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What will be the impact of the USMNT's loss last night? The Junkies look ahead to the future of US Soccer.
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00:00Talking about Belgium beating the U.S. last night in the round of 16.
00:05Great opportunity for the U.S. to get to the quarterfinals to play Spain,
00:08who had beat Portugal one zip earlier in the day.
00:12But Belgium came to play.
00:14The United States didn't.
00:16I think if they played that game 10 times, I asked Sebastian,
00:20and he said, you know, like 3-3 and then maybe some ties or whatever.
00:25I think we'd lose that thing probably eight times out of 10.
00:29Yeah.
00:30And the two would be flukes.
00:32Didn't they lose to Belgium the last time they played them?
00:35I think they lost to them 5-2.
00:37Sure.
00:37You say so.
00:38I don't know the history.
00:41But it was ugly to watch.
00:43That's what it was.
00:44It was ugly.
00:44It's just disappointing.
00:45And I didn't think Belgium was great because I watched the entire Belgium-Senegal match
00:50and Senegal outplayed them.
00:53And I thought U.S. was better than Senegal.
00:56I clearly was wrong.
00:58Mm-hmm.
00:58You know what I mean?
01:00All right.
01:01So, Matt, you said you got some audio.
01:02I want to hear some audio.
01:03You just tell us who you got.
01:04Some of the experts.
01:06I turned it all off once it was over.
01:08We can listen to Alexi Lawless after the game.
01:11Yeah.
01:11Post game first.
01:13And then Carly Lloyd.
01:14Here's Alexi first.
01:15All right.
01:15First off, I think congratulations have to go to this Belgium team to come into this environment
01:20and put on a show like that.
01:22And from a U.S. perspective, they picked the worst time to play their worst game.
01:27And I think Mauricio Pochettino and the players would admit that.
01:30You know, to echo what Stu and John said, you know, anytime this happens, and I've been
01:34through this now a lot, the question is always, well, was this a success?
01:40Look, I think that this team did win hearts and minds.
01:44I think that this team did bring people into the tent, and they should be incredibly proud
01:48for that.
01:48But also, there's a part of me that says the time for moral victories is over.
01:53And so we've left something on the table here.
01:56And that, to me, is disappointing.
01:57I also know it's going to be disappointing to the players and to Mauricio Pochettino when
02:02they look at this game.
02:02Because, again, the goals that they gave up at times were self-inflicted against a better
02:08team.
02:09But this U.S. team has beaten better teams in the past.
02:12It just didn't happen here today.
02:13So it's going to be disappointing to go out, but also in the way in which they went
02:17out, which was much more of a whimper than a roar that we had seen through this tournament.
02:22No, seriously, the goals were like, they were like bad co-ed adult soccer goals.
02:28Yeah, they looked so easy.
02:30They gave up.
02:30It's almost like, if you relate it to football, it's like a breakdown in defensive coverage.
02:35Totally.
02:36Letting some guy slip all the way behind you.
02:38Yeah.
02:38Or touchdown.
02:39Yeah.
02:40Or like poor tackling.
02:41Poor tackling.
02:42And then trip over your shoelaces.
02:44They looked so easy for Belgium.
02:47Yeah.
02:47Well, because we just...
02:48Most of the possessions looked easy.
02:49We were just embarrassing.
02:51Man.
02:52That's a bummer.
02:54All right.
02:55So let's listen to Carly Lloyd.
02:56Carly Lloyd's usually up with...
02:58She's got to be pregnant, right?
03:00She's pregnant.
03:00I feel bad for her in that heat.
03:02I know.
03:02That's all I could think about.
03:03She's good, though.
03:04She's pregnant.
03:05She's good.
03:05Of course.
03:05Yeah, she's good.
03:06So this is Carly Lloyd.
03:07No, look.
03:08You know, it's a bit of a downer for us being out here now after this loss.
03:12But I just...
03:13I felt like they lost the game before they even stepped out onto the pitch.
03:17And I'm not sure why.
03:18And I don't know the reasons.
03:20But just from the beginning, just chasing.
03:22Tentative.
03:24Scared.
03:24Just not confident on the ball.
03:27And I think big-time players, you wanted some of those big-time players to step up in big moments.
03:34And I've got to be honest, you know, I was a bit disappointed with Christian Pulisic.
03:37I think whether he wants to be the star of this team or not, we didn't see enough from him
03:43in this particular game and really the whole World Cup.
03:46Little glimpses here and there.
03:47But, you know, look.
03:50Aside from this loss, I think on the brighter storyline, it's been a fantastic World Cup.
03:57This team has united the country.
03:59They have, you know, gotten American fans to call in love with them.
04:04And there is a bright future.
04:06But this is just a real disappointing loss to go out on.
04:09I'm not sure about the bright future.
04:12I give her credit for calling out Pulisic.
04:15Like, that's got to be very difficult, and I'm sure she knows them very well, and she's in that world.
04:20Yeah.
04:20I just think we have to move on from the Christian Pulisic era.
04:24It didn't work.
04:26Well, the national team's lucky that the World Cup is every four years.
04:30Because you have enough time for idiots like us to get sucked back in.
04:36And then forget about the disaster, which was this game.
04:40And then we'll bite on that patriotism bone another four years from now and get all worked back up and
04:46forget just how disappointing the team has been.
04:49Yeah.
04:49I think we got extra pumped because we're hosting, too.
04:54Probably.
04:55I mean, it was cool to see.
04:56Probably.
04:57I mean, all these games are in.
04:58You hear all the chants.
04:59The premier NFL stadiums.
05:00I mean, the country's definitely done an amazing job of embracing the soccer, right?
05:05So that also kind of got me pumped up.
05:07So that's cool.
05:09I won't get as pumped up when they're playing in Spain and Italy, wherever they're playing in four years.
05:13Yeah, but I will say, Alexi's kind of right, that you do get tired of this, well, you know, we're
05:19on the come.
05:20We're this up-and-coming team.
05:21We're getting better every year.
05:23Every year we got, you know, the players that are in our pipeline, we're going to make the leap.
05:29We're going to make the leap and just kind of never really do.
05:32No.
05:32We don't have the culture for it.
05:34I'm convinced of it.
05:35Yeah, but this was supposed to be the year, I thought.
05:38Actually, I didn't think going in it was because I thought they had struggled.
05:42No, listen, I'm just a casual observer, but my impression of this team was they kind of outperformed what expectations
05:49were.
05:50But that was just my sort of impression of the team.
05:53I didn't expect.
05:54And then they did well against some inferior opponents.
05:57And then Zlatan and everybody started jumping on the bandwagon.
06:00Then I started getting excited.
06:01I blame them.
06:03I blame them.
06:04I blame the analysts.
06:05When I was listening to some of these, you know, these media members talking about, you know, previewing the World
06:10Cup before it started,
06:11they were saying that this is the most talented team we ever had.
06:14So I kind of got pumped up there.
06:15They didn't say, yeah, they're going to win.
06:17I didn't think that.
06:18They did say that they could make the quarters.
06:21Yeah.
06:22The group, these group of players have been hyped up since they were like 14, 17.
06:26Right.
06:26Like they, everyone's kept saying, hey, keep your eye on the 20, 20, 16.
06:30I didn't hear that, but I defer to you.
06:32I remember that about like the DeMarcus Beasley crew, the Kyle Beckerman crew, those guys, when they were 17 years
06:39old and they, they, they all had their run.
06:42I didn't remember that about this other than Pulisic been hearing about Pulisic freaking 10 years.
06:48Pulisic's 11 possessions lost were the most of any player on the field.
06:52Not even close.
06:54ESPN gave him a two out of 10 player rating.
06:56Yeah.
06:56I mean, I feel bad.
06:57I'm sure he's trying his best.
06:58He just, he's not as good as those guys.
07:00Yeah.
07:01I mean, it was a disaster.
07:03But we were talking about how good he was, you know, with the ball for the last two, three weeks.
07:09Maybe you were.
07:10I mean, I guess.
07:12He did not have a good World Cup.
07:14The Baligan was the guy that was jumping out to me.
07:16Again, well, I remember having Sebastian in here and I said, and I was candid.
07:20The only guy I really know, I'm a very casual observer, is Pulisic.
07:25I don't know these other guys.
07:26And Baligan jumped out, right?
07:27He really became the star of this team.
07:30I'm sure keen observers knew, obviously.
07:33But I didn't think Pulisic was doing much at all, actually.
07:37Yeah.
07:38I'm just talking about how, what his reputation was, that he was such a good dribbler and a good passer.
07:44And I guess, I guess he was considered a good scorer, but we didn't see that.
07:47They did a great piece on him.
07:48I don't know if you guys had it on in the background, but like at six o'clock, you got
07:52to see clips of him when he was a kid.
07:54And just kind of coming up and going through the system, and I was geeked up for the guy.
08:00I was excited for him to finally make his splash.
08:06Just didn't happen.
08:07He knows he sucked last night.
08:08I mean, I know what he said.
08:10He kind of blamed it on the ankle.
08:11He knows he sucked.
08:11Oh, of course.
08:13He's not going to say it.
08:14Well, maybe he should say it.
08:15But I wonder also, Jason, if he really deep, deep down is owning it yet.
08:20It looked like he was on the sideline when he had his head buried in his hand.
08:24If you turned the ball over 11 times, how could you not own it?
08:28I don't know.
08:29Some people are great at it.
08:29He knows he didn't play well.
08:32Deferring or not absorbing stuff.
08:34Is his ego that big?
08:36I don't know.
08:38The Tillman goal was pretty cool.
08:40I mean, I know we were still getting dominated in the first half.
08:44No, that was amazing.
08:44But that was an amazing kick.
08:46Well, did that actually count?
08:48That counted as a Tillman goal, right?
08:49It didn't count as an own goal, did it?
08:50It did go off the guy's head.
08:52It did go off the guy's head.
08:52But I think it counts as his goal.
08:55I don't think that's an own goal.
08:59But I don't know.
08:59That's a good question.
09:03But yeah, that was brilliant.
09:05I mean, just look at the box score.
09:06Box score says Tillman scored.
09:08Yeah, yeah.
09:08In 31 minutes.
09:09How deflating, though, the 61 seconds later to give up the other goal.
09:12And that's when you knew.
09:13It was like kicking the nuts.
09:14Oh, it was the worst.
09:15Yeah.
09:16That's when you knew we had no shot at winning this game.
09:18Correct.
09:18I mean, you kind of thought we had no shot before that.
09:20But then you really knew we had no shot.
09:22Yeah, but you were thinking after he scored, you're all sized.
09:24And then you go, okay, we can kind of luck box our way into 1-1 at halftime.
09:29Make adjustments in the second half.
09:32And then, yeah, then steal something.
09:33No, it took our soul.
09:35It took our soul.
09:36But it was also another easy goal allowed.
09:39Of course.
09:41Of course.
09:41What are they saying about Poach?
09:45I heard some guys this morning talking about his future and said, you know, I don't know
09:49what kind of money he makes or if they sign contracts.
09:51I don't know how they do that.
09:53Oh, I don't think it was expected even after.
09:56No matter what they did, he was going to stick around.
09:58Oh, so he's gone?
09:59Most likely, yeah.
10:00Yeah, okay.
10:00It doesn't matter.
10:01They just put in different guys.
10:02I buy into what Sebastian said with, like, we have a touch differential issue here where
10:10we just don't get enough quality touches when it's all said and done.
10:14You know, it's just cultural.
10:16It's different.
10:17Sure, we have, you know, elite soccer programs and everything, but it's nothing like what they're
10:21doing and the reps that guys get around the world.
10:24Yeah, but you know what we should be good at?
10:27And traditionally, we've been awesome at goalkeeping.
10:30And it was the biggest question mark coming in, Matt Fries' experience.
10:34You had to turn her as the backup, two MLS goalies.
10:37Throughout U.S. history, we've had great goalies.
10:41Howard, Keller, Guzman, Friedel.
10:43No, he looked like a clown.
10:44He looked like a clown, yes.
10:45He looked like a clown.
10:46Like that Giants kicker who kicked the turf and didn't kick the field goal last season.
10:51Everybody was running that.
10:52Uh-oh, Yang Sung-ku.
10:53Yeah, whatever.
10:54That was so embarrassing.
10:55All the hesitations.
10:57Matt Fries froze.
10:58He just locked up.
10:59How do we not have a stud, 6'4", great goalie in this country?
11:04Well, you know, one of our goalies, I believe, is Klinsman's son who's injured.
11:10I don't know if he would have been our top guy.
11:12Really?
11:12I don't know.
11:13I don't know who that is.
11:14But I'm pretty sure.
11:15You aware of him?
11:16Yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:17Yeah.
11:17I'm pretty sure he would be in the mix.
11:19And he has, obviously, a better pedigree.
11:22How old is he?
11:24I don't know.
11:24He's 23, something like that.
11:25I mean, he was a kid.
11:26Yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:26He just had an injury and put him out of the mix.
11:30We were always able to, that was our fallback.
11:33I don't know if it's because we grew up with hand-eye coordination in this country.
11:36We play a lot of ball sports.
11:37It's probably a little bit easier to be a great goalie than any of the other stuff.
11:42Yeah, yeah.
11:42Because you don't have to touch the ball.
11:43The touch is all the touch.
11:44Yeah, yeah.
11:45You don't get outclassed that.
11:46You just have to be a big goon.
11:47You just have to be a great athlete.
11:49You have good timing.
11:50You have good timing.
11:50The corner stuff is very difficult.
11:52But our guy, he looked frozen on the corners.
11:56He almost killed Richards on the one play where he backed off, got him murdered.
12:01I mean, he was, after the first save, he was a disaster.
12:06Yeah.
12:07He was a disaster.
12:08I should have known that it was going to be a loss when I saw some Belgian fan say,
12:16like, congrats, you got your best player reinstated, who, by the way, ranks 145th in the FIFA rankings.
12:26Well, that's a great point.
12:27I actually knew we lost, because this is how sort of clueless I am.
12:33I didn't realize that Belgium is always like a top 10 team or something, or this one has been a
12:38top 10.
12:38As soon as they said they were a top 10 team, I went, oh, we're doomed.
12:41I thought Belgium was maybe more in our range.
12:44That's why I thought it was kind of doable.
12:47They were definitely in the top 10 in the pre-World Cup odds to win.
12:53Yeah.
12:53I didn't pay much attention.
12:55I paid attention to Argentina, Spain, Brazil, a little bit.
13:00All right.
13:00Let's go to Ben in Silver Spring.
13:01He wanted to talk about the match last night.
13:03800-636-1067.
13:04I think a lot of people would want to express some frustration, or they just want to, you know,
13:08like, Skins fans after a loss just want to bury your head in the sand and act like it didn't
13:12happen.
13:12I don't know.
13:13Ben, what's up?
13:14You guys are going to give me some garbage today, but, you know, you sound like the bandwagon fans
13:20who don't know so much about the game and are falling off it.
13:24I don't know anything about the game.
13:26And what I saw, I don't know that they gave up as much as they got smoked by a much
13:30better team.
13:31Maybe they did.
13:32They took their soul.
13:32Maybe they took everything from them.
13:33Maybe they did foul on themselves and stuff like that.
13:35But, you know, it reminds me of every year when we start the football season and we think
13:41we're going to be great again and then we get disappointed and have the fans jump off the bandwagon.
13:47Yeah, that's true.
13:48Well, I'm off the bandwagon for four years, Ben.
13:51I think I'm off the bandwagon forever.
13:53And I knew you were going to say that, and I respect you for saying that.
13:57Well, I'm off the bandwagon.
13:58I will tell you this.
13:59I don't care which of you respect or not.
14:00I could care less.
14:01I'm off the bandwagon forever.
14:03I will root for them.
14:04I'm off the bandwagon forever.
14:05This U.S. team will never accomplish anything of note in the world of soccer in our lifetimes.
14:10Now, my lifetime's short.
14:11I don't have much time left.
14:12But they will never do anything of note.
14:15Eric, I'll make a deal with you.
14:17They're never going to win a World Cup.
14:20No chance.
14:20No, they're not going to make semifinals.
14:22Eric, I'll make a deal with you.
14:24They probably won't make quarters.
14:25In four years from now, can we please remind each other about this game?
14:28How bad they are.
14:29Yeah, about this game and how we get all of our expectations up and how we fall short
14:34and how it's just a gut punch.
14:37Yeah, I actually had no expectations coming in until Zlatan and those guys said,
14:41yeah, they could win it.
14:42Do you remember that?
14:42When they went around at the round table and they said, you think they could win it?
14:45And then I think it was Zlatan and one other guy said, yeah.
14:48And then I was like, well, maybe they, I mean, these guys are experts.
14:51I think they were just hyping them up.
14:53Do you think he truly believed that?
14:55I don't think he truly believed that they were going to win,
14:58but I think he put it in his brain somehow that they could pull it off
15:02if they got a formidable, if they got a fortunate draw or something.
15:05Right, right.
15:06Well, it was.
15:07I don't think he ever thought they were the best team in the world.
15:08It was ugly.
15:09All right, we'll be getting back into it later in the show.
15:12But when we come back, the commanders signed another defensive back.
15:18We'll talk about that.
15:18Stay with us.
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