team is dominating. where they need to be involved in a bunch of different things, which maybe at a big club you're not all the time. And I kind of saw him in these last two matches chasing things, thinking, oh, I want to help the team and I don't have much to do. And then he puts himself in a poor position.

52:46Herculez Gomez:And a lot of that is just lack of experience in those really pressure situations. And Herc mentioned it. I believe him that Pochettino is playing him to try to gain him experience, but you're not gaining the experience he needs in a friendly. You need that experience of a World Cup qualifier in a crazy Honduras or Saprissa in Costa Rica where they're throwing stuff at you. There's guys with machine guns all around the pitch. Oh, okay. Memories. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, and fans, you know, at maybe club level are going ballistic if you have a poor performance. And he just hasn't been, he just doesn't have the experience of that.

53:36Herculez Gomez:So I don't know if he's going to gain it in just the odd friendly. I'm no goalkeeper.

53:42Alexis Nunes:I'm not a goalkeeper expert, so I leave that to Casey. But what I can tell you, the eye test with Matt Fries, the eye test, from my perspective, He hasn't quite passed that just yet. Okay. It doesn't look right now as what you would consider to be a number one goalkeeper going into the World Cup. Maybe that develops in time for the World Cup, but where we are right now, he's just not quite there. The way I see it, he's a solid goalkeeper, but I think in the World Cup you need a great goalkeeper. Can I just play devil's advocate for a second? Sure, go ahead. Would that be or why not? Who is that great goalkeeper?

54:29Well, that's a different conversation.

54:30Alexis Nunes:Different conversation. And I think... Different conversation. And I think that's... Mariusz Pochettino's saying that. We don't have it. This is the guy I most believe in. So let's ride him. All right.

54:42Kasey Keller:Bear. Next questions for Ale. Ale, if you could put any player from the national team from the last 20 years on this current U.S. team, Who would you put and why? Tim Howard, Josie Altidore up top?

54:56Alexis Nunes:Well, Tim Howard seems like an obvious... Considering what we were just talking about. If you expand it a couple more years, maybe I put Casey Keller. Maybe I throw a little Casey there. I'm going to say, if it's not those that are offered there, I'm going to say Brian McBride.

55:16Kasey Keller:Oh, Brian.

55:17Alexis Nunes:And well, I got a question real quick about his math.

55:21Kasey Keller:Okay, because you I played in 2006. You were still around.

55:24Herculez Gomez:It's 2025. I made it by one year, Ali. I made it by one year. You know, I'm not that old. I played Copa America with you 2007. Yeah, that's true.

55:35Alexis Nunes:You know, those were not the best years.

55:39Herculez Gomez:Let me bring my man of the match World Cup against you. Ah! Right there. You know what? You know what? Forget it. Tim! Tim in! I would say Brian McBride.

55:54Alexis Nunes:Brian McBride. Yes. Hold the play in the attack. It's important for this team or would be important for this team.

56:00Kasey Keller:Next question. Does the USSF's experience show that if you hire a coach with no knowledge of the U.S. player pool, they'll basically need a full World Cup cycle to figure it out? We're almost two years in and only now seeing real results.

56:15Herculez Gomez:It would definitely help. There's no question that the more time you have, if you don't have a more kind of intricate knowledge of the player base. But I don't think you need all that time. You know, I would have loved to have seen these results that we're seeing now start to show up maybe in the summer and not kind of give the panic stations that it did to wait a little bit longer. and in the end the only results that matter in the World Cup but yes, I think it could have eased a few nerves as fit it started a little earlier. You don't need a full cycle but it would help if you weren't just playing friendlies you're already qualified so the games you are playing aren't high quality games and even if you don't play against high quality opponents, you can play against them in difficult settings in a World Cup qualification process, you don't have that right now so it's very difficult for money Spaggiatino to kind of gauge who he can count on early on.

57:14That's why it's taking so long.

57:16Kasey Keller:Alright, and final question now. Is culture finally

57:19Herculez Gomez:for breakfast, Ale?

57:25Alexis Nunes:I think culture and strategy and all of that, all of it is needed. All of it is necessary. You can have all the fight and all the attitude in the world, but if you don't have the actual the proper tactics or the the proper setup on on the field or the talent level that is necessary again you can have all the fight and all the culture and and and all the will to do things in order to achieve what you think this team should be achieving but you also need the quality and tactical decisions and technical decisions and deliver delivery of set pieces and finishing chances you need all of it but one thing is not more important than the other But it has to start.

58:11Herculez Gomez:Well, yes. You have to start with the fight and the desire and the wanting to play. Then you let everything come down. And, yeah, don't get me wrong. We got results back in the day with just the fight. Now we're expecting the team to be able to show a little bit more. But what we didn't see was the fight. And because they didn't have the fight, you couldn't see the rest. Now that the fight has emerged, now we can start to see some of the quality.

58:39Alexis Nunes:Again, lost in translation with Pochettino. I understand the message, but when he said this, he made it sound as if none of this is important. The only thing that matters is culture. And the point that I'm trying to make is you can have it, which they do, seemingly now. And I'm sure that he's going to let it go, right? Timer set. Uh-huh. Okay. So he has that culture. Then you also need all the stuff because if you don't have all of it, the whole package, you're not going to get the results.

59:20Kasey Keller:All right. Well, speaking of Mauricio Pochettino, guess what? We're going to hear from him again after today's massive win over Uruguay. Let's have a listen. Yeah, but I think that you say about that there's no normal players. Yeah, to your point, the idea of the regulars. The regular players? Who are the regular players?

59:41Alexis Nunes:No, I'm saying there is none, is what you're saying.

59:43Kasey Keller:My question is maybe I think we need to stop the press conference and I need to go to the dressing room, come back, and start again the press conference. Because it's like we were the opposite, losing 5-1. I am the USA coach. No, I'm saying that it shows that... Tell me which regular player you are talking about because I don't understand what means regular player. More experienced players. Which?

1:00:17Alexis Nunes:More right. Okay.

1:00:20Kasey Keller:Yeah. To be honest, maybe I am tired and I don't understand the English now or your English question because I don't know. To be honest, very disappointed in the first two questions because I don't know what you expect. What are you going to say when you say no natural player playing today or another day or in the World Cup or I don't know when? Very sad. Very sad situation. Keep going.

1:00:54Herculez Gomez:On the first goal, Sebastian plays it short to Serginio. So in a situation like that, do the players have the freedom of thought to come up with that? Or is that something that you work on as a set player?

1:01:11Kasey Keller:It was coincidence.

1:01:19Kasey Keller:Oh, that would not be the body language you think of a man who just got an historic win over Uruguay.

1:01:25Herculez Gomez:And I think that was his point. That's his point.

1:01:28Kasey Keller:Yeah, obviously very disappointed in the first two questions he said. Didn't quite get the whole regular player thing. Should we go with the Pochettino whisperer first, Ale? What should we make?

1:01:37Alexis Nunes:I think he's expecting to come into this press conference. And those that are asking the questions, in particular the first couple, would talk about how good the team was and why was the team so good and what was so good about this performance. instead the question was about the guys that are not here. And if indeed, because we didn't hear the question, but if indeed that was the line of questioning, I would have had a similar reaction to Mauricio Pochettino. Let's talk about the guys that just played. Let's talk about the guys that are here. And this is what I said earlier in the show, that this sort of performance for these players empowers Pochettino and empowers his rhetoric and his narrative that these guys did this to Uruguay.

1:02:27Alexis Nunes:They kicked the backside of Uruguay. And I mean all over the field. They humiliated and destroyed Uruguay and potentially, possibly, may have pushed out Marcelo Bielsa out of the job. And we're talking about those guys that are not here, the quote-unquote regulars. And his point all along has been there are no regulars in this team. There are no more experience in this team. Just because you have a big name or you play for a big team doesn't mean that you're going to be a starter for this group. And it's the point that he's been trying to make all along, and I think all of that came to a boiling point in the press conference when the first question is about the guys that are not here instead of the players who just had this sort of performance.

1:03:08Ali, I think the reporter Paul Tenorio, if that's the voice I recognize, is essentially saying what you're saying. This is a message for what are supposed to be the regular players that these guys are doing it, and I think Maricinho Pochettino is just not trying to have it. he's trying to make sure that people realize there are no regulars. There are no starters. And I think he says that when he's like, look at the Gold Cup. Look at the summer. And that's why early on the show, I said, if we look at stock of who's played the most minutes on Marisa Pochettino, you're going to find that maybe some of these guys, like the Weston McKinney's, the Giovanni Reina's, the Christian Pulisic's, the Chunis Musa's, what people are accustomed to seeing as regular players, weren't part of those plans.

1:03:54So here, I don't think he should have been as combative as he was and maybe misunderstood what Paul Tenorio was.

1:04:06Alexis Nunes:I believe that this is lost in translation, the tone of the conversation, the tone of the question. I don't think he really fully understood what the question was. But the last question, I mean, do you work on these type of things? Go on. Teams work on tactics. Teams work on this type of thing.

1:04:23Herculez Gomez:But it also reminded me of a little bit sometimes when you go to interview a player who just had a really good game. Oh, he had a really good game. But what's it like playing with Messi?

1:04:36Kasey Keller:Yeah. Yeah.

1:04:37Herculez Gomez:Like, oh, my God. Can you – then ask Messi. Or, you know, how about we just focus on – and I think, like you said, he wanted to say, great performance, great this, and look at that challenge that led to this, and then look at Freeman, and then look at the service from Sebastian, and how difficult are decisions going to be now because you've got these players all bought in. It's like, yeah, like, well, how's that going to work with the guys that aren't here? Well, I don't care about them, particularly the ones that kind of spoke to their club and said, hey, maybe I shouldn't come in for these games.

1:05:13Alexis Nunes:I would also say and touch upon something that we discussed, earlier as well. Less is more, Mauricio. Yeah. You don't have to go into this whole, like, fixing your hair, like, I don't have to take a conversation. Press conference over. I'm not the coach of the USA. I'm not the coach of the other team. You don't have to go through all of that. See, none of that gets you anywhere. Because I don't think he's able to make the point that he wants to make. Right. And what we focus on is the reaction and being combative and being annoyed by a question. Look, answer the questions that you're going to have for the next half hour.

1:05:53Alexis Nunes:Less is more. Very direct. Very sure with your answers. And then go celebrate with your team. Because if not, you're bearing the lead. The lead is you just had a 5-1 victory over Uruguay. I cannot remember a more comprehensive performance by a United States men's national team. Any era. Wow. Well, I'm saying more comprehensive performance against top opposition. Winning like this against a team that is considered to be top opposition. It is a friendly. You were in goal for the 1-0 against Romario's Brazilians. Well, I know that. We're talking like comprehensive. I understand what you're saying.

1:06:31We got shelled that day. I think we have to focus on this era. And this era of player goes back to the Greg Berhalter. Bergherbio Halter's marquee wins were Mexico. And his biggest game was a 0-0 tie against England.

1:06:48Herculez Gomez:Well, we haven't had a big marquee win in a long time. And we've talked about this. And I know it's a friendly. And I know Uruguay, there's a lot of questions being asked about Uruguay right now. But the U.S. throttled them. And that was beautiful to see.

1:07:06Kasey Keller:All right. Well, Uruguay, of course, not giving the best, I suppose, representation for Comet Ball. But we'll get to more Comet Ball teams in a bit. But just remember that this is coming up on Thursday, a special edition of Football W as we count on to the NWSL Championship, 8.30 p.m. Eastern Time on You Know Where ESPN+.

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1:09:06Kasey Keller:Let's talk about another Conmebol team. What a much better showing, I suppose we could say, than Uruguay did. Brazil went up against Tunisia. Brazil, of course, already qualified for the World Cup. Estevão, he has been on fire for both club and country, starting for the Brazilians. 22nd minute in now. Tunisia are the ones that are on the attack. Can they take the lead over the Brazilians? Yes, they do.

1:09:29Herculez Gomez:I think there's still going to be some questions for Brazilian. Ancelotti and how they get the balance right. Anytime you get pushed by Tunisia, it helps.

1:09:41Kasey Keller:39th minute now. Esteval crosses in and a handball in the penalty. You can't do that? It's not called on the field though, so the ref goes to VAR. Decision penalty. Esteval steps up.

1:09:54Alexis Nunes:Eventually.

1:09:55Kasey Keller:Eventually. He will take the penalty. He looked nervous. Oh yeah, real nervous.

1:10:01Alexis Nunes:He smashes it into the corner. Don't worry about it. You'll see Paqueta's penalty. That'll make you nervous.

1:10:08Kasey Keller:We will get to that too. 56 minute now. Well, guess what? Another penalty.

1:10:18Alexis Nunes:He's grabbing, he's hanging on. Here we go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't understand the stutter.

1:10:27Herculez Gomez:I never understood the stutter.

1:10:28Alexis Nunes:How about the jump into the stutter? The jump into the stutter is a little much, yeah. But it still is Brazil. Estevão late in the match, takes it with his right foot, doesn't hit it very cleanly off the post, and now 1-1.

1:10:43Kasey Keller:Yes, I was supposed to read that last part, but I've mentally given up, not going to lie. You'll find out why soon. Well, as you can see, Estevão in November has just been absolutely on fire, like I said, for club and country, and he may be putting a big case there. He should be a starter for both.

1:11:01Kasey Keller:All right, let's check in on the USL League One final now. One Knoxville against Spokane Velocity.

1:11:10Herculez Gomez:I said it right. Come on, Spokane.

1:11:12Kasey Keller:Come on, Spokane.

1:11:13Herculez Gomez:As the Washington native.

1:11:15Kasey Keller:Oh, no, but my brother lives in Knoxville, so maybe I'll cheer for them. And here they are taking the lead. Oh, Ale Moreno reigns. Took him for a ride, Ale.

1:11:27Alexis Nunes:That is my kind of range, yes. 100 % inside. Outside. He's dancing everywhere, but then more importantly, finding the cross and the service and the tap in, what not. Nope.

1:11:41Kasey Keller:51st minute now.

1:11:42Alexis Nunes:Does he catch him?

1:11:42Herculez Gomez:We'll see on the replay. Opara thinks it's outside the box. It is outside the box. I think it starts outside the box. It is outside the box. What's the referee say? It is outside the box. Opara caught him, but he's already in the box. But the contact is outside the box.

1:11:57Kasey Keller:That ball looked wild in slow-mo.

1:11:59Alexis Nunes:To be honest with you, we teach that in the diving camp.

1:12:02Herculez Gomez:To get into the box to make sure you get into the box.

1:12:05Kasey Keller:That's how you score a penalty. And one Knoxville wins this one over Saris-Spokane. Oh, no. 2-0.

1:12:20Kasey Keller:All right. Well, this is the League One Championship. I believe that Pittsburgh Riverhounds. No. Oh, okay.

1:12:31Alexis Nunes:Well, this is what's going on.

1:12:32Kasey Keller:We just filled the bracket. We filled the bracket. We filled the bracket to the final. It took some time. This was the final.

1:12:42Kasey Keller:All right. Uh-oh.

1:12:43Herculez Gomez:Uh-oh. Here come the tears.

1:12:45Kasey Keller:Yeah. Yeah. Honestly, you guys should just take it away. I have a grand time doing this highlight. Jamaica, of course, going up against Curaçao. Jamaica needing a win to qualify directly. That doesn't help. This is where I was going to have a bit of a meltdown because Russell was sent off. He picked up a second yellow for this little foul right here. Ah. Ah. Ah. A little harsh. It's the 90th minute. I don't think that's the reason they are. Into stoppage time now. Oh! It needs to get on.

1:13:15Alexis Nunes:Ah, it's a touch. That's what I thought. There's a touch on the ball. There's a touch on the ball. Oh, Benal! Again, there's a touch on the ball. He touched the ball. He actually won the challenge.

1:13:29Kasey Keller:As I said, the VAR looked at it, reversed it. Into the 11th minute now of stoppage time. Jamaica here with a chance. Last chance saloon here. But it's cleared. Curacao hang on. Nil-nil means that Curacao go to the World Cup. And we've got the playoffs in March.

1:13:50Alexis Nunes:Oh, I love this for us.

1:13:52Kasey Keller:I hate it here. There's the final of Group B, I guess. Congrats, Curacao.

1:13:58Alexis Nunes:I don't know that you really meant that.

1:14:02Kasey Keller:Congrats, Curacao. Well done. First World Cup. Yeah, big up yourselves. There may be no bigger disappointment in all the Caribbean football than Jamaica for the amount of resources and pleasure. Wait a minute. Let her say whatever she needs to say.

1:14:16Alexis Nunes:Don't drive it in. She's not broken.

1:14:18Kasey Keller:I don't want to cry. I did say, I did say, honestly, if this was on my bingo card when we got that, with all due respect to everybody else in that group, with the talent that we have, with the manager as well, if you told me that I would be going to the playoffs in March, I would have taken a long swim in the Connecticut River. Yeah. In a World Cup vacation with no... Lonely swim. A lovely swim. Canada or Mexico. With a World Cup. Like, honestly, I don't know when else we plan on qualifying then. I think we should just bring Mexico back and the USA back and Canada back because clearly we love pain.

1:14:52Kasey Keller:We must love pain. It's okay. Yeah, no, massive. I think this is the biggest disappointment by far, by far, for what is supposed to be the most talented group of players.

1:15:04Alexis Nunes:On the other hand.

1:15:04Kasey Keller:And a very qualified.

1:15:07Alexis Nunes:On the other hand, Curaçao is going to a world. Yes, congratulations. Curaçao. I don't know how do I feel about this because Curaçao is going to a World Cup. And much like Jamaica, Venezuela.

1:15:21Kasey Keller:We're at home.

1:15:22Alexis Nunes:Well, you're not home yet.

1:15:24Kasey Keller:We're definitely home.

1:15:26Alexis Nunes:We're definitely sitting on a couch watching the World Cup from the couch. As for Curaçao. This is actually a great example of how to organize yourselves and actually make a plan. put a plan together and say, if there was ever an opportunity for us to make the World Cup, it's right now, given the fact that Mexico, US, and Canada. And the expanded World Cup. And of course, it's expanded. And so how are we going to go about doing this? And so they organize themselves and they plan and they obviously include the advocate in this conversation. Where can we get the players from? Where can we do the recruitment from?

1:16:04Alexis Nunes:Okay, players that are not going to be in the Dutch team, but have roots in Curaçao, hey, buddy, have you thought about playing for your national team in Curaçao? Or maybe your grandmother's national team or whoever your connection is with Curaçao. And let's actually put a plan together. A plan together that was supposed to be the same sort of plan that Jamaica put together. But the difference is that Jamaica found themselves in a situation in which players were demanding things, asking things from the federation, if you don't do this for me, then I don't come in and play. And you have players pulling in all sorts of different directions, whereas Curaçao butt into a plan, and here you go.

1:16:44Alexis Nunes:Consistently got results in qualifiers and consistently got finding themselves an opportunity to go to the World Cup, and Curaçao is in a World Cup. In a group with traditional Caribbean powers like Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, Curaçao wins the group. It's amazing.

1:16:59Kasey Keller:I'm going to go home and cry.

1:17:01Herculez Gomez:Well, you don't have to cry until after March.

1:17:07Kasey Keller:Honestly, I was going to say, respectfully, if we couldn't beat Curacao, I don't know how we're going to beat the likes of Congo. Maybe even Suriname, who are going to the playoffs as well. Yeah, it's a grand day. Shall we move on to the next highlight?

1:17:22Alexis Nunes:I do like this shirt.

1:17:23Kasey Keller:Thank you. This was from one of our qualifying campaigns that also ended up in failure.

1:17:30Herculez Gomez:Well, maybe that was why. You jinxed it.

1:17:33Kasey Keller:I thought let me go a little bit iconic. Anyways, Guatemala taking on Suriname here. And Guatemala take the lead. Darwin Lom.

1:17:41Herculez Gomez:Yeah, good ball into the box. Good header. Good goal.

1:17:46Kasey Keller:57th minute now. Rudy Munoz finding Olga Escobar. And he scores Guatemala 2-0. At home, they really needed to put in a good performance. Already out of the World Cup. They lost at home versus Panama. They couldn't go away without winning in front of their people. Reflection help. Must be nice winning in front of your people. 65th minute, Guatemala 3-0.

1:18:09Alexis Nunes:This is some sweet defending from Suriname. Good Lord. It's a good finish nonetheless.

1:18:15Kasey Keller:Good Lord. And then into stoppage time, Suriname gets one back.

1:18:22Herculez Gomez:Yeah, it gets the consolation. But the fact that Suriname winning this game gets themselves into the World Cup and Toulouse 3-1 and tough.

1:18:32Kasey Keller:Well, the wonderful thing about my family is that I also could root for El Salvador, the country of my mother. But unfortunately, they stank up the place as well. But here they are, out of qualifying, but up against Panama. 17th minute, Panama. Handball! Mano! The lead!

1:18:46Alexis Nunes:Oh, this is some good goalkeeping. Let me tell you something.

1:18:51Kasey Keller:Shaqa Straff?

1:18:53Alexis Nunes:I don't know if that's a handball or not, but this is... I don't know, that's a strong finish. Are you kidding me right now? That's a goalkeeper. That's a goalkeeper. Good luck.

1:19:06Herculez Gomez:Blah, jump over it. This is a penalty. It's just one foul. It's just like a good takedown. Boom.

1:19:14Kasey Keller:Oh, see, that's how you take a pen. That's how you take a penalty. Mm-hmm. Eric Davis. 85th minute now. Ah. All right. Oh, good. Help him out. Help him out.

1:19:27Herculez Gomez:Help. Yup. Oh, at 3-0, I think Panama feels they're going to get to the World Cup.

1:19:38Kasey Keller:All right, so Panama win this one and its celebrations all around because Panama will be heading to the World Cup. Suriname finishing in second, and as we said, alongside Jamaica, they will be heading to the playoffs.

1:19:55Kasey Keller:All right, and here is another brilliant story that has unfolded. Haiti hosting Nicaragua. Nine minutes in now, it's the Haitians that will take a 1-0 lead.

1:20:07Herculez Gomez:Yeah, really, it was beat a guy, beat another guy, wait for the opportunity, and then take the finish well. And a nice little 1-2 to start it, then beats the first guy, beats the second guy. You think maybe he's taking too much time, but gets the finish.

1:20:24Kasey Keller:Well, they double their lead. Listen, I know Nicaragua is probably the worst team in this group, but Haiti going to the World Cup and not playing a single home game, they're playing all their games at Curaçao because the political turmoil is insane and incredible. Well, that is exactly what it means for Haiti. They have waited since 1974 to be able to go back to another World Cup, and you will definitely see them come next year. Must be nice Alright well These are the teams that qualified today Officially and have booked their spot Come next year in the USA, Mexico And Panama and Canada Panama, Curacao and Haiti And then of course in case we wanted to throw more salt In my wounds playoffs for Jamaica and Suriname

1:21:12Alexis Nunes:But you still have a chance Yeah You still have a chance You know who doesn't have a chance So you're saying there's a chance

1:21:19Kasey Keller:Guys don't even

1:21:21Alexis Nunes:I know that tonight's not a night to think about the fact that you still have a chance, but you still have a chance.

1:21:26Kasey Keller:Yeah, we do.

1:21:27Herculez Gomez:I suggest wearing the jersey from the last time you qualified.

1:21:32Kasey Keller:From the 98 one?

1:21:33Herculez Gomez:Yeah.

1:21:34Kasey Keller:You see, I did that last time and we still didn't qualify for Qatar.

1:21:37Alexis Nunes:Okay, well, I tried. Well, there seems to be a lot of negativity right now. Yeah, I was going to say that.

1:21:42Herculez Gomez:Yeah, very.

1:21:44Kasey Keller:There's a lot of negativity. I'm going to go home and cry. But thank you everyone for tuning in to Football Americas and hanging out with us. Congrats to everyone who qualified today. We'll be talking about Lionel Messi and if he survives Cincinnati on Monday's episode. And we will see if I just show up, period.

1:22:02Alexis Nunes:That's it?

1:22:03Kasey Keller:That's it.

1:22:03Alexis Nunes:That's your sign-up? I may take some days off to process. I may be here, I may not.

1:22:07Kasey Keller:I'm just a girl. I'm just a girl.

1:22:45Herculez Gomez:We'll be right back. Slathering on aloe lotion. You're welcome. Columbia. Engineered for whatever.