Stu Holden
speaker
484 appearances
5 recordings
4 series
first heard Dec 2024
last heard 6 Jul
Stu Holden’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 4 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 3.
Appearances
And I just didn't have the, like, I needed somebody to tell me in that moment, Stu, don't do it. No, it's not worth it. You need three more months. Your knee hasn't healed inside. Instead, I was like, Yeah, these doctors are telling me I'm good. I'm good. I think I'm good. Yeah. All right. I got to play. And then, you know, that was it.
My injury history is a lot more complex than what Christy's got going. But like, same emotions apply, you know?
Yeah, I long felt that Flo Baligan had the highest upside potential, I think, based on raw skill and athletic ability and all the other stuff. But you guys know as well as I do, and we've experienced this with the national team as well, it's who's in form and who wants that jersey. And look, to me, it's Pepe right now. Pepe deserves it. He does need to make... I think an important next move.
Now, he could stay where he's at. He's at a good level right now. And I heard you guys have this discussion on one of your previous pods about finding the right club. It has to be the right fit for you. Is MLS a better option sometimes? Do sometimes we fall in love with this idea of being in Europe? But what I would say for Ricardo Pepe, it's pretty obvious and evident.
He made the wrong move initially by going to Augsburg. But at the same time, that was the club that was going to pay FC Dallas the most money. And it was one of the best options for him in that moment. In hindsight, it wasn't because he was going to a team that was relegation battle. He's not getting chances. And then his development at that period in his career really, really faltered.
And he kind of just stood in neutral. But now I think what you're seeing, we always knew Pepe was a really good raw finisher. He has the tools to be that number nine, but he was lacking some of that confidence. But also I still felt like mentally and tactically, he wasn't at that next level. And I think he's learned some of that from being in Germany and then also now from being in Holland.
But the question to me is if he makes that next move and when he does make that next move, is he in a position in a team where he's getting chances consistently and scoring goals? Like that's the most important thing for a final. And then I'm totally fine with Pepe being in this starting nine for US men's national team. And then all of a sudden we got a bit of a
you know, competition up there between he Bolligan and Sergeant, but I love what I've seen from Pepe. I think he's shown like he can bounce back mentally from being cut from the world cup in 22. He can, he can bounce back from being completely discarded by a team in the Bundesliga. And he's got a bit of that Clint Dempsey dog in him. He's, you know, he's got that, like, I want to fight for this.
And I love that I've seen that. And I think it's made him a better player because of that. So if we were starting a game tomorrow, I'm playing Ricardo Pepe up front.
No, if we can go another like 20 minutes, kids are about to leave the house.
Yeah, I think we are in a better place because, you know, naturally these guys now that made up this team are two years on in their development and they're more experienced. Some of these guys are playing more consistently now at their clubs. And I think that was the thing going into 2022.
A lot of, you know, Weston was playing, Christian was playing, Tyler was playing in healthy, you know, Tim Rehm was... So what I think has happened over the next two years is that...
And really in the Copa America, the leadership council or the passing of the baton for Greg Berhalter to try to develop some of these guys into leaders, I don't think it really happened because these guys weren't playing at their clubs. And I recently just wrote an article on this on Fox Sports about –
Like when we, when I thought about our team in 2010 and I pulled up the lineup against Algeria, you know, Landon, you were a captain, Tim, you were a captain, Bocanegra, Demerit, Chirondolo, Bradley, like all of you guys were captains and you were captain personalities and individuals, but also you were playing like big roles at your teams.
And Tim, it's going back to something you talked about at the beginning of the pod about like, being able to walk in that locker room and know that you just have a different confidence and also an authority to it. And when you're looking around in tough games on the field, I would look to you guys to be like, oh man, these guys are fine. We're good. We're going to get through this.
And I think that... this team has really lacked big individuals that are willing to take that responsibility. And I've been happy with the way that Pulisic has developed. He's not a natural leader vocally, all the gesticulations, but he would lead by example by performing, but he still kind of wants to do that.
I call him a bit of a reluctant leader, but outside of Tim Rehm, there wasn't really somebody that was just the calming influence on the team outside of Tyler Adams. And so Jedi Robinson's in a much better place. Pepe's playing a lot. And so now that would be my challenge to this group is I think talent wise, we're in a better place.
It's just like, can we now the core of leadership develop genuinely within that team? Then I think we'll be in a good spot for 26. And I think that's the challenge for us. Mauricio Pochettino is to empower some of these guys, but also push them at their club level. Like, Hey guys, don't just be okay with being a like leader on the national team.
Go be a leader in your club in these European locker rooms where you walk in and these guys are like, who's this American kid, you know? And you earn that by playing for, you have to earn that right to do that by being an impactful player on the field. And then you, Your voice develops, you develop, your experience develops. And I think the national team will be better because of that.
So I think we're in a better place than we were in 22 because these guys were all 21, 22, 23 years old. But yet for the US to be successful in 26, it's leadership. And then it's the guys 12 through 18 pushing the guys in front. And that we have like real competition for that starting 11. Then, you know, that's...
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