Mexico 2-1 USMNT Gold Cup Final: The Deuce Live 07/06/25

28:27You can see every missed chance. If you were in the bathroom, you'd think a goal was scored because of how much excitement's going on. And so it really was, everyone's at the edge of the seat. everyone knows every player everyone knows who's in who's out even an hour leading up to the game you you would overhear conversations in the lobby of the hotel of where are you going to watch what are you doing and just you know a thing i know will will maybe one day come to the u.s but just as someone that grew up in soccer i believe deeply in a in a goal cut full of self-love i think this tournament really can be something can you work on your diego luna song as president of the diego Lunar Fan Club.

29:04Keep calling in until you've got one. But we're going to move on to Alex. Come on up, baby. Tell us where you are and what's your question for Clint? Hey, I'm from Tampa. I'm currently in Vegas for work. Vegas for work. Yeah. Worst reason to be here, but despite the outcome of the final, glad to be here with you guys. I appreciate you guys taking my call last go around. But a similar question in a way. I know last time I was talking about grit and underdog mentality. I don't like harping on this topic of identity and culture, but I feel like it's a fascinating one when you don't have one. So I believe the right move would be an identity of just that grit and fight.

29:54But I wanted to ask you guys, Raj and Clint, which way you guys think it is the way to go because I feel like we try to copy other countries too much you have Italy with their beautiful defense historically not so much lately but historically you know you got Spain with your tiki taka and your dribbling um what's ours because I feel like 2014 World Cup it was a bunch of fighters it was all it was all fight you didn't need to be the most technically gifted but you fought till the end um I feel like we kind of need that back I feel like that's our true identity that we haven't had, but I wanted to get your guys' opinions on that.

30:29It's a great question. I mean, Clint, you were playing in 2014 when we were just, you know, I mean, Jürgen Klinsmann in his opening press conference when he took over said, we want every team to reflect their nation. And he tried to imagine what an American style of football would be, but you were just a puncher in the mouth team. I mean, I'm fascinated. How do you answer it? Because it is a key question. Well, I think we touched on it before just a little bit in other post games when we talked about you need a little mix of everything, right? You're starting to see us be more dangerous on set pieces, which was always kind of a staple of ours.

31:05We're a team that normally had a keeper that, you know, you'd bet the bank on in terms of whether it was Tony Miola, Brad Friedel, Casey Keller, Tim Howard. I think you needed to have goal scorers, people that you know that could get you goals, right? If you were able to hold up shop and be difficult to break down defensively, still could catch teams on the counter, but then have the quality. If you needed to break team down, players that could produce a little bit of magic. But I just think you have to have a mix, right? Like any good soup, you've got to have a lot of ingredients, right? So I think it's difficult to have just like your clear-cut, your own style.

31:50But you have to be, I think, to play in World Cup, especially in conditions where it's hot, you have to have a style where you're good on the ball. You're good with both feet, good in position, and you know how to kind of deal with that and manage your energy a little bit better. There's no way you can press and run during the summer in that way. Yeah, I mean, I couldn't agree more. I mean, ultimately, the U.S. teams at their best had the fight. There's no doubt the collective ferocity, but they also had an idea, an idea of how they're going to score goals. Even going back to 1994, when you think about that first goal against Colombia, what was it in the 52nd minute?

32:37Eric Wijnaldum holding the ball up. when you interview Eric about that goal he said it was the most beautiful goal the US scored because they trained at that move so many times him holding it up, him turning he knew Ernie Stewart he knew exactly where Ernie Stewart was going to be running and he delivered and Ernie Stewart finished that was their idea of how to score and some of the frustration with Greg Berhalter teams was that you'd watch the games often against very limited opponents and say, what was the idea? How were we really hoping to score here? And then you fuse that with the American desire.

33:16Clint, you hit it earlier. We feel lesser. We feel inferior. We feel we need to show the world that we can't just win games, but we can win beautifully, which drives me crazy because international football is not that game. You do not get extra style points for being Barcelona 2010. You're not a club team. You're an international team. So I'd say that the collective, the grit, but ultimately we're looking for a cohesive idea of football. And we lost that in the Berhalter era, that cohesive idea of football. It moved to complacency. We don't yet have one under Pochettino, but what were you going to say, Clint?

33:54No, I was going to say you go to a formation that's kind of easily to understand, right? And that you're going to be compact defensively and you can get forward. whether that's a 4-4-2, whether that's a 4-2-3-1, or what have you, right? And you talked about it. What is your identity? Are you getting your width with your outside backs? Is that where you're going to get your crosses from? Are you getting your width with your outside midfielders? Is that who's crossing the ball? Or do you have them tucked in? And just how you are defensively. Are you allowing them to go on the outside? Are you allowing them to push to the middle and close on them there?

34:27So having a true, simple way of playing, and then everybody kind of knows where to be, and then it's kind of plug and play. Because you don't have a lot of time to work on tactics when you're with the national team except when you're in tournaments, right? So I think that makes things a little bit more simple for you. And the way I would describe it, you look at certain managers of a mid-table team, right? They figure out ways like a Roy Hodgson, like a David Moyes. You know what I'm saying? They figure out ways to win. You're compact defensively, but still, you know how you're going to play in the attack and create chances and you're going to be dangerous.

35:04Yeah, I mean, I think we missed, the two players we missed the most in this tournament were Anthony Robinson and Segino Dest. I mean, just having two flank threats. I mean, particularly Anthony, just the ability both sides of the ball. I mean, today we seeded the flank. There was just no wit whatsoever. We got utterly devastated. Chris Vass in the chat says, shout out to Chef Clint, recommending the proper soup for hot weather. Hashtag ingredients. Goat, US Men's National Team player, and Gordon Ramsay levels in the kitchen. Are you a good cook, Clint? Hey, I would try. You know that? I would put a lot of different stuff in it.

35:43But hey, I'm one of those people that even in the summer, I'll eat chili, I'll eat soup. Me too, bro. Me too, big time. When I get down to Nagadoches for that fishing trip, we're going to eat some of the Dempsey soup together. Carter! Heck yeah! Come on up, baby. What's your question? for Clint. Unmute. Tell us where you're from and fire away. Hey, Rog. Hey, Clint. I appreciate you guys having me on from Tampa, Florida. And I put a little bonus comment in the chat, which is, Dempsey, I have one of the old Waldo jerseys signed by you as well as a photo with you that is a cherished possession on the wall in my office.

36:23My question is, going into the summer, I think, you know, prior to Pulisic pulling out some of the other announcements by Potch, we all would have probably put a different lineup out on the field. Having gone through the summer and seeing Potch has really kind of narrowed it down to the same lineup he keeps on the field, do we feel better about our depth or are we more concerned? Because I know we talk about the eight or nine, depending on who you're counting, guys that aren't here, but even that doesn't make a full squad if we count the 11 Potch relies on plus those eight. Thanks. Do we feel better at the end of the summer or worse, Klim?

37:06What a great question, Carter. You know what? I'm an optimistic person, so I'm going to say I feel better. I wanted to see fight for this team, and we got that during this tournament. They got to the final and they were in a position that they could have won it. They went up 1-0, and then the game kind of got away from them, and there's a few players that we talked about that are going to push to get into this starting lineup, which we wanted to see. We wanted to know what Pochettino was going to do by having his new set of eyes on our player pool. Who is he going to identify as people that could possibly break into that roster spot?

37:42I am worried about meaningful games. I hope that we can get quality of friendlies in terms of top teams that have already qualified for the World Cup, and maybe we could play away from home a few more times. But I'm going to say I'm optimistic. What about you, Raj? Where are you at? I think, yeah, I try and frame the question, what has to happen now? I try and be a human of action in this moment. And I think a lot of it depends on two things. The first one, number one, there's got to be some fence mending with Christian Pulisic. We've not talked about it for a while. And thank God we've not talked about it.

38:18It meant we'd been able to talk about the football and not the off the field. But that cycle of incidents, Pulisic not reporting, US soccer having to quite unorthodoxly put out a statement, making it clear that it was the player's choice. Pulisic then waiting two weeks before doing an interview in which he said he offered to come in for the two friendlies, but was told not to bother. And adding that he, quote, didn't agree with that decision, which led to Potts' quite emotional, I am not a mannequin speech. All of that's still lingering. And so, you know, ultimately, if I ran U.S. soccer, I'd have Pochettino go to Milan quickly and have photos of the two out there optically, you know, saying no bruising.

39:06You know, we're on with the football now. That's what's important. This can't become a flapping piece of skin. It cannot become a distraction. That would be incredibly challenging. So there's got to be a lot of optical, almost damage management. And then number two, I mean, Clint said it, the fans, it is an agony. I want to be clear. Thinking back to 2010, thinking back to 2014, the number of US fans that followed this team lived with them, died with them supported them every step of the way the question of where they have gone on the field there's been the it's been the Gold Cup series about Poch building a C-string with fight it's been remarkable to watch I've really enjoyed and found it fascinating but off it, the empty stadia to begin with and then sold out crowds that were 90 % Guatemalan and then 90 % Mexican.

40:09This audience that was so massive in 2014, we all felt so optimistic. It felt like we were surging. It's been lost. I can tell the US men's national team only, the fan site, that the general sentiment is ultimately the reappointment of Greg Berhalter was the moment when fans just snapped. You can debate where it happened since 2017, but it must be rebuilt, has to be. We can't take that support, which is complicated and wonderful. There's so many options for US football fans now. In 2010, America, that was the obvious first move. Now the Premier League is so massive here. There's so many fans who just support the Premier League teams and feel quite satiated by them.

40:57The US is in a very competitive battle for hearts and minds. One, we can win. I have no doubt we can win, but my Lord, we've got to try something different in the next 338 days. Let's take another question. You beautiful human being. Let's have Joe. Come on up, unmute. Tell us where you are. What's your question for Clint? Hey, guys. Joe from Boston. I'm currently in Cape Cod, though, chilling on a beach.

41:25But my question for you guys was concerning our striker situation. so you know obviously we don't have a star like Clint anymore playing the striker position um I'd love for Balogun to be that guy but injury problems for him so I was wondering who you would have as your strikers heading in the World Cup and do you think that's a problem for us something we should be worried about our ability to make a run depending on that striker situation thanks Where are you in the Cape, Jake? Near Kituit. God bless in every regard. I'm living vicariously through you. Clint Stryker, in a perfect world, full fitness, who are the three that you're taking?

42:11In a perfect world, I'd probably take Balogun, Pepe, and it's a toss-up, right, between Ajiman and Haji Wright. right? Those would be the four, right? That you'd pick from. But even in 2022, I mean, that's what we were saying. We needed that number nine. And I appreciate you putting me in that striker position, but that was never my true best position. I was more of a withdrawn forward or kind of an inverted winger. I like to get in those spaces and kind of get on the half turn, per se than it would be to like be the hold up guy and the one that stretches the lines but um those are the four guys that that that come to mind but for me ball a gun and i'll say it again is is during the cope america how he played it's what i like to see he would he's who i would have liked to play with um but yeah we've been definitely hit hard with injuries why would you like to have played with him clint what was it about the style of play that you think wow that I think it would have been similar to me and Oba.

43:21I think that it would be like a pickup style. I think that I could play him through. He'd get in space. He could beat a guy. I'd be running late to get into the box, and he could find me. Then I could get on to something. I think we'd do a lot of give and goes off of each other, and we would cause problems. He's a player that can create his own chances, both the right and left feet. He gets on the end of things. He's good in the air. I feel like we'd have just complimented each other well and it would have reminded me of my time in Seattle Oh my god, I think I would have combined best with Ricardo Pepe Yeah, I can see you and him, I can see y 'all causing some problems I would have stood there and just watched him Pepe's from Texas so I'm always going to show him love I adore that man He's a great son to bring on and change the game for sure Oh my God, I adore that, man.

44:15I really, I just love everything. His story, his ferocity, I love the redemption cycle of Ricardo Pepe. I wish him every joy and I missed him terribly this tournament. We'll take a quick detail before we take a chat. Jim James Jr. in the comments says, Clint, which lake has better fishing holes? Rayburn or Toledo? The big questions. Ooh, both of those are great lakes. Also Lake Fork. I got to show some love to that one. But I spent most of my time on Rayburn, if I'm being honest, growing up. So I'm going to be biased towards that lake. We used to camp out at Powell Park in the summers. That was kind of like our summer vacation, get the tents, go out there and do a little fishing.

44:58So I'm going to have to show love to Lake Sam Rayburn. I just love how you're like so balanced. You're like got to show love to Lake Fork. Don't want to hurt Lake Fork's feelings. Lake Fork's good. Back in the day, they used to have some big bass out there. I don't know anymore, but that's the lake as you head closer to Dallas on the way from Nacogdoches. God bless. Remember, listeners, life truth. Always got to show love to Lake Fork. Hashtag Bass Assassin. Let's move on to the mighty Drew. Tell us where you're from. Come and unmute, and what's your question for Clint Dempsey? Hey, Rog. This is Drew in Austin, Texas.

45:37and oh gosh my lord we love your city in every regard and we can't wait to be back what's your question but oh you know we've talked about it most of the players in this squad for this tournament probably not making the world cup um let's see our outside backs seem to be pretty poor throughout the whole tournament but i want to talk about one who will be there he didn't seem to show up that much tonight with malik is it because he just had no one to play off of, but he seemed to be losing the ball quite easily. What was your read on that, Clint? I mean, I think it was a tough game for our attacking players in general.

46:14There wasn't much time. There wasn't much space. I don't think we really did a great job of possession as a team. There's only a few times I saw where you had someone from the back driving forward, like Chris Richards, to try to create a mismatch where someone needs to step to them to find other players. I mean, what I'll say about Tillman is he battled. He battled the whole time and fought hard for the jersey. He's one of the bright spots during the tournament. Finals are difficult sometimes. You don't get in a good rhythm. Luna didn't get in a rhythm as well. I mean, Ajiman was fighting the whole time as well, got fouled, which led to the free kick that we scored.

46:57So it was just a tough night in general for our attacking players. I don't feel like they ever really got in a true rhythm. and us as a team, we just didn't do enough to create those opportunities to unbalance them and get our players with more time and space on the ball to do damage. Very difficult game to really analyze anybody in that forward gear. I mean, by the way, Tilma had the crap kicked out of him all tournament. This was a Conquer Calf crucible for him. And when you think about how to knock out the U.S., teams were just going for him from the off. He will be absolutely bruised and battered.

47:36And I think can walk away from this goal cut with a real sense of pride. And he's won over a lot of admirers with this fan base for his output, but also for his style. I mean, he's not a physical player. He's not a grinder, but he took a real beat down, kept getting up and answered the call. I've got a huge amount of respect for him and I feel so bloody. He's one of the positive, massive... The thing I like about him is also just those moments of quality that you talk about. Those touches where he's behind the leg, chopping it, and getting into space and trying to make stuff happen. He tries stuff.

48:11That's what you want to see. It's all you want. You know what I'm saying? And it works. And he's only going to get more comfortable, and it's only going to get better. Yeah, tonight wasn't his night, but like you talked about, he fought for that jersey. He really did. You know what I'm saying? He really did. He really did. That's why I ride for him, man. He tries shit and he fights. I love you. I love you. I love this. By the way, if Clint and I were managers of the US team, we'd just say, we wouldn't say much. We'd just say, fight and try crap. That's all. That's it. Fight and try. Hey, we're going to have fun.

48:46We're going to have fun. We might not last long. We might not last long, but we're going to have some fun. We're going to be serious about that fun. We're going to be serious about having some fun. We're going to be serious about that fun. We're going to score some goals. And then we're going to just annihilate all those bass in Lake Fork, baby.

49:03Rodrigo. Oh, that's a name I recognize. Rodrigo, you can unmute, Bubz. You're from Texas, I think, if I remember rightly. Come on up. Yeah, I am. And I'd just like to say thank you, Clint, for talking about Dallas Cup. As someone who grew up playing there, I really think it's such an awesome experience. And hearing from someone like you that has done so much to play that, is really cool to hear. And actually, I think he might have played under the same coach. I have core memories of him yelling at us saying that we weren't you. What team you played for? Dallas Texans. Who was your coach? Hassan.

49:39Yep, that's him. That's the coach. Him and Keith Hodder were my coaches for the Texans. That's great. You're not fancy. You're not fancy. Hey, I got a story for you. One time he said me, he goes, Clint, you want to dribble? And he putted the ball into the woods. He goes, dribble over there. I was like, oh, hell. I just went and sat down, bro. I just went and sat down. He's crazy. He had a Dallas Morning News article called The Satan of Soccer. Hey, he always wore those loafers, and he had like a cardigan around his neck or a scarf. The most cologne. The most cologne. Anyway. By the way, Rodrigo, we could just do a whole show with you and Clint doing memories.

50:27Hey, I mean, we could, we could. This guy is ridiculous. But Coach Pochettino, if you're listening, try that with the players. Just say, you're not Clint Dempsey. Maybe it works. Maybe it works. I don't know. But tell us what your question is. And I guess my question does come from the coaching itself. And I agree with a lot of the callers about how we don't have the strongest team right now. And with you, Clint, that a national team coach doesn't have the time to have the tactics but i guess my issue with going into the future especially with the quote unquote stars coming back could you give me a player perspective on who if it's the coach if it's the leaders on the team who established this pragmatic view i think of like the teams that you guys were on and and if you had a lead um again i hate to use the term but like you played ugly and just got the result um beating spain in the confederations cup comes to mind or or even games where you didn't win it seemed like these players would not only fight of course but just have you know no problem with having a negative outlook on playing poorly maybe like you said raj you don't get you know points in international for um for playing pretty and i think with the european stars returning and maybe you can give me some insight on that clint as a player that play in europe are they really going to be the ones or does it have to come from a manager from Poch to have this more pragmatic negative mindset if you will because for Poch with Spurs I mean I think he was very criticized for not having that mindset at times and maybe being too free-flowing at times when when you just need to hunker down and win the game and I know that was long-winded but I guess it's a great question I mean how does this pragmatic mindset change does it change when the stars return Clint yeah I mean first of all I'm not going to act like I was we were just the best team in all the world when I played but what I will say is what hurts this team at the moment is the failures that's kind of to this moment right you got Copa America you have CONCACAF Nations League and then you have the injuries and then you have the World Cup you have all this pressure that's coming into play but the thing is when you talk about the other teams before the failures that I had under the national team where we lost to Jamaica in the semifinal when we got the early red card, and then to Trinidad away from home, not qualifying for the World Cup in 2018.

52:50So it's one of those situations that we were lucky during my time when I was playing. We never really had as many injuries as they kind of had now. I think that compounded with the fact of the failures of Copa America, CONCACAF Nations League, and, you know, it's just in the fact that there's not a lot of meaningful games left building into the World Cup. It's just under more of a microscope and we're grasping at straws, right? You're seeing attendance not be good. You know that it's important to take advantage of this moment. You look back at 94 and just how the country got behind that team and what it did for our country in terms of the MLS being created the year after, two years after that.

53:40And it had kids believing that, dude, I want to represent my country. I want to play in a World Cup. And I could beat teams like Colombia. I could make it almost beat Brazil. They lost 1-0 to them, which was the team that went on to win it. You know what I'm saying? You want to be inspired as a fan. So hopefully, you know, they get back on track and we see some of these players get back to full fitness and we get some, like we talked about, some friendlies that are meaningful in a way as much as we can make them by maybe making them away from home or something like that against top quality. But I mean, Raj, how would you?

54:18I mean, Clint, I can only echo everything that you've said. Look, I think international football, Rodrigo, we talked about this before, is inherently pragmatic. It really is. I've talked about this a lot about the idea of how you play which is really an international football based on denying the other team goal opportunities and then working out how to make the most of every single chance you get I mean the great Clint Dempsey teams in World Cups they didn't obliterate opponents I mean if you look at 2014 which was delirious for football in this nation I mean the whole nation got behind the United States There were enormous fan fest across America when this team were playing.

54:59America fell in love with that team. What did they do? They beat Ghana in the first minute and then the last couple and then got really pushed in between. We let a game slip against Portugal. And then we lost to Germany. For nothing. Yeah. I mean, by the way, we got through. We did it. We fought. The Belgian game, amazing. We could have won. We could have won. Yeah. You know, we got obliterated, but had the chance at the death that I don't want to talk about because Wondo's such a lovely human being. But ultimately, you do not need to play dazzling football to unite this nation. Yeah, no, I agree with that.

55:40But I will say about that tournament, we lost our number nine, Jose Altidore. And I had to play a position that's not my main position. I think that jammed us up a little bit. I think we could have played a little bit better in that World Cup, even though we were able to get out of the group of death. I think we would have been more of a dangerous team by having Josie fitting up top. I think we could have caused more problems there. But, you know, credit to the team. Everybody fought. They found a way. They found a way. They found a way. All we want is fight and try crap. I mean, that's ultimately it.

56:13So, Rodrigo, I'd say the same to you. We just want a team that fights and tries crap. And I think I give credit. I mean, I am going to ask Clint before we leave in one moment to give us a sense of optimism ahead of all that is to come. And I do think ultimately we did see, I mean, this team is limited. We knew it was limited, but there was some, there was some fight. There was even in, even today when we took our lumps in a crucible, I mean, they got absolutely, you know, kind of whoop-ass at times. And they kept this thing bloody close. We're going to take one last call. There's so many of them, and I want to thank you all because it's been amazing.

56:55I experienced this Gold Cup with question after question. But I'm going to give the last one to the great Christina Stotts. Come on up, tell us where you are, and what's your question for the great Clint? Good evening, gentlemen. Can you hear me better this evening? Yes. We can, Christina, because you're not listening with your phone right by your computer, I think. No. We're all good. And I sorted out the technical issues. I apologize about that because I know better. It's great to say. To wish you a belated happy birthday now from all of us. We all adore you. You're a very important human being in every GFOP's life.

57:38But fire away with the last question for King Clint. Yes. So, Clint, I want to ask you the same question I asked Raj in an ask me anything question on discord this week. I asked him if the gold cup was going to be a litmus test for Potch. In the chat this evening, I presented that question again, and a lot of these supporters were upset. They wanted Potch out. They knew the experience he had with Tottenham and the Spurs experience. So as a former player, what do you want to see going for from Pott? You talked about getting matches outside of the country. Do you want to see Potch go in front of the Federation and publicly state that we want international matches in order to, number one, be a better squad?

58:43And number two, get a true sense of what this team is. So, Christina, by the way, Potch has said he wants to play big teams away. he's talked about that. But what you're really asking of Clint is, does this Gold Cup mean anything? Is it a litmus test for Pochettino? Or is this just, Clint, should we be reading too much into this? Or should we be saying, God, this was the C-string. He did okay with them. There's many more battles to come. Does this mean, it's a great end question. Does what we've lived together, does what we've broken, does it mean anything? Yeah, it does. Yes. I mean, you're always going to be graded upon what you do and any job that you have.

59:26You know, no matter you're playing for your national team or playing for your club team, if you're not getting the job done, it's who's going to come in and take your position. Right. What I will say is, look, he got these the boys fighting and got him to a final. But still, it just isn't like there's a lot of quality at his disposal, if I'm being honest. But then saying that, look at CONCACAF Nations League semifinal, final, I mean, semifinal third, fourth place game with a strong lineup and not getting it, not getting the job done there. So, yeah, I mean, he's going to be the guy, I think, to the World Cup.

1:00:07And like you said, it's kind of been bittersweet in terms of my reaction of how things have gone so far because of the injuries and not having your best players available. but it was definitely a failure from what we saw in CONCACAF Nations League. And like you talked about, you want to see the best friendlies that you possibly can get now because there's not many important games from now until the World Cup. So I think he's brought into a tough situation.

1:00:40And I think he's being asked to build a house with not a lot of tools, especially when you look at this Gold Cup. But if you're going to grade them on anything, for me, the Nations League, you've got to win that game versus Panama. And then you've had the third, fourth place game versus Canada. You lose that game as well. So things are not in a good spot. And that's why you saw the attendance the way that they are for this Gold Cup. But what I will say is you talk about optimistic, being positive, and that's just kind of how I'm going to beat Glass half full type of dude. is they showed a fighting spirit.

1:01:17And as long as they keep that culture and add the talented players back and keep the players from injury to come back to the squad, I'm curious to see what they do. And like we talked about, if you don't get out of the group stage, it would be a huge failure on home soil. Oh my God, do not, do not. I mean, you said, I think it was the last show, Clint, that ultimately Pochettino is going to be seen as success or failure based on three games in the World Cup. Those are really, I mean, those are the ones that the next competitive games in a way, even when he was hired, they were the only ones that matter.

1:01:55Everything between now and then is just noise. Look, I would love, I mean, this to be a moment of serious learning. I'd love US soccer to now get serious. I'd love, you know, Pochettino in a way, when you speak to the players, they want him to be more in their lives, the players to get serious. You know, the message again from the beginning of the summer about complacency. It's put all of this aside, drew a line under it. It is, you've said it beautifully, the greatest opportunity of a generation for these players to make this nation soar, to feel alive, to feel proud and connected and unified through football.

1:02:35This can be nothing more powerful than that. I mean, you've been in some great teams. You've been in some team moments of challenge. So I'm going to let you have the last word, Clint. I mean, what would your message for hope be for this fan base in the here and now as we charge towards a World Cup, which is what, like 338 days away? I mean, my thing was, it's always as a player, the next game, the next goal. It doesn't take much to get you back on track and out of a slump. I think that is what's truly beautiful about the game of soccer and the reason why we love it as fans. because your team can be losing 2-0 and one goal gets you back in it and you come back and you win the game, right?

1:03:16And it's one of the greatest memories you'll have in terms of stories you tell with your kids and your family about those type of moments. So I just think it just takes one thing to kind of get you out of a slump and get you back on that wave again and riding. And that's what we're hoping for. That's why we hold our breaths. That's why there's always tomorrow. and if you ever lose that then I think you lose in life because it's one of the joys that keeps me going so that's just how I'm going to be and that's how I'm going to approach it I love it, Clint I mean, my late father his life motto is always look forward and in a way you're embodying that and prodding us towards that reality I love your optimism I will say it's sustained me a lot this summer and I'm going to leave it there on that note because that's all we got time for this evening.

1:04:07Thanks to all the callers. I'm so sorry to those we couldn't get to. We will have you on again. A reminder to everyone watching, come and see Rory Smith this weekend at the Ultra Pit, this week, excuse me, at the Ultra Pit Side Club in Midtown Manhattan. We're going to go full on Club World Cup semifinals live. Watch both of the games live. We're also going to do a Friday night show with special guests, including someone that may or may not know the Nagadocches fishing scene unbelievably well. Details and the RSVP link are in the description of this YouTube video and the podcast. Clint, I want to say thank you to you.

1:04:43This has been an incredible journey. We started it with that live stream during the Turkey match. One month ago, we've lived eight games, ups, downs, two lives, and innumerable Clint Dempsey live truce. I just want to say what a privilege it's been to bring the world just show the juice. We can't wait to continue the series through the rest of the year through the World Cup. It's such a seismic year for football in this nation. For me to listen to you, the voice of this game in the United States is remarkable. You should be on Mount Rushmore of American soccer, apart from when you replaced yourself with Demarcus Beasley.

1:05:24I just want to say to you, we all take what you have to say with real gratitude. We don't take it for granted. thank you mate no thank y 'all and thank you the fans hopefully they feel like we're all hanging out at a bar talking about the game so that bar is the only place I want to be until next time let's not take a second of watching football together for granted courage vamos and go go USA big love