Gregg Berhalter fired, Colombia & England advance, Melissa Ortiz joins the Pod

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Alexi Lawless
Hello sunshine. I'm Alexi Lawless, and welcome to the State of the Union podcast, where we look at the beautiful game on and off the field through the lens of red, white and blue colored glasses. Today's show is brought to you by Zillow agents Tours loans homes get home with Zillow we are coming to you live July 10 with the end of the euros semifinals and the Copa America semifinals as we make our way into the final weekend of this amazing summer of soccer. Reminder, we have been here, well, all month, each and every day, giving you wrap up and preview of all the euros and Copa action that is going on. But first, joining me as always, my friend, my colleague, my guiding, David Mossy, a soccer savant and a Fox soccer researcher and writer extraordinaire.

Mossy, how are you doing on this Wednesday, July 10, in the year 2020? Wait a second, wait a second. More guests. Who do you got next to you there, Mossy? What's going on?

Over here? We have the star of the Fox soccer now show, former colombian international, Melissa Ortiz. Melissa, how are you? I'm doing great, guys, and I'm also feeling great. We also on our Fox soccer now show, just pull back two shots of aguardiente on live television.

So, yeah, we've heard about this. So as Mossy mentioned, you are a proud colombian. So obviously you're very happy tonight. You are a former member of the colombian national team, played in the NWL. You're also an entrepreneur.

We'll talk about that in a second. And as Masi mentioned over there at the show, that shall remain nameless but also a general bad influence, evidently, on anybody and everybody that you come into contact with. We come up here every day and we do this show and we just kind of see the remnants of the complete chaos that is your show. And, I mean, I'm not saying that you're a problem child, okay? But everybody that I talk to you immediately, they don't.

I mean, they don't do it out loud. They do it quietly. They say her. Her silent but deadly in terms of the things that you do. Everyone says, oh, Jimmy Connor, Jimmy Khan.

But you are the instigator. You, my friend, are someone that I want to party with. And party we will tonight for your Columbia team. Well done. Thank you.

Well done. You gotta be feeling good. How are you? First off, how you doing? Before we get to the actual game, how are you doing?

Melissa Ortiz
I'm doing good. Thank you guys, for inviting me on this show. Listen, we've been doing this now for a bunch of. A bunch of years, a bunch of world cups and stuff like that. I don't think it gets old, but each and every day, the grind, does it get to you in a tournament?

I'd say in week one, week two, absorb. I mean, when we're doing two tournaments, the euro and the Copa America on our fox soccer now show, we had 03:00 a.m. wake up calls. We had 06:00 a.m. wake up calls.

I mean, it's the grind, but at the end of the day, you have to remind yourself, as tired as you are, you get out of bed and you're like, what just happened to me? I just slept for 3 hours. You remind yourself, you have the best job in the world. You get to cover the beautiful game, and you get to literally watch soccer games and talk about it all day, all night. And I have to remind myself a lot about that, how privileged I am to be in this position on the.

Alexi Lawless
State of the union. We often talk about things that we are watching or reading, I think like that. Like you mentioned, we're going twenty four seven and there's not a lot of time. But is there anything that you would want the folks out there to hear in terms of your library out there? You could be watching it right now, or maybe it's something that you have watched that you would absolutely recommend 100% to people out there, like a show, any type of show.

It could be a movie. It could be episode or anything like that. It could be anything from Dune to Game of Thrones to an old school movie or something like that. Honest to God, Copa 71. It's a film.

Melissa Ortiz
I don't know if you guys have seen it. Have you guys seen it yet? Oh, wow. What's it about? It's about the 1971 Women's World cup.

Although it's quote unquote, not called the Women's World cup because I've read about this, okay. And it's good. It is so good. It evokes emotions out of you. I was at one point, like, teary eyed, but then I was laughing because there's, like, drama, but then, like, funny fights on the pitch between, like, I think it was like, England and Norway and then Mexico was in it and it was hosted actually in Mexico.

I mean, 100,000 fans packed into the Azteca in 1971. And then all of a sudden after that, all of these, like, old white dudes controlling all the fas in Europe said, you know what? We're going to ban women's football because they're doing so good. And that actually, imagine if that didn't happen, where women's football would be at this given point in time and how much it's grown over the past five to ten years. Guys, that movie, 71.

Alexi Lawless
71, it's on the list. How you doing, Buddha? Doing well, I've also been told you're a fan of the movie Air Bud. Is that true? Where is this going?

David Mossy
Well, we have someone in the control room who's a big fan and I always make fun of her about it. And she brought up to me that you're a fan as well. So I guess she's not the one. We have found the two fans of Air Bud that exist in the world. I like Air Bud.

Melissa Ortiz
Who doesn't like Air Bud? Good God. Incidentally, Lex, this is the smallest audience Melissa has had this summer for us. This is a big crowd. This is huge.

Alexi Lawless
I hope you're not nervous. I know when you guys hear you have humans, animals, pretty much anything that goes here, this is a little bit more, how do I say it? Professional in what we do. I don't know what that is. Okay, listen, shall we light this candle, mossy?

David Mossy
Let's do it. Now, normally, we would go right into the scores. And don't worry, we're going to get your Columbia team over here because you're. Sobering me up a little bit. But obviously, I know over the now show and everything, and certainly when we were on air, the big news broke about Greg Berhalter and we probably should do that.

Alexi Lawless
Mossy, anything real quick before we get into this? No. The big story today, Doug McIntyre broke it. Let's talk about it. Okay.

So, I mean, it shouldn't come as any surprise necessarily in the world of sport after a abject failure of this United States team in the Copa America, that there would be a change. But this is the United States Soccer federation, and so you never know what they're going to do. We've already seen multiple changes of coaches because of failures in the Copa America. And so we get the word today, as you said, from Matt Crocker, that Greg Berhalter, his services will no longer be retained. And so he goes on, I think you would all join me in saying thank you to Greg Berhalter, and we wish him well, and I think he is going to go on and have a wonderful career.

But I also think you would join me in saying that this was absolutely appropriate and fair for the moment. As I've said time and time again, Greg Berhalter has been given numerous bites at the apple and plenty of opportunity and ultimately the failure here at Copa America. And we did talk to Matt Crocker behind the scenes before we went on air, and he was very gracious and he was very honest about himself and about this decision. And really, it came down to results. And I was actually heartened to hear him talk about the fact that it was about results and it was about doing things to make sure that we have every chance of success in 2026.

You know, we have the code up here on the screen from Matt Crocker. And, you know, a lot of people are putting out quotes. Greg Berhalter put out a statement, and, you know, I'm sure that it's looked over by agents and everything, but I did think that they were both appropriate. They don't give you necessarily any additional information. But the fact is that the United States men's national team is no longer being coached by Greg Berhalter.

The search has obviously started now. They hope to get something done by September, and who knows, maybe even before. But whoever that person that comes in, I think, is going to be the one that is going to lead this team into 2026, where it is important that we have somebody that enables us to be excited, that enables us to be inspired, that enables us to believe that this is a team that to believe in. And I think right now there are too many people that don't believe in it. And so I think that's the mandate right now for Matt Crocker.

And I think he did what needed to be done and what he should have done. Mossy the night the US was eliminated from the Copa America, we had Carly Lloyd on and we all felt like Berhalter should go. But we hedged our bets on whether he would go because that would mean Matt Crocker admitting that he got it wrong in his first major decision as the sporting director. Matt Crocker did take that step today. I think it's the right move, but we have to say it does mean the US essentially wasted the last 18 months since the last World Cup.

I think Matt Crocker would probably push back on that and say that there's plenty of stuff that happened off the field. There's plenty of growth that he could certainly point to. But as I've said on air, and I will say it to you now, it doesn't matter. It's about results. I don't care how Kumbaya, I don't care about the growth off the field.

I care about getting results. And ultimately, they didn't get results. And to be fair to Matt Crocker, when we talked to him today, he did say, hey, it is on me. To a certain extent, I hired him. It didn't obviously go the way that he anticipated and wanted it to go, but he was also very complimentary of the work that Greg Berhalter has done both on and off the field.

But now he's got a big, big job. And this is huge in terms of Matt Crocker making sure. He also mentioned that he had learned things. Now, he didn't get specific, but I hope whatever he has learned leads him to pick the best possible player, our best possible coach. Going forward, we'll talk a little bit more about potential when it comes to coaches.

Melissa? I don't know, guys. I didn't watch your show, but what was the general sentiment from you and others that were talking about this as this news came down? Yeah, we broke it right as it happened. And, you know, news like that, I think we were all expecting it, just waiting for that moment.

Melissa Ortiz
And I clearly said that, hey, we have to applaud Greg Berhalter for what he did with the US men's national team, qualifying the team to a World cup and actually putting together a really a strong team. You know, I think this US men's national team is littered with talent and that plays in the biggest clubs and biggest leagues in Europe. But at this given point, because they had an absolute failure at Copa America, it was the right move by us soccer to do that. You know, you need to turn the page if something's not working out. You need to turn the page and change things.

And I think they did make the right move. Now it's, will you make the right move with the next person in charge? So, again, credit to Greg Berhalter for what he did. You know, I've got to obviously be around the us men's national team a lot in the past two years, covering all of their games here in the states. And I've learned a lot not only from him and also from, you know, us soccer and the staff.

And I just have to be thankful. Like me, as a colombian American, I've also been able to enjoy us soccer and, like, be a common american soccer fan over the course of years. And I'm just really looking forward to what's next. And I think that's the most beautiful part of turning the page and learning from mistakes and learning from failures. It's.

It's the learning part that's the most important. Yeah. As I said, you know, to your point, we want it to be a collective, and we want it to be a united group that believes, and everybody's going to have some criticisms here or there and all that kind of stuff, but right now it was fractured. And unfortunately, the situation was divisive. And unfortunately, I think the situation was not fixable.

Alexi Lawless
And so I think Matt Crocker ultimately did what he needed to do, what he was hired to do, but he has got to get it right. I'll talk a little bit more about how this all went down at the end of the show and maybe some possibilities going forward, but let's put that on the sideburner here now and get to the games. All right. Copa America semifinals today. Uruguay and Colombia.

Uruguay zero, Colombia Uno. And then the euros semifinals. That happened before that. Netherlands won. Yeah, England, too.

So that means that Colombia is going on to the final against Argentina. What was that? Can you say that again? Don't worry, I'll say it plenty of times. And England.

Yes. England is also going on to the final to face Spain. So should we take the Copa America first? Mozzie, does that sound good? Yep.

David Mossy
We'll do them in reverse order. The game tonight was in Charlotte. Colombia took the lead through Jefferson Lerma, heading in a Jamaz Rodriguez corner, his 6th assist of the tournament. And then a fellow crystal palace player, Daniel Munoz, got himself sent off late in the first half. So Colombia had to play a man down the whole second half, but they held on.

They are off to the final. As you said, there was some ugly scenes at the end of the game. A lot of fighting on the field spilled over onto the stands. We found that afterwards Jose Jimenez, uruguayan defender, said that it had to do with the families of uruguayan players feeling harassed by colombian fans. We saw Darwin Nunez jump into the stand, shades of Ron Artest Malice in the palace.

Although Jack, who's a big Pistons fan, very annoyed that everybody's making that reference, he feels like everyone should move on from that incident. Nevertheless, that is the place that everybody went tonight. So we'll see what happens from there, suspensions and all the rest. But let's not bury the lead here. Colombia is off to the Copa America final, their third final.

They're trying to win their second Copa America title. They won it at home in 2001, and now they'll face Argentina Sunday in Miami. And before I let you go at it here, okay, will you let me keep praise upon your Colombia? Please do. Because I think that this Columbia team is awesome in a number of different ways.

Alexi Lawless
Past Columbia teams at times of lack personality, I'll be honest with you, they've just been kind of, eh, it's Columbia, you know, and I'm not discounting the Valderramas and even the James's and stuff like that, but this team has personality. I think this team also, I mean, from a practical perspective, I think this is the fittest team at the tournament. I think that this is the strongest, from a physical perspective team in the tournament. I mean, when you look at someone like Mojica over there on that left hand side, and the work that he did tonight, it was just, just incredible. And to be able to go down to ten men and ultimately to hang on and let's be honest, they also could have probably scored three or four goals and really put this one away.

They made it a whole lot closer than it needed to be. I think this says a lot about this Columbia team. And then you saw the passion and the emotion. I'm not talking about going up into the stands or anything like that, but the passion and emotion of also a very pro colombian crowd. And your Colombians, they don't mess around, they bring it, and they brought it in Charlotte tonight and created an incredible atmosphere.

Bodes well for the final, but also bodes well for 2026 when they qualify and they come back for 2026. So congratulations to your Columbia team. I thought that they were absolutely wonderful night, completely deserving against what a lot of people felt was the cream of the crop when it comes to Uruguay. So they did not mess around. You got your hat, you got your shirt, you got it all going on.

All right, go ahead. How proud were you tonight of your team? I was so incredibly proud. I mean, I've been proud not only in this Copa America, but the 27, now 28 games unbeaten streak that they've been able to pull off convincingly. So.

Melissa Ortiz
And not just against, let's say, the minnows and the tier three or four teams. They've been beating tier one teams, and it's their performances and every line possible, their defensive line, their midfield line, their. Their attacking line, they're. They've just been on such a run and so much confidence, and I think it's all driven by the heart and the engine, which is James Rodriguez. And today I on our Fox soccer now show, I actually live translated James Rodriguez.

Interview. Live interview and he had a loss for words. He was so overcome with emotions. Tears were just flowing out of his eyes, which, like, jerked emotions. Even us here in the studio, and he said just how much this means to him.

And you think back about James Rodriguez and what he's been through. He went from being the golden boy at the 2014 World cup in Brazil, scoring that golasso that was up for that, won the Puscas, and then all of a sudden, you know, he's on top of the world, goes to Real Madrid, but then, you know, goes to Bayern Munich, then Everton, then all of a sudden, I think it was Qatar. And then after that, he's in Brazil at Sao Paulo, where he's only played, I believe, ten minutes in the past eleven weeks. So imagine you're that type of player who has gone through so much in a decade, in ten years. We're not talking about one bet season, two bet seasons, which, as his former players have gone through that, you're talking about a decade of a lot of ups and downs and roller coasters.

And for him to come to this moment and lead the Colombia national team to the Copa medica final, that's just absolutely impressive. It's inspiring. It's motivating not only for the Columbia national team and all the players that he's able to influence and just slip dimes with his passes and set pieces, but also for the country and the nation. He's a convinced back. A nation which he lost grasp of for a while.

A lot of critics, a lot of journalists, a lot of fans, you shut them up. He finally was able to get his moment, to shut everybody up and say, I'm here. I'm the footballer you have always been looking for. The ten after Carlos Valderrama, now the. Man sitting next to you, to your right there is a huge Bielsa fan.

Alexi Lawless
I mean, it's really kind of disgusting. Me too. I agree. Well, okay then, both of you are. But I'm nothing.

Evidently, his plan a does not include an ability to win a game against ten men for more than half of the game. So what do you have to say for yourself? And what do you have to say for El Loco there? No, I can't defend them. This campaign really flamed out.

David Mossy
They look like world beaters those first two games, albeit they were against Panama and Bolivia. I didn't even love the way they played against the US. Obviously, the Brazil game was one of the worst soccer matches any of us have ever seen. And then they lost tonight to a team that played with ten men for half the time. So now you're washing your hands of this Uruguay team.

You know, I watched his entire pre match press conference last night, 30 minutes, because I do find him to be a fascinating person to listen to. But that plan a, plan b comment was a bit of a head scratcher. I've never heard a coach say that before. And yeah, he got kind of exposed tonight. Whatever his plan a was didn't work and they had nothing else to fall back on.

Melissa Ortiz
Would you put that on him? Or would you put that on Darwin, Nunez and all the. They had opportunities. They could have been, too. Man, he misses a lot of chances.

David Mossy
I know he makes a lot of them, too, but. Okay, so when it's the US, it's Greg Berhalter, but when it's Uruguay, it's the players. Is that how it works? Yes, because Bielsa has a cool accent. Which Berhalter likes, and he sits on the cooler and does the things and, you know.

Alexi Lawless
Okay, yeah. Can I get back to James? Yes, of course. Because I was actually at the Maracana ten years ago when he scored those two goals against Uruguay in that round of 16 match. So was Judy Boyd, by the way.

David Mossy
She had better seats than I did.

Now, I too have been blown away by his performances. And Sunday's final, when you've got James on one side and Messi on the other, is going to be a left footed playmaker orgy. But I do want to ask you, Melissa, you mentioned Colombia are unbeaten in 28. That sets their all time record. They had a 27 match run in the early nineties.

That great team with Alderama, Rincon, as pria, et cetera, and they broke that. Tonight. You're plugged into the colombian media. Is Nestor Lorenzo getting the credit he deserves? Because I'm enamored of the work he's doing.

You look at that Colombia squad, on paper, the names don't pop that much. The club pedigree isn't that impressive. And yet the team he's built, he's done an incredible job. Yeah. You know, at first when they named him head coach, because let's remember, he was the assistant coach to Peckerman, who led the Columbia national team to that 2014 World cup and did wonders with the team when they actually after Peckerman, then they had katos, and then they had someone else.

Melissa Ortiz
And I can't remember the name, but when they named Nestor Lorenzo, there was a lot of critics. A lot of critics. But at this point, I've been listening and chiming into a lot of the colombian media, and everybody is obviously, like, just worship, worshipping the man at this given point for going this long and putting a record to the unbeaten streak. So, to answer your question, everybody in Colombia is just talking about two things, actually. Three.

One, Nestor Lorenzo, the head coach of Columbia. Two, the freaking song that Ryan Castro put out. Do you guys know the song yet? Mami prem de la raio, sien de la tele.

No. Wow. You guys aren't feeling my vibe. Maybe I gotta get you some shots of aguardiente. But that's the second song that's literally hidden not only in Colombia but around the world.

I see fans in Europe acting like they're colombian. They put on the jersey, and they're like, this song hits. It's hilarious. Ryan Castro. Ryan Castro.

Yeah. The reason is because, actually, Luis Diaz, James Rodriguez, and Quintero are featured in the music video or in the song, and they rap. They rap promotion. Oh, they rap, too. Yeah.

It's sick. It's sick. If you have that much swag on your national team, you hit in songs like that. And the third thing that's really hitting off is this coffee. Oh, here we go.

Alexi Lawless
Here we go. I told you. She's an entrepreneur. All right, go ahead. Go ahead.

Give us your pitch. We donate 10% of our profits to, uh, nonprofits around the world that use soccer as a tool for social development. Colombian coffee right here. And it's the only coffee that bridges top quality specialty coffee with the game of soccer that we also dearly love. So Kickoff coffee company, where can they get it?

Melissa Ortiz
Where can they get it on kickoff? Uh, wW dot kickoffcoffeeco.com or social media at Kickoffcoffee Co. I actually did a giveaway today that in this jersey. So, I mean, it's pretty sick, but it's delicious. I'm not biased or anything, right?

David Mossy
I. Lex, this. I'm gonna ignore this whole coffee, okay? I know this Ryan Castro guy must be Columbia's Drake, right? Exactly.

Melissa Ortiz
Yes, actually. Drake of Columbus. Well, no, actually. Cause Drake is not really liked at this given point. Kendrick Lamar is, but Columbia is Kendrick, then.

Alexi Lawless
Oh, my God. Yeah, that's it. You know that they're having a feud. I was told last night the Kendrick character and this Drake guy are going back and forth. Okay, but not in any kind of violence.

Unless you call spitting rhymes. Whatever. But unless you call that violence, I am dead. I mean, they're not spitting violence like the Darwin Nunez up there with the colombian fans. I hope they get it sorted out, those two kids.

Okay, let's move it on to the euros over there. And our friends England, it's happening in that they are going to have the chance to have it coming home. They move on to the final.

Just a nutty type of game. I thought England was very good in the first half. I thought they were very bad in the second half. And ultimately Ollie Watkins comes on the field and scores just a huge, huge goal to send them to the final. Sir Ollie Watkins is what I'm calling him now.

Comes on. Like I said, just a wonderful, wonderful goal. And whether it's Daniel Sturridge or anybody else out there, they are going crazy because they are back in yet another final with the opportunity to have it come home. Mossy, thoughts? Can we circle back to the first half?

Sure. Xavi Simone scored first for the Dutch. A wonderful goal. And then England equalized with a controversial penalty. Harry Kane shot and miss.

David Mossy
And then in the follow through, Denzel Dumfries caught him. After a VAR review, the referee gave a penalty, Kane converted. What did you think? It seems to be hotly debated. Yeah, I mean, well, everybody understands that you can't go through somebody, right?

Alexi Lawless
And that's where I think that this one is. Is one of these calls here, because, well, Harry Kane shot the ball. Okay, so we already established that a soccer player can put his foot at that height and not be a foul, right? Because Harry Kane did that and shot the ball. But you also, as a soccer player, have the right to inhabit a space in front of somebody kicking the ball, which in this moment.

That's what I thought it did. I didn't think it was going through Harry Kanede. You kick the ball and then with your follow through, go into somebody. That's not necessarily a foul, but we've seen it called before, in other places on the field, I'm sure it would have been called. So it was a little suspect when I put it out there on x, which we know is the arbiter and we know is only reality.

It came back basically 50 50 in terms of the way people viewed it. What'd you think? I mean, you got to believe anything that is on the album. It's got to be true. I think it was granted the right decision.

Melissa Ortiz
Yeah, I mean, you clearly saw his boot up like this, cleats up. And that's the rules that UEFA put out for this tournament this year. Let me ask you both, Southgate, where is he in the pantheon? Where is he when we look at this? Because while he doesn't have that moment, kind of raising the trophy, the guy has been fricking awesome for England relative to getting to semifinals, getting to finals and being successful, and maybe he doesn't get the credit he deserves.

David Mossy
I put together a graphic for the pregame, which I was very proud of today, showing that this was England's third semifinal at a major tournament, tournament under Southgate. That was more than they had in the 46 years prior to his arrival. And they'll now play in their first ever final. Not in England. The 66 World cup and the last euros were both at Wembley.

So that two major finals under him. So, yeah, I think he's done an outstanding job. And even today, he made two big subs, bringing on Cole Palmer for Phil Foden and Ali Watkins for Harry Kane. And lo and behold, Palmer with the assist, Watkins with the goal. So, yeah, I know he's had his critics.

I know they're not always the most entertaining team to watch, but you're a guy that says it's all about resilience at the end. Hard to argue with Garrett Southkin. I do. And I'm a guy that came on air when we started this tournament. And I said that when it comes to England, they are the Dallas Cowboys.

Alexi Lawless
And if you want to continue that, then let's be honest, they made the Super bowl when it comes to England, and they are going to play. And in being the Dallas Cowboys of soccer, as many people watch, because they hate them, as love them. But everybody's going to tune in on Sunday, and it is going to be an interesting, interesting final. We'll preview Sunday on Saturday. Right?

We're doing a show on Saturday. Correct. So we'll do a little bit more preview here. But it's all set up. The finals are all set up.

So you want to give us a little preview of what to watch coming up this weekend. Yeah. So first off, on Saturday, we have the Copa America third place game in. No third place game for euros. Correct.

David Mossy
Uruguay against Canada. Marcelo Bielsa against Jesse Marsh. A fascinating coaching matchup there. Shout out, Leeds United. And then.

Yeah, exactly. And then on Sunday, we have the two big finals on Fox. First up, the Euros. Spain, England in Berlin. And then later in the day, Argentina, Colombia in Miami.

Alexi Lawless
Since we won't have you here on Saturday, what are your predictions for both of these finals? Oh, wow. I haven't gotten there, Alexis, but I think Spain will win it. I have it in my bracket, actually. Spain winning.

Melissa Ortiz
And I actually have on the Copa medica bracket since the beginning. Colombia winning. I think Spain. I could see this going into penalty kicks and Spain winning on penalty kicks. And for Colombia, God, please don't go to penalty kicks.

I will have a heart attack. So I'm gonna put a two one merchant on Colombia, Argentina. Ooh, interesting Christmas. Who did you have in the final opposite Spain in your bracket, I believe. I can't remember on the fox one.

I can't remember if I can't remember. Honestly, there are multiple people in this room right now who had Spain, Netherlands, and who were. That was not. They were very close to nailing it, but came up just short. Yeah.

One of our staff members lost out on $800 today. Oh, yeah. It wasn't me. All right, listen, as we said, we're all doing a lot of work, so let's get you guys out of here on this crazy day. Wonderful soccer and stories on the field.

Alexi Lawless
Also wonderful and interesting stories off the field that we've talked about. So let's get to one for the road here and then close this one. Close this one up. And it should come as no surprise that when we talk about one for the road, as we send you off into. What day is the day again?

Wednesday night. This is a really interesting time for american soccer. Melissa, you were talking about how excited you are about going forward, and there is a palpable type of excitement because change can bring that. And with the firing of Greg Berhalter, there is the opportunity to bring in somebody that is going to affect that positive change. And like I said before, excite us about what is coming forward now.

There are going to be lists and there are going to be names that are going to be thrown out all over the place. I should say that we asked Matt Crocker directly again to confirm that if they want to hire somebody, that cost will not be an obstacle. And he absolutely confirmed that. And so we can dispel that rumor right now when it comes to whether the federation, if they are going to shoot the moon, and it is going to require a lot of money, if Matt Crocker will be given those funds to be able to do that, that absolutely will happen. Now, just because it can happen doesn't mean that that person is available or that person is who Matt Kirk Crocker is going to ultimately hire.

But that is important. So now the guessing game starts about who should replace Greg Berhalter. And the lists are going to be long, they are going to be diverse, and they are going to involve people that you know and people that you don't know, and whether it's Rob Stone saying, hey, you know, shoot for the highest you possibly can get in the clop type of vein, or whether it's somebody like Irving Renar, or whether it's a domestic type of product like a Wilfred Nancy from Columbia Columbus, or a Jim Curtin or a Steve trunk here in Los Angeles, there are plenty of candidates out there. We mentioned Jurgen Klopp out there, Trundullo. Somebody even mentioned Gareth Southgate, because he will be available very soon, I think.

And who knows? Maybe he will be a european champion by the time that he is looking for work. Jim Curtin. I mentioned Patrick Vieira. The list goes on and on and on.

Ultimately, I don't. I'm sorry, you have something to say, Mozzie? Well, can we give some credit here? The list, you just read out Doug McIntyre's list. This was a heat check by Doug because he broke the story today.

David Mossy
So he felt like, I can throw out a bunch of names, and I'm Doug McIntyre, so everybody has to take it seriously. So, yeah, that's the list Doug came up with. Klopp, one. True two, south gate three, curtain four. And Patrick Viera, five.

Alexi Lawless
Yeah. And so, and many of the other ones that I just named, I'll be honest with you. This I'm looking at, not as somebody that is going to fundamentally change the trajectory and future of american soccer. I just want that person to come in and for the next two years, to do everything in their power to make this group of players as good as they possibly can. And I hope, Melissa, to your point, I hope that the us players, I know they're probably sitting on beaches right now, most of them, but I hope they watched tonight and I hope they saw how important it is and how emotional it is and how passionate and how fierce and how ruthless you need to be, and, you know, on both sides, to be quite honest with you, in terms of the game that we saw tonight, because that is the type of tenacity, that is the type of attitude, that is the type of personality that this us team has to foster.

And if the players that we currently have right now don't have that, then I'm sorry, we're not going to progress and we're not going to be able to beat the elites. So you better have it or you better develop it real quick, or we need to get other people in that do have it. Because, I'm sorry, we're not going to be Spain, okay? We're not even going to be Brazil. But I do think that we can be the likes of Colombia, the likes of Uruguay in that tenacity, in that ruthlessness, in, at times even that, that recklessness.

And so whoever ultimately it is, I hope that that person wants to do this job and I hope that that person comes in and does, and does the job going forward. Anything before we go. And thank you so much for joining us. Yeah, I mean, just to bounce and add off that. Sure.

Melissa Ortiz
And I like what you said about learning from this game. Both Colombia and Uruguay, USA faced off against a Panama side that is. That's not as good as them. At the end of the day. You know, you have one player on Panama, believe one that was playing in Europe, and I believe it's in the second division, and couldn't pull off a result against a ten man Panama, whereas Colombia pulled off a result against a ten man.

I mean, a ten man, but against eleven man Uruguay. That just goes to show the not only eliteness that they. That they showed in terms of performance, but also, I want to say maybe the buy in, you know, and I think moving forward, the players have to be bought in to whatever this new and next coach will be, will be teaching, will be guiding, not only with the players, but also the fans, I think USA, US soccer. And this is, this is talking on my personal beliefs, opinions and own perspective. Because, look, I'm born in the USA to colombian parents.

And yes, I represented Colombia on the world's greatest stage, but I'm still very proud to be american. And I, during these USA Games, was wearing a USA kit because I'm american and I. And I love it and I want them to succeed. I want the us men's and women's national teams to succeed. But, you know, what happens is that there's a lot of people like me, millions of people like me, who are dual nationals who rather root for their.

Their other country, their other nationality, whether it's Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, et cetera, et cetera. But if USA starts winning and they prove it with results, they will convince an entire dual national, triple national, however many diverse people we have in this country to be us soccer fans. And that's. That's what I want to happen in this country. Because every time I go to a us soccer game as a broadcaster and cover the us men's national and women's national team, I'm damn proud to be there because I am american at the end of the day, and I love it, and I want them to succeed.

So I just hope that whatever coach is selected and is chosen, they're convincing. Not convincing only for the players, and the players get the result, but convincing. For the fans of damn, I love it. I love it. A couple of things before we go.

David Mossy
Does Melissa coming on tonight and being delightful, does that put an end to this feud between our two shows? Can we move on from. What did I miss, huh? You've missed a lot. Wow.

Melissa Ortiz
I'm gonna have to get a recap on this one. There's issues. I have a bottle of aguardiente on the side if you guys want to go over this. Yeah. Yeah.

Alexi Lawless
When we get off air, we'll make sure that we do that. There's been issues. I feel better about this show now in that I'm willing for the next couple of shows to actually acknowledge their existence and maybe even say their names. Oh, my goodness. Second question.

David Mossy
My understanding is, on the now show, Sean Sullivan and Kat rotate as producers. Yes. Which one do you like better? As a producer and as a person? Right?

Melissa Ortiz
Oh, shit. This is. Don't put me in this spot, please. Please don't put me in this spot. Okay.

Alexi Lawless
They both suck. Okay? I love them both, but shot Sully and I go back three freaking tournaments, baby. And I. And after Columbia women's national team did beat Germany in the women's World cup, that last minute header, what did I say?

Melissa Ortiz
I said, we going out tonight? Because it was a bet within the production team. I was like, guys, if Columbia beats Germany, we are going out in Sydney. And everybody did. And the first thing I was like, we're going out tonight.

And Jimmy Conrad goes solely, solely, where you at? We're going out. It was epic. It was epic. We got to roll that back again.

David Mossy
Linda Keisetta. What a player. Oh, yeah. I mean, to be fair, you would have gone out anyway right now. Okay, guys, why am I all of a sudden the party are here.

Melissa Ortiz
I sort of got. I haven't drink it all month because I'm training for a marathon, and all of a sudden, the bad influence. It's not me, it's them. I haven't drank it. But, you know, when Colombia wins, Columbia wins, and the rest is history.

So. I got kids, all right? I got kids. All right, listen, well, thank you. Thank you for joining us.

Alexi Lawless
I hope it wasn't too painful. No, this is awesome. What's your coffee again? Hold it up there. One more time.

One more time for the people out there. All right. There you go. Coffee Co. We have colombian coffee.

Melissa Ortiz
We have an italian rose. We have Rwanda, Peru. The list goes on. The only coffee brand that bridges the beautiful game of soccer and donates to soccer foundations around the world. You could check it out.

Kickoff coffee company. Awesome. Thanks, guys. Awesome. Mossy, anything before we go, I want.

David Mossy
To thank Kat for sticking around for the entire show tonight. It was nice, right? Yes. I mean, everybody, I think they were three or four. They knew they were like, we have to make sure she behaves.

Melissa Ortiz
It was good. We're small, but we're party. Okay. Keep downloading and subscribing and rating and reviewing and doing all the different. Oh, yes.

Alexi Lawless
Max, smash the button over there on the YouTube thing. Smash it. What are you doing? Smash it. Don't you worry about it.

Melissa Ortiz
What are you doing? You worry about your coffee over there. Don't do that with your hand. Smash it. Smash it.

Alexi Lawless
Smash it. We will talk to you again on Saturday after the third place game in Copa America, featuring, like we said, Canada and Uruguay. That's it. All right. Until then, and as always, my friends, size the day the world.

Gregg Berhalter fired, Colombia & England advance, Melissa Ortiz joins the Pod

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1. Introduction and Recent Soccer Events

2. Guest Segment with Melissa Ortiz

3. Deep Dive into Soccer Dynamics

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