Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hootsie! Right, okay. With three-time MLS Cup champion, Alejandro Moreno, ex-Venezuelan national team.
It's a good time that, well, it's a good thing that you made it. I did. That you were coming back from the Super Bowl, right?
I did, I just got here.
And you were hanging out with Bad Bunny. Benito, yes. Yeah, okay. Good thing that you made it, because otherwise it was going to be me hosting the show by myself. And let me tell you, well... I was going to bring it.
You were going to bring it? It wouldn't be by yourself because our good friend Derek Ray is going to join us, the Bundesliga expert. We're going to get some stock up, stock down on CONCACAF's best in the Bundesliga. As you mentioned, lots to get through. We have Mauricio Pochettino, Jesus Perez, the assistant coach of the U.S. men's national team, with some interesting comments, Ale.
Let's talk a little about Raul Jimenez. But first, I'm sure you saw the Super Bowl. Of course I did. Your team win? My team did not participate. Your team did not participate. Did you at least like the halftime show? What are your thoughts on the halftime show, if you have any thoughts?
Maybe I'm the wrong demographic, wrong age demographic. Maybe I wasn't the target. I'm willing to admit that if I was not supposed to be the target, well, they achieved it.
They did not hit me.
I'm all for Latin music. You know, I got it in the hip.
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Chapter 2: What did USMNT assistant coach Jesús Pérez say about player basics?
Are you saying that you were an extra in the halftime show?
Were you one of the performers? You might have seen me in one of those tree get-ups.
I'm not saying... Were you or were you not wearing a straw hat? Listen, listen, I'm going to leave the context out of here. Just like a few people left context out of some comments that came from Marisa Pochettino and Jesus Perez of the U.S. Men's National. The assistant coach and the head coach had a few things to say about the state of the U.S. Men's National when they arrived.
Jesus Perez says, we found that there was a lack of basics for whatever reason. They were in transition. We did assess things and implement a vision. We didn't go there to teach anything, to show them how to do things, just to convince the group of players and staff that we can be competitive. This is via the High Performance Podcast. Wow. I don't even know where to start here.
It's pretty strong, Ale. When you hear that, what do you think he's actually talking about?
Well, you know, there's a contradiction in the statement. Well, there is. There's many. When you say that you showed, basically, you showed up and found a group that lacked the basics, but we're not here to teach anything. Well... If you have a group that lacks the basics, for whatever reason, according to him, then isn't your job to make sure that this group knows the basics?
And isn't that part of teaching? Isn't that part of what you're trying to do? If you get to anywhere, in any walk of life, and you're now in a managerial position, and you evaluate the people that are working for you,
and you think that they have shortcomings in certain areas, isn't your job to make sure that you fill that gap and that you fill those shortcomings with education or with experience or whatever the case may be in whatever walk of life. I'm not even talking about a national team, I'm talking about just in general.
Well, here they are in a managerial position, they evaluate the group and they say they lack the basics. By definition, as a manager for the national team, it should be your job, it should be upon you and your staff to make sure that you hit on those basics so that when it's time to play, this team doesn't lack quote unquote the basics.
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Chapter 3: How does playing abroad affect USMNT players' development?
He did exist, and he's existing some more because he had more to say. Jesus Perez of the U.S. Men's National League assistant coach had also this to say on that very same podcast alongside Mecho Pochettino. We can't do what Spain, England, and Germany do because we are different.
we have a unique situation half our squad play in different leagues in europe and the other guys play in major league soccer in england 98 of the english players play in the premier league 90 of the spanish guys play in spain we have many different situations via the high performance podcast ale help me here France's player pool, arguably the best player pool in the world.
They have players littered across the best top five leagues in the world. Argentina, the same. And you can argue, hey, you're talking about the elite. Okay, Uruguay, who the U.S. just pounded. Five goals. They have the same structure. Why would this be a problem for the U.S. men's national team?
He addressed and made examples of what are essentially exceptions to the rule. He specifically mentioned England and Spain. And while those things are accurate, what he's saying about those national teams, it is accurate, they are the exception to the rule.
If you think about just every other national team out in the world, they have the same challenges, the same challenges or unique situation that he's referring to. You just mentioned Argentina. Well, go a little north and go to Brazil. Brazil has some players playing locally and then the rest are everywhere, everywhere.
So yeah, you can have Paquetá back in Brazil, but you can have Bruno Guimaraes in Newcastle. Fine, to your point. Let's not keep it to the high level teams. Well, what about the reigning African Cup of Nations champion? Oh, I'm sorry. Senegal. Senegal. Uh-huh. Pape Gueye, who scored the game winner in the final against Morocco, plays in Spain. The superstar of the team,
Sadio Mane plays in Saudi Arabia. Let me just tell you, just in case people need a little geography lesson, they're not the same place. They're not even close. So we can, I think he is utilizing the exception to the rule to make a larger point so that it proves
what he's saying, to argue his point, to fit his narrative, to fit the messaging that the situation here in the United States is so very challenging and so very unique. Well, it isn't. It's no different than the situation for most countries around the world. Most countries around the world have this situation.
Most countries around the world, their players are spread all over the place, and you need to find, as a national team, a way to bring all that talent together in a very short period of time. They need to look like a group that knows what they're doing together. That is the challenge of a national team coach.
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Chapter 4: How does the coaching style affect player performance in the USMNT?
I don't think they will go down, but they're only three points ahead of the relegation playoff position. And when you're in that sort of position, you need certain types. And Eugen Polanski, the coach, is very much what I would say is a pressing coach, pressing style, high pressing against the ball. You know, not necessarily a lot of possession, but making those pressing moments count.
Is Gio Reyna, when he gets fit, the player for that sort of setup in the predicament Gladbach are in? I think it's going to be tough.
When he gets fit, he's currently nursing another muscular injury. Ale, let's look at it from the perspective of the US men's national team. He's got three games under his belt. Okay, since Copa America 2024, I know you're very high on Giovanni Reyna. You've spoken about his talents, his ceiling. Where do you see him in this 11 for the US Men's National Team? Is he in the 11?
Okay, if the conversation is stuck up or stuck down as it pertains to Gio Reyna, there is no stuck. No stock. It's not even up or down. You can't evaluate the player if he's not on the field. And this has been, the concerning part is that this has been the story of Gio Reyna, not just this season, but We're talking about years. You just mentioned his absence with the national team.
And so now when it almost becomes as you remember when, you remember when Gio Reyna did this and did that. And those moments seem fleeting and part of a past life of history that is no longer the case, that we're no longer seeing on a weekly basis. There is no stock for Gio Reyna right now. It's neither, it's not down and it's not up. It's not even part of the conversation.
And that, I think, is the most concerning part.
It is the most concerning part because Giovanni Reina at one point was, I'd say, along Christian Pulisic, the star of this US Men's National Team program.
There was a moment in which you could have made a very convincing argument that Gio Reina's ceiling was higher than that of Christian Pulisic.
And I was very much kind of getting on that bandwagon, and as I was about to get on that bandwagon, then injuries, and this, and controversy, and Bertholdt, and this, that, and the other, and you kind of go, uh-oh, this bandwagon ain't gonna last, so I'm out.
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