I'm Frank Garza welcome to here in abroad a podcast that follows the US Men's National Team and their player pool across Europe MLS or wherever else they play the club football on today's show we're going to discuss the recently completed September friendlies for the usmnt they lost 2-1 to Canada and Drew 1-1 against New Zealand the good news is that Mauricio poino has finally been officially announced as the next usmnt head coach so we'll also spend some time discuss what we're looking forward to with him taking charge help me today I'm invited Chuck Booth back to the show Chuck is a soccer riter at CBS Sports Chuck welcome to the show hey thanks for having me always good to have you I think the last time we spoke was uh during the cop America we did a few shows um not much good news uh since then um but uh I guess I just want to start with what were your biggest takeaways or impressions from uh the September window uh yeah we haven't we haven't had a lot of fun lately um but yeah th this was always going to be a weird window because like now that it's ended like interim managers have coached the same amount of matches which was 14 for the usmnt as Greg bur halter has since the 2022 World Cup ended and you can tell just by that that getting instruction through to these players when they know that it's not a permanent solution is just easier said than done um and this window was particularly weird with knowing that PO Chino was coming but not knowing when and just that whole protracted situation where you you can't even prepare for the future because he's not in the United States to even say what he wants to see and um it kind of just showed in in the matches I know um Mikey varus like kind of said after the first one after the first match that maybe he's tried to get the players to do too much but also they struggle to actually just get up for a game against Canada when Jesse Marsh said that he was going to beat them 2-1 like you shouldn't need much more motivation than that to play a game of soccer for the national team and like even though a lot of the regulars for the national team weren't there it was still just disappointing all around yeah the Canada game especially that was one of the most um if not the most pitiful performance I think I've seen from this US Men's National Team you know in quite some time you know maybe take away the Panama game but even then it was just kind of a boneheaded red card um this match against Canada like they were dominated oh yeah like they they made Canada look like the best pressing team in the entire world which I'm not saying Canada is not a solid team they are but they're not as good as we made them look like I've never seen the US get dominated like that you know even even for a half well Colombia Colombia yeah it was it was yeah that's true but that's the first I know came well it's the F Columbia is the first game that came to mind and even when you're comparing Columbia and Canada they're two very different national teams and like even who was making the mistakes against Canada like Canada's second goal was a direct giveaway from Tim ree um I want to give Johnny cardosa like a little bit of slack but still not a ton because he hasn't played a lot of minutes for real betes for some reason or another this season I don't particularly know why after breaking into the Midfield last year he's getting fewer minutes this year but it is tough to come into that scenario Rusty having like two days of trading with these players and then needing to be in the correct position at all times yeah yeah he took a lot of flak I think uh from from folks for his performance and um we will get into who are some of the players that we thought you know had a good window and a bad window but I think we can pretty much all agree that yeah it wasn't a good window um maybe just to sum it up against New Zealand thought they played a lot better um but it was it it was lack of finishing which we see a lot and then it was just kind of a boneheaded play late in the match that gave up the The Equalizer to New Zealand and I don't know it looks like a losing atmosphere right now you know around this team they really do need a change you know um so I'm excited to see pochettino uh come in do you think it's do you see more of like a losing mentality or losing atmosphere around this this club more more so in the last well in this window than than others oh definitely um and and it's like a lot of the leaders weren't there but like you would expect these players to be like oh we have an opportunity to show the new coach why we should be in the national team setup and like as of right now like I kind of feel the need to dig the entire ceiling of the US Men's National Team after this window because if you're going to go into a window without like Tim WEA Anthony Robinson Weston McKenna and perform like this how are you going to survive through longer knockout competitions where you need to rotate yeah yeah yeah a lot of players um yeah I I kind of thought the same thing I thought we would see a lot of intensity from this group because they knew pochettino would be watching or at the very least um he's definitely going to be watching film you know of these two games since they're since they're the most recent so I would have thought there would be more intensity didn't think we saw that from a lot of players but I do think some of them we did um some of them I did think took advantage of this opportunity and that's kind of what I'm curious to hear from you um is when you look at the the players who maybe did have a good window did put in a good performance or a more positive performance who's a player that that stood out to you I feel like most people probably have the same player at the top of that list and that's Aiden Morris um absolutely there it doesn't feel like there's any way in October that he can't be in that Squad assuming that he's healthy and still starting games from Middlesboro like even after La um last night's game against New Zealand um veras didn't have much to say about Morris except he boss the Midfield and that's really all you needed to say like every time the ball came to him he was where he needed to be and trying to put the ball where it needed to go and even on P six goal like his cross field ball B to like free I believe that was FY that then got it to balagan on that was just an excellent show of his vision and Morris has been someone every step along the way in his career from needing to start MLS Cup because of Darlington I be getting Co to then becoming an actual starter for the Columbus Crew now going in the Midfield under Michael Carrick at Middlesboro and shining in the championship like every time he's been challenged he's stepped up and delivered and this window he did it again despite total chaos around him yeah he he he to me was the most impressive player period you know um in in this entire entire camp and uh his energy his fight from the moment he came on as a sub against Canada it just looked different and you're right he was just so clean in in his game yesterday taking care of the ball you could see him very consciously Distributing it to the right places he was just always around he's winning balls back and uh I'm just impressed with the this guy has like had a kind of a meteoric rise the last couple months I know he's been thought of very highly in MLS for the Columbus Crew but he had had a few opportunities with the US men national team before in like the Gold Cup and I think the January you know window this year where I didn't think he really did too much to stand out but something about that move to Middlesboro kind of something seems to have clicked with him where he just he just reached a whole new level because now he looks like a different player to me and I don't know how you how do you put somebody else back there you know to play that holding midfielder number six that number six role I mean I I think he I I I don't know how you put somebody else back there you know when you're talking about people like Johnny cardoso or uh possibly I know Musa plays back there you know sometimes LCA de to I know we all want Tyler Adams to come back and that's that's a whole other story but that's gonna be a while um I think Aiden Morris almost kind of won the job you know with with his performance he's definit definitely on the on the right track there and it and it's actually funny that after kind of such a bad window most of the players that actually looked good were midfielders MH um because even moving off of that a little bit like while he didn't play a ton and also kind of couldn't play a ton due to the fact that he just came back from injury with celigo was probably one of the better Windows that we've seen from Luca delatore even like taking out of the equation the fact that he scored his first International goal on just that chaotic play against Canada um cuz his passing and positioning was also extremely crisp and you could see the difference against New Zealand thei that um Unis Musa came out and he came into the Midfield yeah he's somebody that's really got to be excited about new head coach coming in because it it seemed pretty clear where bur halter had Luca deor kind of raid it was it was near uh I don't know they typically bring in six midfielders and it it seemed to be like pretty near the bottom you know of those six you know he'd come into Camp usually not play a lot didn't seem to be getting much of a a chance he's got to be thrilled that he's gonna have kind of a fresh start um to to getting more playing time and and possibly earning a you know starting position let me let me mention one other guy that really uh impressed me against New Zealand and that was Marlon FY um so I gota be honest I never watched the guy play before um I uh I I I'm familiar with them you know playing in Belgium I I I talked to somebody who follows the Belgium pro league and they had kind of filled me on what type of player he is but that was my first time really getting a good look at him and I thought he looked pretty good out there I thought he brought a good level of energy he was a lot more Dynamic um than what we seen from like a Joe scall for example he looked more dangerous in the attacking end he looked more creative he was calm on the ball when he get into the final third kind of waiting for the right pass versus just launching across you know into the box and he just has the way his style is it just looks like easy for him out there he's just kind of gliding around the field makes everything look easy um so I I was really impressed with him what do you think of FY yeah I mean I thought it yeah I thought it was pretty impressive I want like it's tough to like get opinions just specifically on the New Zealand game um just because of the fact that like I I would like I like I would like to see him against tougher opposition that challenges him defensively and New Zealand didn't really do that um but at least when you get down to what historically the the usmn has wanted right backs to do and also what a wing back does under Mauricio pocino there's a lot to like here um because he took every chance possible to get forward always looking for those overlapping runs um and even though he was playing without a traditional Winger in front of him since Ricardo Pepe was the person out there still able to create so many chances and so much space and there's a lot to like about the potential of what would happen when it's him and Tim WEA out there on and especially just with the fact that WEA is someone who can also help fill in on defense as well so they it is it is going to be interesting especially since like while yes we want sergino Des to come back and be the player who was growing into his role for the national team just those types of ACL injuries that's not always the case that that happens so we do need to be prepared for what if Sergio does doesn't get back to his best yeah and it's going to be a while even if he does get back to his best I mean I think I if I remember correctly I heard him reference maybe January something somewhere around there where he's hoping to be back with PSV but then it's still going to take a couple months for him to get playing time before we could even think about bring him back in for the US Men's National Team so we have a lot of matches ahead of us before he even could potentially come back um what about a player you thought had a poor window or didn't meet expectations or didn't seize the opportunity who comes to mind there oh man hard shoes yeah no because this this is definitely where it gets into a pretty lengthy discussion just about the team um I think it's better to start with players that we were excited about for getting an opportunity that didn't take it and that's Hai right um and he's kind of kind of a weird guy because like I feel like I feel like he's almost locked into what his role is with this national team because he has been good at changing the pace Off the Bench but like there hasn't been a point in which he's started a game for the national team and it's just been like okay this is great like I like what I'm getting from him out of the gate and it's fine if like that is what his ceiling is but just with what he's been doing for Coventry you just expected more like when you saw him starting on the wing instead of Christian psic with psic finally getting some rest it's like okay like this is your time to go out there and make things happen and he just didn't yeah yeah he didn't really do a whole lot of things wrong but you you weren't left with that many glimpses of something really great whereas maybe um somebody throw in like a Ricardo Pepe for example didn't get a goal um I think he's probably gonna be pretty disappointed with that too but he did show some he was dangerous there you know there was a couple times in front of goal where where the goalkeeper made like a good stop on some of his shots and and you just didn't see that with I didn't really see that many like dangerous dangerous moments when I thought about this I'm kind of like you at first I thought okay really bad window is going to be easy to pick out a lot of like bad individual performances but in honesty there weren't a whole lot of players that came to mind it just seemed like this was a very overall like bad window for like the entire team it was like a bad like team effort but the guy I thought of was kind of similar to you um someone who didn't take advantage of the opportunity presented to him and that was Malik Tilman um so similar just like you kind of said with Wright there I mean got the start against Canada um playing in that Central Midfield role and he had some moments um I don't want to say he looked bad out there but again um if he wants to break into the the starting 11 he's gonna have to do something with um one of these starts he's been giving he's been given more starts you know in the last you know six months or so more opportunities and I think he's yet to really come out there and um have an amazing performance that makes you say yeah he he could be he could be a starting Midfield you know for this US Men's National Team yeah his his role is so interesting to me because like even against Canada you saw essentially like the best singular run by a United States midfielder since Jena um but then at the end of it can't put the ball where it needs to go to turn it into an actual goal and it's like some of that you just need consistency and like familiarity with these players but also like he's been around long enough that he should have that and like players like Malik Tillman are players that this team needs desperately because anyone who can actually create a chance on their own without someone playing them into a perfect position is what this team needs to go to the next level and like Bren arenson can do it occasionally but like he's just not really that kind of guy like he's more of a facilitator than he is necessarily a true creator um we know Raina can do it but we don't know how much of we're going to see or even how much Dortmund is going to play him and like Tillman last season for PSV was involved in more than 20 goals in all competitions um and also being at PSP playing with plenty of members of this national team but um it still just hasn't clicked when it comes to that next level and that's and players like him are where I'm very interested to see how they perform under poino as opposed to how they've performed under previous coaching regimes because some of that is just tactics and once you're getting tactics from one of the top coaches in the world there really aren't any excuses left for why these players aren't fulfilling their full potential yeah I agree I agree I mean he is a player we need so bad because he has that creativity and I'm hoping you're right that pochettino can can get the that next level you know out of him um so that's where I want to go next is is pochettino we we've all been on pins and needles for geez feels like about a month now um heard some reports yesterday that it was going to come out uh I was checking personally I was checking all day every every break I got on my workday I was I was looking to see if it came out and then they finally announced it on the pregame broadcast um before the uh the match so it's now official um the pochettino era has begun U I guess it'll officially begin um on October 12th um when they play their next match against Panama that'll be about I'm excited that's about one mile from my house uh here in Austin Texas at at Q2 stadium so that's when we'll see poao first in in action and then um on October 15th they play in guadalahara against Mexico so that's going to be Poo's first two matches um I want to just get get from you you know what are you looking forward to in in the pochettino era maybe let's start like short term between like now and those next two matches like what are you excited to see yeah I mean short term it is tough um I did like a lot of the things that Matt Crocker said in his at least like set up for poach you know because like he's coming to the United States to be here for his official unveiling tomorrow now on Friday um and uh then that starts like basically a six- week ramp up period of teaching poino everything there is to know about the US national team and what he needs to be successful right out of the gate in October and considering that like both he and Mt Crocker have worked together in the past and he and Emma Hayes have worked together in the past like it doesn't get much better for hopefully him being able to hit the ground running um and then from there it really is just a shakeup because as soon as poino goes into any role he very quickly figures out who his guys are versus who they aren't and you see quite quickly who may not have a future with this national team anymore um and I and it's and it's hard ahead of him coming in to necessarily like predict who any of those players will be outside of the fact that like I don't see POA Chino calling in Tim re like he is going to be only focused on who can help me in 2026 and just there's there's just no way that you can say with this group of center backs that t re is going to be one of your top three or four center backs in 2026 um I am going to be very interested to see what he does with the players who aren't playing because that was another thing that came up in the in the interview even on um the fact that like krocker's excited for poino to kind of have those discussions with players about not only like what they need to do to play but also where they may need to go for that next step in their careers and that's going to be just something that's going to fascinating on how that could just change the tra trajectory of the entire US Men's National Team because like this is someone who has like helped youth every step along the way and especially like when he was at espanol Southampton Tottenham like half of his job was preparing players for that next step in their career to be elsewhere as opposed to the club that he's currently at and so it's just like there isn't there aren't many better people in the world that you can get advice from on what you need to do to make it at the top level and extend your career at the top level than poino yeah it was interesting that Matt Crocker he seemed to really prioritize that in his comments about um what the priorities are for like poino and and how we have a lot of players at level that aren't playing you know very often so that that's clearly something that's kind of bothered him and uh I I think that's what I'm most looking forward to seeing in the short term is yeah how he values um certain players you know in in the player in the player pool you know so the first match is going to be October 12th that means they'll probably he'll probably have to name a roster you know somewhere around October 1st you know so we're only about three weeks away from seeing the firsto who knows what how long this roster took yeah yeah I know I know I know I was like man they gotta put that out uh pretty soon but yeah maybe it takes a little bit longer but you know three weeks or so he's gonna have to name his first roster and right then and there I'm really curious to see how he values certain players how much value does he give to players who are playing at great clubs but but they're not getting any minutes you know a Matt Turner Gio Arena you know folks like that does he value that or does he leave them off you know how much does he value a player who's like performing at a very high level in MLS you know like a Jordy mihalovich or somebody like that you know comes to mind does he put a lot of value on that how does he value players like um Brandon Vasquez and Kate cow who are uh playing well in Liga MX is that important to him you know so it's it's yeah how much is he bringing in players that don't have very minutes very many minutes is he bringing in players outside of Europe you know I'm just really curious to see you know what he values you know from that first roster and then I can't wait to see the team play at Mexico you know so I know this first game against pan is going to be exciting you know but um I don't think any of us are going to get too excited if if win that game but going into Mexico and winning I I believe that's only happened one time you know for the US Men's National Team so if he wants to do something really great I know this isn't the best Mexico team they've ever had but still going into Mexico and winning a game any game friendly or or competitive or otherwise would be a would be a huge task so I'm excited to see see that too oh yeah I mean there's no better way to start off as a US manager than going into Mexico and winning yeah oh yeah I mean that would that would be that would be an unbelievable start you know to his to his time as if he could go in there and get a w well I know we're a little bit short on time here Chuck but um I I also wanted to ask about you know longer term you know what are you hoping to see from from poatina or what are you excited to to just see from this poatina era over the next two years um long I mean longer term the the goal is pretty clear it's do whatever you need to do to get past the round of 16 at the World Cup here in the United States um and whether that means that he needs to already be on the phone with dual Nationals trying to figure out who else he can bring in or whether he feels like he has the guys that can actually do it like even it does feel like he's genuinely excited about this role and I mean he has a lot of monetary reasons to be excited about this role but um it does seem like he's actually excited but in and that that'll go a long way into things hopefully working out well um but it really is just down to the players at this point like we need to see them step up and show that they can like actually understand the instructions that a coach like this is giving them and perform to the best of their abilities because if they do that they press like poino wants them to they're going to beat most teams in the world um and then they're going to beat a few teams that we don't expect them to beat but like right now they're not even doing the what the thing that they used to do well under bur halter of beat the teams that you're supposed to beat and then like struggle against the teams that are better than you yeah yeah I did an episode a couple weeks ago with a um reporter who covers Tottenham um and we we talked about poino you know time there I was trying to get a feel for you know what type of what type of Coach he was there and one of the things he continuously told me was that he elevated Tottenham you know they didn't win anything you know they didn't win the league they didn't win the cups but he came in and took the level that they were at and made it a lot higher and he made it a lot higher than a lot of fans or really anybody around the team ever expected them you know to go you know make it into making it into a Champions League you know final contending for the premier league title um that sort of thing and so I I I want to see the same thing here that's what I'm hoping for I don't think he's probably gonna win anything with the US Men's National Team or anything significant you know other than like you know Nations League Gold Cup something like that but can he Elevate us to another level of you know football um versus you know where we've been that that's what that's what I'm hoping to see you know from him yeah because I mean like right now the goal isn't necessarily to go win the World Cup like we know that that's just I don't want to say an unattainable goal but like it's not necessarily a goal that we're in a position to worry about in 2026 but more success in 2026 will put us much closer to being able to think about winning it in 2030 yeah yeah getting to the quarterfinals or Beyond um Andor just beating one of those top teams you know like beating a team like Argentina Brazil uh Netherlands uh somebody like that in a knockout round at at the World Cup you know would be a would be a huge step forward well we got a lot to look forward to and uh Chuck thanks so much for being on the show I'll make sure and put links in the show notes to your ex account which is Chuck boo Sport and also to your work at CBS Sports thanks again for joining the show thanks so much for having me and thanks to everyone for listening to here and abroad if you enjoyed the episode please do me a huge favor and hit that subscribe button if you're watching on YouTube or that follow button if you're listening on Apple podcast Spotify or somewhere else thank you so much I'm Frank garer you can follow me on X Frank garza7 and I'll be back next week with a new episode