Alexis Nunes

All those things show growth for MLS.

But what's most important than anything else is that with all that growth comes consistency of results and performances in instances like this that show

Proof positive that indeed you're getting past Liga Amekis, and that hasn't been the case just yet.

Well, I mean, it's actually, you may not understand it, but I think we all know the reason.

It's fear.

It's fear, it's fear that creeps into players because they haven't felt that sort of pressure and that sort of environment.

And when you have fear,

It freezes you and you stop playing, you stop moving, you stop showing in spaces, you stop possessing the ball in a manner in which you usually do.

And the same things that you were doing at home, you're unable to do away from home.

The concerning part is that this same thing was happening 20 years ago and it was happening with us as players and we went through it and we saw those looks on the faces of teammates.

And as I'm sure they would say that they saw that face, that look on my face.

Look, we, I have been,

member of teams that has beaten Mexican teams here and then went to Mexico and got dispatched.

The difference is, this was 20 years ago.

And 20 years ago, the difference in terms of the power to acquire players for MLS was not nearly what it is now.

And so when there was more depth and resources for Mexican teams, and it was clear to see, it was really us hanging on.

It was hanging on.

Because you couldn't make an argument that 1 through 11 we could compete.

Maybe 1 through 8 we could compete, but 1 through 11, you start seeing some flaws here and there, and you can't cover every single flaw.

20 years ago.