Adam Belz

We talked about transfers -- the done ones and the undone ones. Then we got to the Gold Cup. The Haiti match on Sunday is kind of the "big one," if there is such a thing. Berhalter should run out his best lineup and it'd sure be nice not to need points from Canada a week later so we'd better get 3 against Haiti.

Lots of new faces, and a couple of faces we just can't quit. A look at Berhalter's 23-man roster for the Gold Cup, which kicks off for the U.S. on Sunday, July 11.

Long episode on the Gold Cup roster, who we’d like to see from the 60-man preliminary roster, and who we think Berhalter is likely to select.

Not a very serious episode, as you might imagine, but I'd argue it's a practical matter, especially with World Cup qualifiers on the horizon. Chris Russell (aka @watke_) joins to talk about the big incidents in the Honduras and Mexico victories, and look ahead to the next competitive fixtures.

A sunny evening for a victory lap in Sandy, Utah. Wingers with ideas, a hold-up striker, and Tyler Adams and Yunus Musah in the midfield.

The first-ever Nations League final vs Mexico delivered! What a night! We've got a full recap including a detailed timeline and a few big picture thoughts.

An in-depth show about the U.S. men's national soccer team, the players who could one day make it better, and American soccer in general.

A mostly full-strength USMNT faced a solid European team away. What did we learn? @USMNTvideos (Sanjiv Damadoran) joins Greg and Belz to pick through it.

A sharable opening 10 minutes in which we try to persuade casuals to start paying attention to a USMNT program that up until today has mostly produced bad news. Also a dive on the Nations League roster.

It's all coming to a head, and the upcoming Nations League window is a dress rehearsal for World Cup qualifying to which we should all pay close attention. Plus our reaction to a very pleasant roster drop from Berhalter.

We solicited questions on the Scuffed Podcast Patreon and got a lot. Matt Hartman joined to plow through as many as possible. There were five categories: The Number Nine, Berhalter’s competence, Brenden Aaronson, National Team logistics, and miscellaneous. Let’s go.

A 4-game window for Nations League in late May and early June, and then a likely entirely different group of players for the Gold Cup in July. The Nations League roster is pretty easy to figure out. For the Gold Cup, though, we went full Scuffed wishlist, because it's anybody's guess.

News roundup led off by Richards' big performances lately, and two new features: Fourth Eights and Second Sixes. We'll see if they last into next week.

OK we talked about more than nine, but we tried to keep it pretty focused on players who have a chance to contribute to the USMNT in this World Cup cycle. Competition ahead of them, and fit in Berhalter's system are key considerations.

Aaronson as an inside winger, Reyna and Musah as ball-hawking, ball-retention warriors, and much more. Also a couple patron questions.

An A squad minus McKennie, Weah, Adams, Brooks and a few others went to Belfast to play a Championship-caliber Northern Ireland squad.

An in-depth show about the U.S. men's national soccer team, the players who could one day make it better, and American soccer in general.

Third group game. Result didn't particularly matter but it was a high-intensity match and there was still stuff to learn.

An in-depth show about the U.S. men's national soccer team, the players who could one day make it better, and American soccer in general.

An in-depth show about the U.S. men's national soccer team, the players who could one day make it better, and American soccer in general.

An in-depth show about the U.S. men's national soccer team, the players who could one day make it better, and American soccer in general.

We take a look at who's likely to be called in, and who we'd like to see called in, for a tight two-game window with matches against Jamaica and Northern Ireland. Likely going to be two different teams for the two matches.

Big picture the USMNT player pool is in great shape, but Jason and the boys have their work cut out for them over the next couple weeks. We make some points about that and take a good look at Costa Rica. Good episode, in my humble opinion.

Lengthy discussion of who's in, who's out, how it compares to Jason Kreis's roster a year ago, and what a banger a true first-choice U23 roster would be. Also some discussion of the Jordan Morris's injury and the winger depth chart behind him.

They're not nailed-on starters for the USMNT, but it sure would be nice if they'd ascend to that level here soon. Chris Richards, Mark McKenzie, Daryl Dike, Josh Sargent and Brenden Aaronson. We dive into the footage on each of them, and also discuss Dest's and Weah's week.

We finally did it. Sort of. There's a twist. But I think you'll enjoy the full rundown of the player pool.

We summed up the scoring, Greg ran a victory lap on Ferreira, and we tried to figure out what Gregg Berhalter might be thinking about a few key things. For a full tactical breakdown please visit the Total Soccer Show.

It's been a while so we talked about the latest cuts from January Camp ahead of the T&T friendly on Sunday, and checked in on the ever-expanding European pool.

This is a conversation with Beto Lopez, a good friend on Twitter. The story of his conversion from apathy to serious USMNT fandom in 2002 was fun for me to hear. We also discussed Eddie Guerrero, the original Selena and Oscar de la Hoya. I'd been meaning to post this for a while. Finally got around to it. Enjoy!

Twelve senior team call-ups and a bunch of U23s angling to join them by the end of the month. Call it a Battle Royale.

We talk about the reported Bryan Reynolds to Roma deal, him as a player, what it means for the national team, and a BUNCH of other stuff as we took on a baker's dozen or so questions from Twitter. Fun episode.

An in-depth show about the U.S. men's national soccer team, the players who could one day make it better, and American soccer in general.

Greg takes a good look at this El Salvador team we face on Wednesday, and may well face in World Cup qualifying, and we try to answer a few patron questions.

Berhalter called in a young group of domestic players for a December national team camp, but no, it's not an Olympic camp, says Greg. This is just the new normal. The USMNT is young.

Chris Clark, the father of 17-year-old prospect Caden Clark, joins the pod. Caden, an attacking midfielder for New York Red Bulls, probably made as much noise as any young player in MLS this season when he came on and scored two goals in his first two appearances. The Clark family lives in Minnesota.

It was a Concacaf meeting in Wiener Neustadt, southern Austria. Second friendly syndrome. Despite all the goals and the young debuts, it just didn’t have the same pop as that 0-0 draw against Wales. We discuss the match in detail, and what we think we learned from it.

Might not be interesting to most of the world, but it sure was interesting to us! Debuts galore, we pressed, we built out with something like a 2-3-5. As Greg says in the pod, it’s almost like we’re starting over. So much to talk about.

It’s time for some national team soccer! Greg and Belz talk about how Berhalter might line up the boys versus Wales. The Panama lineup will flow, of course, from that. Hard to imagine a non-interesting couple of games here.

Thank you Gregg Berhalter. Greg and Belz slap out a quick and dirty reaction broadcast on Election Day 2020.

We talk about who we prefer to be called in for what we hope will be two friendlies next month in Europe. As usual, we would be happy with lots of different possibilities. Just can’t wait for a USMNT match!

We watched El Tri so you didn’t have to, and we have some reports. Also, a wishlist of players we would have liked to see in a domestic October camp.

You didn’t need more reason to be hyped, but we will provide it anyway. This movement of U.S. players to bigger and better clubs — it appears repeatable. The Savior Committee is deepening in number at an accelerated pace.

Big weekends for McKennie, Adams and Reyna, and a lot of people think they should be our three-man midfield. Not so fast, says Greg Velasquez. We go deep in the weeds on the midfield setup, Reyna’s and Adams’s best roles, and the knock-on lineup effects of playing them in various ways.

One through forty. Pure science. From Christian Mate Pulisic to Shaquell Kwame Moore. Sprinkled with discussion of our centerback situation (an embarrassment of riches when it comes to average centerbacks), why it doesn’t make sense to play 3 at the back, Gio Reyna’s role, Jordan Morris’s role, and much, much more.

Competitions kick off in England, Germany and Holland. France's Ligue 1 already underway. Italy next week. Did you know McKennie plays for Juventus now? Plus cargo shorts and a Dutch-Calvinist theologian.

A quick run through McKennie's incredible transfer news, Weah's return from injury, and the ongoing MLS youth bonanza, plus we covered some patron questions. We recorded the afternoon before Wednesday's MLS matches so didn't get to talk about those games.

Tutul (@tutulismyname) walks us through the mechanics of why it’s difficult for an MLS team to pick up a USL prospect like Jose Gallegos or Jonathan Gomez. He also talked about why FC Dallas has gone from “play your kids” to “play your 32-year-old Liga MX veterans” in the span of 12 months, and how MLS front office desire for parity gets in the way of talent development.

The busiest domestic league right now is the United Soccer League, the USL. Matt Hartman (@MattSHartman) joins the pod to discuss nine young Americans honing their craft in the league, and the still-unanswered questions about what the pathway to a higher level might look like for several of them.

Gregg Berhalter will likely need substantially different squads for World Cup qualifiers in June, for the Olympics and for the Gold Cup next summer. There’s also likely to be a U20 World Cup in May and June. Who goes where? When? How? Greg V broke it all down and then we discussed.

We dive deep (and occasionally not-so-deep) on 14 USMNT-eligible players who’ve been busy at Disney World over the past month.