Scuffed

Vince and Sanjay interview USA left back/left wingback/winger Caleb Wiley in Kansas City ahead of the USA-Canada match. He talks about growing up in Atlanta, his dad's pizza, playing in the Olympics, the move to Chelsea and loan to play for young, hungry Strasbourg, and much more. Clearly a conversation enjoyed by everyone involved.

Greg and Belz quickly discuss Alex Morgan's retirement announcement, talk about the Gio injury, the increasing imminence of Poch and Mikey Varas's comments, and then dive in on U6 soccer coaching, which is Belz's obsession for the fall.

Vince, Tara and Belz talk through the most exciting U.S. players kicking off against Spain at the U20 World Cup this weekend, plus the landmark collective bargaining agreement negotiated by the players with the NWSL.

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.

Will made the mistake of tweeting about taking on the job of coaching his son's U8 rec soccer team, so Belz pounced, and they talked briefly about the experience of watching 15-year-old Christian Pulisic play back in the day, what makes a prospect succeed, and ways we can improve coaching in rec soccer, which is foundational to the future of the game in America.

Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed Also, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.com And check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.

Tara, Watke and Belz talk through who's moved, who needs to move, who should stay and why, as we're about halfway through the transfer window.

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.

It's the Monday Review. Vince, Watke and Belz talk through the latest on the coaching search, why it seems so difficult for USSF to find a good MNT coach, why it's been possible for global men's basketball to close the gap with American basketball faster than American men's soccer has been able to close the gap with global men's soccer, Tyler Adams' comments about what's needed from a new coach, the Championship and Eredivisie kick off and Belz gets to talk about Ledezma, plus much more.

Another huge win from an exhausted but determined Emma Hayes-led U.S. Women's National Team at the Olympics. Greg and Belz recap it in detail. Girma god-like, Soph delivers, Naeher comes up massive in the clutch. Next up is the gold medal match versus Brazil.

Seattle Sounders and former USMNT forward Jordan Morris sat down late last week for a wide-ranging and easy-going conversation with Sanjay Sujanthakumar. They covered playing for coaches such as Jurgen Klinsmann, Brian Schmetzer and Gregg Berhalter, fatherhood of course, his favorite goal of his career, and why he hasn't historically used his left foot as much as people would like. Bonus cameo from Brad Evans on that subject.

Full, detailed review of the 1-0 win over Japan from Greg and Belz. It was a real challenge of low-block unlocking that we struggled with but ultimately overcame. TRIDENT OF DEATH.

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.

Belz, Vince and Tara recap the 2-1 win over Australia. Not as cathartic as the win over Germany, but still lots to celebrate, plenty to nitpick. The WNT and Emma Hayes have given us a nine-point window! So we had to dust off an old number for the intro to this episode.

A very good performance against a very good team, and the first big win of the Emma Hayes era. Greg and Belz recap it in some detail.

Belz and Watke recap the 4-1 win over New Zealand. Next up is the pivotal game against Guinea.

A romp for 30-odd minutes against an overmatched opponent, a red card for Zambia, Soph subbed off with some kind of knock. It's on to Germany on Sunday.

Belz and Vince recap the 3-0 loss to France, which was a little more encouraging than the scoreline would lead you to believe.

Marcus Chairez joins Belz to ID the players on this Concacaf tourney roster who have the best chance of one day helping the national team, and the long list of age-eligible players who are NOT on this roster. U20 World Cup qualification is the prize, and the games kick off for us Friday vs Jamaica.

A night of total dominance and thoughtful attacking intent held back by our shortage of quality ideas in the final 12 yards. Full timeline from Belz and Greg.

Vince and Belz were astounded by the Copa final and the difficult things it says about the USMNT. Watke runs us through all the coaching search rumors (Benitez sounds plausible). And then we eulogize the Berhalter era by talking about our favorite moments from his tenure.

Second to last tune-up before the Olympics. A bit of muted revenge for the defeat earlier this year. Greg and Belz do the full recap.

Greg and Belz wrestle with the rumor mill ramping up on Steve Cherundolo, what Herve Renard might bring, what needs to be fixed, etc.

How can we stop Barbra Banda? A brief primer on recent results for our group stage opponents. What's the striker depth chart in the post-Morgan era? Where will our set piece goals come from? Can Rose and Cat play at the same time? All that and much more discussed by Vince, Tara and Belz.

Full recap of the loss to Uruguay -- a decent performance in a vacuum, but again we see the naivete of the USMNT in contrast to the focus and pragmatism of the Uruguayans. Plus discussion of potential replacements for Berhalter.

Greg, Tara and Belz talk through the roster that Emma Hayes announced last week, plus key omissions. Friendlies coming up on July 13 and 16, and then it's off to the Olympics and a huge test of the USWNT and its new manager.

A full recap of the 2-1 loss to Panama in Atlanta from Greg and Belz. Pretty frustrating! Lots to break down.

Watke, Vince and Belz talk about how good Gio is, the striker controversy such as it is, what's wrong with Wes, Will Leitch's piece arguing Trump's election hurt national team fandom, and much more. Matchday minus 1. Big day tomorrow!

Full recap of the somewhat encouraging win over Bolivia. We took care of business. They weren't very good. Our centerbacks are making too many mistakes. Strikers miss chances. Next up is basically a must-win against Panama.

Vince, Tara and Belz talk through Emma Hayes' aura as portrayed in the latest Behind the Crest video. Also Olympic roster talk, NWSL rundown, love segment, Croix's stunner, Lily's prospects, Tobin's revelation that she ain't hanging up the boots yet. Much more.

Jon Arnold checks in for the second time this month, this time to discuss a little about Concacaf's history in the Copa America, the USA's Jekyll & Hyde showing in the tune-up friendlies, a rundown of how things look for the other Concacaf participants with the tournament starting in two days, and how Haiti's unrest is affecting its football federation.

A bounceback performance in Orlando against Vini and Co. We played hard! We got a draw. Greg and Belz do a full recap.

Greg and Belz work through the shellacking in Landover. Full timeline and analysis of a fairly normal performance for 60 minutes that turned into complete slapstick for the final 30 minutes.

Folarin Balogun, the striker for the USMNT and AS Monaco, joined Watke and Sanjay Sujanthakumar for a conversation yesterday. Outstanding stuff.

Greg and Belz on the heavily rotated side that faced South Korea a second time, our struggles this time to play through the middle and the lack of viable alternative approaches, the flip-switching moment when the ostensible first-choice attacking group came on, and then, of course, Lily Yohannes's glorious debut, at 16 years of age.

Jon Arnold, one of the nation's leading Concacaf scholars, joins the pod to talk about the USA's group at the Copa America: Bolivia, Panama and Uruguay. As is our custom we strayed from the agenda and discussed the Crew's loss to Pachuca in Champions Cup, why Mexico isn't a global power in soccer, and other things. But the core of the episode is backgrounders on the USMNT's group opponents in this upcoming tournament. No huge surprises but you will surely be able to impress at cocktail parties with a little more depth on Bolivia's mediocrity and Panama's relative strength under Christensen.

Greg and Belz recap the 4-0 win over a non-threatening but reasonably well-organized South Korea side. Mal Swanson is fully back, the ladies are playing soccer at pace with the ball on the deck, and while it wasn't anywhere close to perfect, the Emma Hayes process seems like something we can trust.

Greg and Belz try to respond to a whole raft of questions from subscribers across the country. What about 3 at the back? How will Tim do versus Vini if he plays right back? Which player will improve his stock in the transfer market this summer? What is the problem with Gio at his clubs? Who do we match up against the best? Should we expect to make the semis? And much more.

Tara, Vince and Belz relay some intelligence from training in Boulder, Colo., Horan and Lyon fall to Barcelona in the Champions League final, lots of NWSL action to summarize and some key USWNT players coming back to health.

As usual, the last Monday Review of the month goes on the public feed. Vince, Watke and Belz discuss Copa America preparations across the nation, Venezia's promotion run, the right back situation including Tim Weah's performance at RWB over the weekend, and much more.

Greg and Belz discuss the major questions facing Berhalter as the UMSNT prepares for a wonderful slate of games in June and early July, and then talk about the major questions facing Emma Hayes ahead of two early June friendlies and the Olympics later this summer.

David Ziemba and Kyle Jeanor, the president and secretary of the Indy Eleven supporters group the Brickyard Battalion, join Belz to catch us up on the latest from Indianapolis, where the USL team's stadium plans are on hold after the mayor and Major League Soccer started discussing bringing in a new franchise with new ownership and a different stadium plan. Very much an evolving situation, but Ziemba and Jeanor help sort it all out. Progress has been made.

A quick chat with Otis Lyons, a young guy from the Bay Area who has been traveling in Europe and North Africa, watching USMNT players at their home clubs, for the past two months. He visited Gaga Slonina's home club for a home game, saw Balogun at Monaco, Juve-Milan in Turin, Johnny at Osasuna in Pamplona and many more games in various places. Meanwhile he ran a marathon in Tunisia and ran into a snag in Belgium. We met him on the Scuffed Italy trip and thought it'd be fun to catch up a couple weeks later.

Vince, Tara and Belz recap the NWSL action from the weekend, Tara gives her list of centerbacks who she'd like to see called up for June, Cat getting a lot of assists in England in a short period of time, Claire Hutton balling out for the Current in Kansas City, and much more.

Tara and Vince captain the ship in Belz's absence. Full rundown of the action that matters for the U.S. Women's National Team.

Vince, Watke and Belz on the Monday Review, which is available on the public feed because it's the last Monday of the month. Belz reports from Turin, where a Scuffed-hosted trip to Italy started on Saturday just in time for the Juventus-Milan match. Plus lots of other stuff to discuss: Johnny looking good again, Venezia in a promotion push, Paxten Aaronson's brace, Vince has some choice words about Mark McKenzie's outing, etc.

Greg and Belz dig in on several scenarios for replacing Dest at the Copa America, the biggest tournament we'll have between 2022 and 2026. Lots of possibilities, lots to discuss.

The former Ajax and USMNT midfielder, a key player in the 2002 World Cup quarterfinal run, joins Belz for a conversation that touches on, among other things, how the Dutch trained total football in the late 1990s, playing for Bruce Arena, the goal v Portugal, some of the innovative stuff John is working on in his psychology practice in Colorado, and the extent to which club academies have a responsibility to develop not just soccer players but whole people and functioning adults.

Vince and Tara report on their visit to lovely Columbus for the She Believes final victory over Canada, a rundown of the best young talent in NWSL, and Olympics roster discussion.