Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America

Vince, Sanjay and Marcus Chairez start off with the Union v Red Bull match, and work through a lot of the boxes the USMNT needs to check over the next four years. You know how it is. Let's get started now.

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Some exploration of what Spain's triumph means, who the US should emulate, rumination on by far the most-attended World Cup ever, Balogun to Klutch Sports, and a rundown of what's coming for the USMNT. Vince, Sanjay and Belz on the mics.

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New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill sits down with Sanjay Sujanthakumar to talk about the impact of the World Cup, the final in East Rutherford on Sunday, prices, FIFA, etc.

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How much is Belgium flat-out superior to us, and how much did we wilt? How much is this World Cup gonna grow the game in America? Did the overturned Balo suspension actually hurt us? How are we gonna develop players who can win a men's World Cup some day? Pulisic's legacy blah blah blah Poch's future, etc.

Sanjay's piece for the Guardian on development:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/may/23/usmnt-player-development-youth

Colin Cowherd on the growth of soccer: https://x.com/TheHerd/status/2075639696852496842?s=20

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We wilted in the first truly difficult match of our World Cup, and now we're out. Greg doesn't think this was inevitable, but also doesn't think it's down to tactics. The team turtled immediately against Belgium's quality, everyone got spooked and we were lucky to go to the half down only a goal. We found a little footing early in the 2nd half, and then Matt Freese sealed our fate.

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Folarin Balogun gets an 11th-hour reprieve from FIFA's vaunted judicial system, he'll play against Belgium. Vince, Sanjay and Belz talk through that bombshell news, its impact on the game, and how we might stop Doku.

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Belz, Sanjay and Charlie Boehm recap the big win from Wednesday night. Full timeline, Malik and Wes once again shine bright, everybody's bought in, the TV audiences are massive. Now we look to Monday.

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Mike Guardabascio in southern California, of the Jenkins and Jonez podcast and one of the founders of of 562.org, joins Vince and Belz to talk about how the USMNT is hitting in Long Beach during this home-soil World Cup, what stands in the way of soccer becoming America's "thing," and other matters of that nature.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jenkins-jonez-podcast/id1018701693

https://www.the562.org/

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Vince and Belz recap the dead rubber, buzzer beater loss to Türkiye, and Sanjay comes on for the last 20 minutes to talk about what Poch said after the game.

Clip Notes for patrons: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed/posts/clipnotes-wc-162197059?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_fan&utm_content=web_share

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World Cup standout Sergiño Dest joins Sanjay and Charlie from USMNT camp in Orange County, Calif., for a brief chat.

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Velasquez and Belz recap the 2-0 win in Seattle. A vibesy, workmanlike victory. Without Pulisic, and with an off night from Balo, we still got a comfortable win, a "Country Roads" serenade, and thanks to Turkiye's loss to Paraguay, we've won the group.

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Vince and Belz are joined by Andrew Jones, the New York-based sports reporter who writes for several outlets and covers the USMNT (and USWNT) faithfully, often providing the best moments in press conferences with his questions. We talk about the cultural impact of the World Cup, the songs, his approach to asking players questions, how people are feeling about the USMNT, things like that.

Follow Mr. Jones on X: https://x.com/sluggahjells

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We have a squad! Full recap and timeline of the 4-1 drubbing we dished out against Paraguay, a quite solid Conmebol team. Belz and Velasquez revel in it all and look ahead to Australia.

Pickup: 6/18, at noon, at Lower Woodland Soccer Field #2

Night before: 6p-10pm, Media Mixer hosted by Sounder at Heart, Project 9 brewing, 1409 NE 80th St. RSVP here: https://partiful.com/e/BY6NPWAb0JVUagYN2q4y?c=sF2c_4mR

Pre/Post match @ Fast Fashion brewing, 1723 1st ave s. Doors open at 8am sharp, 1723 1st Ave S

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Hard to see anybody beating us, just real difficult to see that happening right now. What a night. This is the first part of our coast-to-coast call-in show after the 4-1 win over Paraguay. For the full episode, join the Patreon. We will record a proper recap on Monday.

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Sure, we lost. But what should we worry about headed into the World Cup? And what should give us confidence? Greg V joins to break it all down.

Details about next week

Media Mixer hosted by Sounder at Heart at Project 9 in Seattle, evening of Thursday, June 18: https://partiful.com/e/BY6NPWAb0JVUagYN2q4y?c=sF2c_4mR

Matchday bash at Fast Fashion, 1723 1st Ave S, Seattle, doors open at 8 a.m. local time. Hosted by Scuffed and Sounder at Heart.

Oh and check out the World Cup edition...

Seven or eight things you might want to know about this team and its chances at the World Cup, which kicks off later this week. Sanjay Sujanthakumar, Vince Irvin, and Adam Belz on the mics.

Details about next week:

Media Mixer hosted by Sounder at Heart at Project 9 in Seattle, evening of Thursday, June 18: https://partiful.com/e/BY6NPWAb0JVUagYN2q4y?c=sF2c_4mR

Matchday bash at Fast Fashion, 1723 1st Ave S, Seattle, doors open at 8 a.m. local time. Hosted by Scuffed and Sounder at Heart.

Oh...

Vince and Belz go for 90+ minutes on the cathartic victory in Charlotte. Brilliance in the attack from us, some of our centerback candidates were less than brilliant, Dest is a winger, Pepi integral in both first half goals, Tillman provides a moment of transcendence, it's on to Germany.

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Vince and Belz talk through the official roster release, which is exactly the same as Saturday's leak. Vince makes a strong case that Tanner Tessmann is a miss from Poch, and we agree we have too many centerbacks, but we're backing this 26 all the way!

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Sanjay, Belz, Charlie Boehm and Greg V compete for the strongest teams, with all U.S. men's national team World Cup players from '94 to '22 on the draft board. You decide who did the best.

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Greg joins Belz to give his 26 for the World Cup, his starting XI, and acknowledge that in both cases it could go several acceptable ways.

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The CEO and secretary general of US Soccer himself, hailing from Augusta and stationed south of Atlanta, joins Vince and Belz to discuss World Cup impact, the state of the game in America, the fateful train station run-in with Sunil Gulati, fundraising as one of the keys to USSF success, how Matt Crocker will be replaced, and much more.

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Noahkai Banks is back on the field and rumors are flying. Gio says he "hopes to get the call." Dest looks hungry in a dead rubber in the Netherlands. Jedi scores on a penalty. Pulisic assist. Youngsters keep balling in MLS.

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Sanjay joins Belz and Vince. Gio scored and was influential in a late-season loss for Gladbach. Not much to play for for the Foals but this was an excellent World Cup audition from the dark prince. Pepi scores again, assisted by Dest, who looks "uninhibited," says Sanjay. Johnny likely to miss the World Cup, a news break that arrived as we were wrapping up the recording.

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Leander Schaerlaeckens, the author of the new book The Long Game, about the history and present of the USMNT, rejoins the pod to talk about Landon's omission in 2014, how the World Cup tends to arrive like a thief in the night, and much more.

The book comes out Tuesday. Here's a link: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/722130/the-long-game-by-leander-schaerlaeckens/

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Vince and Belz run down some of the news and performances from the past week.

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Merzi founded the 703 Warriors, a free, high-quality youth soccer program in Arlington, Va. He joins Belz to talk about how it got started, how he runs training, whether what he's doing is scalable and some of the nitty-gritty challenges and triumphs of the work.

Check out the 703 Warriors YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@703warriors
And their website: https://www.703warriors.com/

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It doesn't have much to do with Kristoffer Lund and Malik Tillman. Plus Alex Freeman goes 90 and settles in at Villareal, Mathis Albert makes his Dortmund debut and much more from Belz and Vince upon their return to the New World.

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Vince and Belz discuss the Gladbach-Mainz match on Sunday, Scally's goal, and a few other things outside the hotel in Amsterdam the morning before we headed to Eindhoven for the PSV-Zwolle match. Got a couple listener questions in.

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Vince and Belz sat down with Wolfgang Heilmann, who oversees Borussia Monchengladbach's "international academy," in the hours before Gladbach drew 1-1 with Mainz on Sunday (we saw a Scally goal). Most of the conversation is about youth development in general: how Gladbach's U9 team plays small-sided games on the weekends vs other clubs, why academy players are expected to be humble, and much more.

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Adam Elder, the author of "New Kids in the World Cup," joins Belz to talk about the pivotal 1990 World Cup qualifying campaign and the team that went to Italia '90. We mourn the end of the Concacaf qualifying gauntlet, discuss John Harkes' photographic memory, cover the press corps' antagonism to soccer in the 1980s, the genesis of the music video on the beach, and much more.

"New Kids in the World Cup" comes out in paperback soon. Check here: https://newkidsintheworldcup.com/

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A rundown of what's happening.

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Charlie Boehm joins Belz for a listener's digest of USMNT-related news. Have a great weekend.

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Vince and Belz get back to the regular routine of the Monday Review after a relatively quiet weekend.

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Greg and Belz recap the game.

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Rico sat down with Sanjay at the team hotel in Atlanta. Discussed the potential move to Fulham, what it means representing the USA as a Mexican-American, and his favorite club and NT goals.

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Poch and the boys put on a solid if unspectacular display for 40 minutes, and then, as Vince said, didn't handle business in our defensive third too many times, and paid for it. A long recap of an interesting but discouraging outing at the Benz.

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Balogun helps win and scores a penalty. Pepi transfer saga sags, but Fulham interest appears real. Pulisic's ankles look good. Plus much more. Sanjay Sujanthakumar joins Vince and Belz for a traditional Monday Review.

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Vince and Belz talk briefly through the roster, hear a bunch of clips from Poch's press conference, and give their XIs for next Saturday's match against Belgium.

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Rico starts and struggles vs NEC Nijmegen, Balo scores another scrappy goal, Haji hurts his groin, Tessmann plays CB, Cardoso shines in Champions League, and more.

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Sanjay Sujanthakumar sits down with the most influential coach in US Men's National Team history and they talk about his exciting project in San Jose, Torsten Frings, the roster that faced Trinidad in 2017, the role of college soccer in American soccer, and much more.

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