USMNT Mania Takes Over Seattle, Pochettino’s Process Pays Off, and Turkey Awaits: Men in Blazers 06/22/26

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2:33The United States men are living the greatest days. back-to-back wins at a World Cup for the first time in 96 years. Tim Ream was just 10 years old back then. I don't like to be hyperbolic, but I put this achievement somewhere between the First Continental Congress and the invention of the George Foreman Grill. A nation is euphoric, rising up behind this team. And to break down how it's happened and how far we can go, it's a joy to welcome back my friend from ESPN and our own VAMOS on the Men in Blazers media network, whereas Jewel Natcho is my favorite thing we do. It's incredible to see my king, Mr.

3:11Hercules Gomez. No, Raj, you are my king. I feel like I open my phone and I see you everywhere. You're doing live streams of every single game. I see you on GetUp. I see you on First Take. I feel like you are the hardest working man at this World Cup. I am just in the shadow, as we all are, of Freddie LA7. But Herc, let me start with my love and my awe for this moment. I'm so excited to share it with you. We've both been around U.S. soccer for a long time. How special were the scenes that you saw in Seattle? Oh, my goodness. The best thing I've seen out of U.S. soccer in quite some time, one, because I know Seattle.

3:53I used to live there. I know how good that fan base is. When you talk Soccer City USA, and I've been in a lot of very good Soccer City USAs, they can all have their say, Kansas City, Cincinnati, LA. I don't know if there's a better soccer city, better venue than Seattle. Seattle always brings it. And to that is the record of the U.S. men's national team in Seattle. We do not have a coliseum, so to speak, a football, soccer in this country. But if we did, that would be one of them. That would be probably up there. And people can come at me in the comments and tell me who they think they're soccer city USA but I can think of none better than Seattle gotta tell you I marched to the match with Marshawn Lynch and the fans from all over the United States coming together it was probably the closest I ever feel to being Ferris Bueller in the parade it was it was just a human ecstasy the amount of memory making around this team 4-1 against Paraguay 2-0 against the Socceroos.

4:53We've already won Group D, D for domination, Herc. What's the opposite of getting grouped? Do you have a verb for what we're doing? CONCACAF. That's what we're doing here. We're CONCACAFing the group. It's the group that's soccer. You know, you had the Socceroos and you had the U.S. Men's National Team leading the group and most didn't have that. If you're a neutral, you didn't have this situation going on. Probably Look what happened. You've got to give a lot of credit to these players and to the coaching staff because there was immense pressure and uncertainty heading into this World Cup. And now they have the country singing, I believe.

5:30I've never seen the U.S. like this. The outside looking in. The U.S. population like this thinking this way about their team. You and I have watched this team in good days. And we've sat through many, many, many dark ones. But we've never seen on the men's side a team playing such optimistic, joyous, buccaneering football. Potch told us, trust the process. But no one saw this feeling coming. How do you explain what we're seeing? What switch has flipped? Potch said trust the process, Raj. And he wanted a footballing culture. And in other footballing cultures, that process would have been cut short.

6:12That's a reality. It was 20 months where there were mixed results and a lot of off the field drama that one could have easily gotten caught up in. And if you're any other federation, maybe you just say, hey, this is where we cut it loose. But that wasn't the case. And credit to these players and the coaching staff for how quickly they put it together. The first time we ever saw the actual start in 11 was the World Cup debut. The World Cup debut. And how quickly Raj, they took to not only the formation, but the tactical nuances of what was being asked of them. while maintaining a high intensity, one that I think is second to none in this World Cup, maybe only Spain the way they pressure and Jesse Marsh's Canada in terms of how they pressure are the only two teams that come close to the U.S.

6:56men's national team. But when you look at what he's asking of certain players, it's high-level IQ. For a player like Alex Freeman to be asked to play as a right back, then third center back, then come in as an eight, to come in and support, For Tyler Adams to be in a rest defensive type of third back, center back formation. For Weston McKinney and Malik Tillman to be asked to play as, at times, double pivots. And then a guy who's making the runs as a third man into the box. For Anthony Robinson and Serginio Dest to act like wingers. And then at times to come in and act like midfielders. The tactical nuance that we see from this team that they're being asked is high level IQ.

7:39and I cannot believe it's come together in two games. Reminder, we did this, the Australia win, without Christian Pulisic. And what I loved about it, Poch, he went all in. He wasn't like, you know what, I'm going to try and wedge a lesser reality in there. I'm going to go audacious. I'm going to go two strikers. Ricardo Pepe, you will play with Balogun. We're going to play in your box. I'm going to overload you. I believe in this team. The tactics, the high intensity pressure. I think only Spain have had more pressures than we have up top, as you said. I mean, the players must love this. He's kind of saying, I believe in you.

8:15Just go Buccaneer, go Swagger, go and cause help. Yeah, you said trust the process. I don't think that message was for the fan base nor the federation. I think it was for the players, because he's putting these players in some very good positions. Listen, Christian Pulisic doesn't play in this game, and you see it's Ricardo Pepe, and you're thinking to yourself, well, that's not a like for like. One's a playmaker, one's a dribbler, one's a facilitator, a wing play, all these exciting things on the ball. And the other one is a straight finisher, a box player. How's this going to look? And he gives Ricardo Pepe the responsibility on the defensive side of being in charge of that left-hand side.

8:51But when he's on the offensive end, he tucks into the box as a second forward, as a second striker. And he and Foller and Balogun are interchanging in those responsibilities. So when the goal comes, the first goal, which is a carving copy of the goal that played against Paraguay, it's following Balogun down the left-hand side, beats his guy, crosses in, and you have Ricardo Pepe and a few others crashing the box, and you get a center back facing his own net. That's what's going to happen. He's put in a compromising position. But the way these players have been put into situations and have just not gone with it, but understood that, okay, there's going to be something we get out of it.

9:28and they're trusting the process even more every single time they're out there, that's high level IQ. You gotta give credit to Pochettino for thinking these players are capable of it, but also the players for being able to do it. Now, we saw that it was high 60, 65 minutes of intensity versus Australia, and then there was a drop. But good teams, when that drop comes, have to suffer. They have to grind out results. And yes, Australia was threatening, but they never really knocked on the door of Matt Fries. When did Matt Fries actually make a quality save in the second half where you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, that could be really dangerous.

10:07Look at that great save. It never came about. The U.S., while they lost a bit of control, they were still in total control. We'll get to the Matt Fries question in one moment, but I do want to know which player, beyond Balogun, who scored the goals, inspired the nation, and Pulisic, who was so hungry in his first 45, took on Paraguay as if he was playing for all the ultras. Which player has inspired you the most? I think it's Weston McKinney. Now, hear me out when I say this, because there's a lot of candidates here. Alex Freeman is a breakout star in this tournament. Sergino Dest is playing his free-flowing football.

10:43You've got players like Malik Tillman who are coming about and doing their thing. But it's Weston McKinney. Tyler Adams, Chris Richards. Well, I could keep going down the list because I can't think of a negative performance. I'm contractually obliged to shout out those guys. They're just so warriors. How can I say anything? Think about this. Chris Richards has missed three passes in two games. You know, FIFA records. He's absolutely just killing things. Tyler Adams has more recoveries than any other player in this tournament. And yet I'm going to tell you it's Weston McKinney. And let me tell you why.

11:14If there's one player, Raj, who sacrificed himself his game for the team, it's Weston McKinney. Weston McKinney is end product. That means goals and assists, no matter where he plays on the field. But now he's being asked to be a workhorse and for his movement to create for others, to create things, to create the play that happens and leads into the goal or the assist. Weston McKinney has the distinct opportunity here because of his play, because of who he is and his charisma to be a massive star in the United States. You and I have colleagues who till today live off of 1994. And I'm not saying that negatively.

11:51They were household names in 1994. The Alexi Lalises, the Kobe Jones, the Marcelo Bobos, the Tony Miolas. This group has an opportunity to be massive stars. Like, if we see Weston McKinney on Dancing with the Stars after this, I would not be surprised. Weston McKinney has the possibility of being the biggest star. I'm not saying, the way this world works, the way we operate in the United States, he has the opportunity because of his charisma and play to be the breakout star of the world cup in the united states i really believe that i believe what you're saying her because western mckinney got riz but i do believe rather than dancing with the stars all western mckinney wants at the end of the day is one of those chipotle cards just get your free potlake for the rest of your life i mean who amongst us is not motivated by that kind of truth in life look i was just on first take Stephen A.

12:46Smith, he asked the eternal question. When it comes out of his mouth, it's a lot better frame than it is for me. But his question was, how much is us? How much is it that we play two poor, quite one-dimensional opponents, neither Paraguay, let's be honest, nor Australia, were that confident on the ball? I think Paraguay gave a 65 % possession. Australia had just 38 % of the ball. What happens when we play a team who actually, you know, want the ball and are even confident in their own idea of football beyond the low block. Well, we're going to find out when they play against Turkey, right? If it is Turkey and the Straden 11, who has a lot to play for, they're already eliminated.

13:25It's the first time they're back to the World Cup after 24 years. They were in a semi-final 24 years ago and then haven't appeared in a World Cup since. And this is a national embarrassment for their country, for their players. So they're going to be fired up and have something to play for. We're going to find out how good of a team Turkey is and what they put out. And if it is that star lineup, they have the ability to play through you. Australia and Paraguay did not, but that's also not who they are. Now, we could sit here and make excuses of how poor they were, but the U.S. men's national team made them look poor.

13:56Paraguay was a team that in World Cup qualifying gave up six goals under Gustavo Alfaro. They had one loss. They beat quality teams. They were defensively sound. The U.S. men's national team made them look pedestrian. Australia was a team that went on a string of undefeated runs who were defensively sound, who under Tony Popovich knew exactly who they were, the U.S. men's national team made them look bad. They made Tony Popovich doubt and take out his two best players, his two goal scorers from the previous game and not stardom. He got too cute because the U.S. men's national team took them there.

14:29We're gonna see what they're like versus a team that can potentially play through you. And I'm very interested in that because there are other teams in this World Cup of a higher caliber that won't sit back in a mid block or a low block against the U.S. men's national team. And we'll try to play through them. And we'll try to press them. You're France, you're England, you're Argentina, you're Portugal, you're Spains. They're gonna be teams. You're Holland, the Netherlands, even Japan. You're Cape Verde. Bolsinha and the Cape Verde. So there are teams who will test this U.S. men's national team.

15:04And I am very interested to see how they defend, teams that try to play through them and how they attack and press teams that won't just sit back.

15:38And as the world arrives in the United States for the biggest spectacle in sports, we're going coast to coast, host city to host city to meet the world with the Men in Blazers Match Day Live Tour. These are free college game day style live events taking place just before kickoff at some of the biggest games of the summer. But we'll be taking the stage with celebrity guests in front of thousands of fans. It's going to be amazing. Come and be with us in person or from afar on YouTube. but let's celebrate this some other way. It's meant to be celebrated. Just head to the events tab on meninblazers.com for all the details.

16:15To the football, to more together courage. I want to look ahead a little bit in one moment but I do want to acknowledge because it was so breathtaking. Seattle was exquisite. Seattle was euphoric. Seattle was explosive. Marshawn Lynch talked to us in our pre-game show, The Match Day Live, which was just a human ecstasy to commune with that many Americans before a game. It was beautiful. I'd like to do that before every U.S. game from here on in. Marshawn said that in massive moments, Lumen Field, Seattle Field now, can hit an earthquake on the Richter scale. This team have played in the shadows.

16:54They played to tiny crowds in the run-up to this World Cup. I marched to the match. It was like Mardi Gras levels of excitement. The crowd, the lift, the home turf. The power of it, to me, is the great intangible. When Alex Freeman scored that goal, it did hit the Richter scale. It was like an earthquake. What does it feel as an ex-international to see these scenes in the United States? I'm not surprised by Seattle. Seattle has a rich footballing history. You're going back to NASL, USLA League, and now Major League Soccer. if there is one city, if there is one plaza in the United States that is just rich in its history and how it celebrates its game, it is Seattle.

17:37So I am not surprised. But to see the scenes in Seattle, thousands of people behind the Fox set, cheering on Dempsey, cheering on Holden, cheering on the crew that was talking the day before the game, the day of the game, to see the march to the match, To see the way the stadium sung after, you know, like, what's that song got to do with Seattle? Absolutely nothing. You know, it's a West Virginia song, but they're making it known to their team how much they care. To see the images that are transmitted to the west of the world. For those who say that the U.S. isn't a footballing country, look at the way we're treating this World Cup.

18:18Proper football nation. There you go, Raj. Proper football nation. For all the talk about tickets and the fanfare or lack thereof, we are proving this is a footballing nation. We are proving that if you come and play against the U.S., the environment will be pro-U.S. men's national team in this World Cup. And Seattle is a perfect example of that. It was unbelievable in Los Angeles, unbelievable in Seattle. I hope it continues in Los Angeles again. and wherever their road takes them because the fan base, when called upon, and if they're given a reason to be called upon, comes out and shows out.

18:57Yeah, I mean, we're going to do a live show before the game on Thursday at Union Station downtown LA and just the scenes out here. There is so much football, so many jerseys on the street, so much euphoria. By the way, not just in Seattle, watching the scenes from Hartford, from San Jose, from Columbus, thousands, the Atlanta fans. It's incredibly moving. I'll just say South Korea in 2002, semifinal on home turf. Germany 2006, very young German team, semifinal on home turf. Russia 2018 quarterfinal. I'm just saying Russell Wilson style, why not us? God, country roads, John Denver would have been proper football.

19:37You know what I love most about the Australia game? I loved how Australia tried to take us into their knife fight, their world of hurt. but they've laid into Tyler Adams on repeat, stuck one on him twice, I think. And we've seen this young US team fall for that, be provoked. I'm old enough to remember Tim Weyer meeting it, you know, with a red card in the Copa. Seginho Dest losing his mind in the Nations League. But in this game, we didn't fall for it, Herc. We fall back, yeah. But we fall back with swaggy, swaggy football. That is a mindset change. That is maturity. Yeah, it's the maturity we would have liked from this team a few years ago.

20:19And they're finally showing it. Sometimes we forget how young this team is. In Qatar, they were the second youngest team of the World Cup. Tyler Adams was the youngest captain in the World Cup. And we forget, like, they are fairly young. And the majority of these players aren't even in their prime yet. And yet, in this World Cup, they understand the importance of emotional intelligence. Because Paraguay, I thought, would have taken them down to a physical battle. They didn't. Australia did but they never matched it they matched the intensity they played on that edge but they never lost their cool and you could see the youngest player for the US Men's National Alex Freeman they were trying to get under his skin he didn't let it happen so there's a sense of they understand what the moment is about which I think shows you just how emotionally intelligent this team has become we have not had our backline truly tested we need to know you mentioned Matt Freeze two saves all tournament both in the Australia game Chris Richards has been dominant.

21:17But would you file that concern that we had going in? It's not case closed, is it right? It's still an unknown. Well, it's case closed because this is the horse you rode in on. You're not changing him now. And if you did, I think that would be detrimental to the squad and detrimental to whoever comes in in this place. That would be a lot of pressure and counterproductive. But he's not been tested. That said, it's a testament to how good the U.S. Men's National League has been. And there's been a few times where you've seen some cracks, but no game is perfect even in paraguay the goal that paraguay scores comes off you know a goalie's free kick 80 yards away from goal that there's a challenge lost the ball bounces it bounces over somebody else and sees so the one guy you don't want on the ball you know play makes and puts it to his player perfectly shot and it's in two seconds a goal against you have to learn from that australia there are moments where tim ream who's been so good this tournament with the ball so good at organizing his defense tries playing an offside trap and he gets caught a little too slow and you're thinking all right but then you have the speed to come back and put out that fire so he's never really been tested and while i would love to say it doesn't matter because he's not been tested at some point you're going to be tested and at some point matt freese needs to show us why he's the number one but you need to trust him up until this moment you got to keep trusting him to be that guy when he gets there because this decision was made a long time ago you you given all the playing time all the trust and you're trying to get this guy the experience he needs for this exact moment so we're we're beyond that you've got to trust matt freeze now what do you expect thursday against turkey will poch continue to ride the hot hand keep the momentum keep his players feeling because it's long time in between games in this group stage it's you know there's days and days and days?

23:03Or will we see rotation either for fitness or because of yellow cards? I think it's Tyler Adams, Balagol, Chris Richards, Anthony Robinson, all on your eyes. How much would you expect that will balance rotation and momentum? I love that you spoke about momentum and the time in between games. Previous workup additions, three, four days, you got a game. And this comes into play when we talk about Christian Pulisic as well. It almost feels like a club season, a regular season, because you've got a whole week to prepare. You can actually have sessions. You can actually prepare and you can rest guys in certain days and you can do things to dossify minutes and the workload, et cetera, et cetera.

23:42You got to keep this momentum, this good feeling, this goodwill that you have in this country. I've never seen it, Raj. I've never seen it. You got to keep it going. So I understand you do not want to risk the likes of a Chris Richards, of an Anthony Robinson, of a Tyler Adams, and of a Foller and Baligan. And three of those four players are in your spine. I wouldn't move too much. You've got enough time. The next game after this game will be six days away. That's enough time to rest, to prepare, to dossify and manage workload and minutes, all these different things. I think you've got to go into it with, okay, these players are out because I don't want to risk it.

24:17But everybody else, we're going. We're going to get three points. That should be the mindset. Score prediction. Tell us what kind of game we've got in store for us. How's it going to go, Dan? I'm very, very interested to see how Turkey managed this game. It is a national embarrassment, and they are playing for pride. And some of these players, that is legacy-type things. This team hasn't been back to a World Cup in 24 years, so an Art Agüller, a Yildiz could be defined, their legacy could be defined by this maybe one World Cup, if that is that they have. So we're going to see a different type of team, at least an attitude.

24:51I think we're going to see for the first time a team that tries playing through you, Turkey had over 60 shots in two games Over very defensive teams So I think it's going to be a very good battle Ultimately, even without the players That the U.S. Men's National Team won't have The likes of, let's say, Chris Richards Or an Anthony Robinson Or a Weston McKinney Or a Fowler and Balagoon I do think you keep the structure of the team fairly similar And you have players who can come in And it's a very serviceable 2-1 result I'm going to go U.S. Men's National Team on this one And I think the wave of momentum right now and how they're feeling is going to carry them through.

25:28Three wins in the group stage. Not to be old Rog here, but we had Jurgen Klinsmann on the show on Saturday night. And he talked about one nagging fear that the World Cup's just not won in the opening round. He talked about, you know, you want to build into the tournament. You want to peak in the knockout rounds. And the facts are true. No team has won all three group games and won the bloody thing since Brazil in 2002. You know, Spain lose their first game, go on to win the thing 2010. Argentina lost the first game last time. We all laughed. And then they built and built. You want to grow into this tournament.

26:06Spain, I remember when I was a kid, they always used to batter everybody in the opening round, absolutely destroy them. And then the first time in the early knockouts, when they got punched in the face, they would just implode. I know this sounds insane and ridiculous, but have we almost started too well? I know what you're saying but no, you can never start too well you've got to get people to believe and if you can get three wins regardless of what the historians have told us three wins do not accumulate to a World Cup win you've got to get people to believe in this country and they are believing people don't realize how difficult it is to win in the World Cup just games, forget about the World Cup, just games Spain since they won in 2010 has won a grand total of four games in the World Cup in 90 minutes.

26:53They won a grand total of four games. The Dutch are going on a ridiculous record of like 10 games of not losing in 90 minutes and they've not won the World Cup. So Raj, it is incredibly difficult to accumulate wins. I don't think you could ever peak too early. I think this just builds the momentum that you're trying to gain in a country that is finally giving you the recognition you deserve if you're the U.S. men's national team. winning creates a lot in this country i've said it many times i don't know anything about curling but every four years i'm there in front of the tv going go go usa for curling because they make a run i gotta tell you it is beautiful how many human beings are in our mailbag um you know are in our discord are reaching out to us being like i've never watched football before and now bro and watching like seven games a day.