Rob Stone joins the Pod, Türkiye's cinderella story continues, Brazil & Colombia advance

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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 2 with the end of the 2020 €4 round of 16 and the end of the simultaneous third group stage games of the 2024 Copa America. As we make our way through this amazing summer of soccer, reminder, we'll be coming to you live each and every day after the euro and Coppa action, giving you a wrap up and a preview of what's to come. But first, joining me as always, my friend, my colleague, my guiding lights, David Mossey, a soccer savant and a Fox soccer researcher and writer extraordinaire.

Mossy, we have another guest. We have another guest, our friend, our colleague, a legend in the business. Yes, Rob Stone is joining us. Welcome, Rob. The only reason I'm here is because I'm driving you and your son home today.

Rob Stone
That is true. That is true. That is true. These are the facts. Rather than have you wait down in your dressing room down there, I said, hey, come on the show and have a good time.

So you've invited everybody else on the show. It was like, hey, it's Rob's time. Listen, bottom of the barrel, bottom of the barrel. My friend Mossy. How you doing, bud?

David Mossey
I'm doing well. I believe this is a first, by the way, he's filled in for me a couple of times, but never the three of us together. Yes. And certainly not in this capacity. And not in the live capacity, too.

Rob Stone
No. You're nervous, are you? So people actually are out there waiting for the bat signal to go out that you are live. Oh, the bat. Nobody's watching, but it's definitely live.

Well, then why did I go to hair and makeup if nobody's watching? You look dressed up in my t shirt vest for you. You look awesome. Yes. Mozzie, we do have another pleasant surprise this evening.

David Mossey
Guess who's back. Kat, who's been out sick the past few days, but she is recovered enough to be with us and taking in our show tonight. She explained that she popped her shoulder out. You know, when people dislocate their shoulder? I asked her if she just bashed her shoulder in, like all aggro and pushed it back in, but she was much more hands on and pushed it back in.

Alexi Lawless
It still sounds painful. That was one of her multiple ailments. Exactly. But she's back. She's looking good, and we're glad to have her back.

Moss, you watch anything? Are you getting ready to watch anything? Because we are coming to you on the eve of our first day off, so we're excited about that. Yes. I still have not watched the latest episode of House of the Dragon.

David Mossey
I will do that tomorrow. And I might start the new season of the Bear, which dropped recently on Netflix. I am about to start on I think it's Hulu, and I think it's called Bratz, about the brat pack from back in the eighties. And Andrew McCarthy, one of the brat packers, did a documentary on that. Rob Stone.

Alexi Lawless
You watching anything? How do you guys have time to watch stuff with all the soccer that's going on? You know me. I've got four kids. I can barely keep my head above water.

Rob Stone
You know what I do want to watch is, well, Beverly Hills cop. What is it? Three, four, whatever it is, that one that's coming out. Yeah. New ones coming out with Eddie Murphy.

Excited about that? Yeah, total reboot. All the old guys are coming back. Judge and. Okay, the other grumpy dude.

Yeah, that one I'm excited about. I'll be in. I'll be into that. Lex, I misspoke. The bears on Hulu, not Netflix.

Alexi Lawless
Well, thank you for correcting that. Do you have a research department for your work, Mossy? I do not. One man band. Yeah.

David Mossey
There's no line of defense if I say something wrong. Are you in need of this break here? Do you feel like it's gotten to the point we've all been through these tournaments and there comes a point where it's just the groundhog day has to end. Yes, I definitely need a. What are you gonna do?

Besides, I'm gonna work. I have a bunch of shows to write. But at least I'll be doing it from home. I won't have to come in here at 430 in the morning. So naked then, is what you're saying?

Yes. Okay. All right. Let that just marinate for you out there. You're an awful host.

Alexi Lawless
I know. It's horrible. Should we light this candle, my friend? Wait, it hasn't been lit yet. What are you waiting for?

Rob Stone
Zillow says, light this candle. Here we go. Today's score. All right, today's scores. Euro round of 16.

Alexi Lawless
Romania, zero. Netherlands three. Austria one. Turkey a two over in Copa Group D. Brazil, one.

Colombia one. Costa Rica two. Paraguay, one. All right, best moments of the day. Victory unlocked, brought to you by Zillow agents Tours loans homes.

Get home with Zillow. Where should we start? Mossy, what do you want to start with? Well, let's start with the €2 matches first. The Netherlands handled their business three nil over Romania.

David Mossey
Cody gak Poe got his third goal of the tournament. No, no. Say it. Say it right. Say it right.

Rob Stone
David Moss. Cody Gakpo. Cody Gak Poe. Oh, it's such a beautiful name. I love that.

That was one of my favorite names from two years ago. Absolutely. And then Donny Mallon came on as a sub and scored twice. The first multi goal game by a player in this tournament. So the Dutch move on to the quarterfinals.

Alexi Lawless
You know, we came on air and we were talking. We did some stuff about the dysfunction surrounding this dutch setup that they have. And, you know, a dysfunctional dutch team is kind of redundant if you've followed this team for any length of time. Have they finally got it together? Do we feel that this is now a Netherlands that is worthy of the time or was just one of the.

Of a mismatch type of a game? This was a step in the right direction, a pretty comprehensive performance. And they now have a very winnable quarterfinal match because they will face Terkier, who prevailed in a candidate for game of the tournament. Austria 21 in Leipzig. This was fantastic.

David Mossey
Demi Rall, who had two international goals going into today, scores twice. And this one, including 157 seconds in the second fastest goal at this tournament. Remember, Albania scored after 23 seconds against Italy. And then Demi Ross scores again in the second half. Gregoridge pulls one back.

And then we had that incredible moment late. Baumgartner with the header and Murt Gunak with a save. Shades of Gordon Banks on Pele bank shoutout nice. It was incredible, the save. I mean, they're building stacks, statues, like I said, they're writing poems and music and all this kind of stuff.

Alexi Lawless
So a wonderful victory there for Turkiye. Rob Stone, you're working Copa America, and just as we hear at the state of the union, there's other shows that happen here that shall remain nameless and almost we ignore them out of spite. Do you watch at all? Is there any crisscross? Is there any tons.

Okay, so you're watching and seeing what's going on. I'm the dude who's watching it on the phone at the gym and in my car. So actually, in my car, I can listen to the Fox sports radio, and then down below, I've got the video. So it's like an eight, nine second delay. So when chaos is going on, I kind of do a couple of these and, like, get back in the lane.

Rob Stone
Get back in lane. Absolutely. I'm watching it because again, all of these tournaments, and it's the theme that you and I have been talking about for a long time. It's all towards 2026, you know, and what the storylines are. We were talking about the US.

Like, are they progressing? The Dutch are progressing, right? I think the Dutch are getting incrementally better. I think it probably ends in the semifinals for them. I think they get through Turkey, but that's progress for a nation.

David Mossey
By the way, Netherlands, Turkey is an incredible fan matchup. You're going to have the orange army on one side, turkey and all their supporters. That's in Berlin. That's going to be incredible scenes on Saturday. Bad news for me because I did have Austria going far, and so that kills my bracket there.

Alexi Lawless
And it was just one of those days, as I said on air. The bad part is if you're an Austria fan, you're going home, as is the Austria team. But the good part is they gave us one for the ages, one of these things that you can put in a time capsule. And it was the environment, like you mentioned, in terms of the fan base, and we've talked so much about the Turkey fan base and all of the turkish community that lives there and is supporting it and really making it like another home team when it comes to Germany. And they showed up and then the rain came down and it was just a nutty game from the very start.

In the whistle that went down one end and then obviously came down the other end. And it looks like if you want to get something done, you get a center back to do it. We made this comparison before. Turkey are to this tournament what Morocco was at the last World Cup. Bingo.

Bingo. All right. Anything else on the Euro games? No. I mean.

David Mossey
So the quarterfinals are set, and they're amazing. They kick off on Friday. We have Spain, Germany in Stuttgart, then Portugal, France, and Hamburg. And then Saturday, as we just mentioned, Netherlands, Terkier in Berlin and England, Switzerland in Dusseldorf. David Mosse, would you call some of those matchups mouthwatering?

I tried a couple of times in the script today, and you took them out. That is not a term you're a fan of. I am not a mouthwatering fan. It pops up a lot. And I clean that stuff out.

Alexi Lawless
I heard Jules also at times say, hey, can we take this one out and this one out? And so the back and forth is interesting for me because, you know, she's english american, so different vocabulary. And I'm writing for both. And so I have to remember to skip back and forth. There are words I would put in for you that I wouldn't put in for her and vice versa.

David Mossey
So that's been an interesting, like what? Give me some. Give me some words that you use for her and not for him. Mouthwatering. It's like, it's such a stupid phrase.

Rob Stone
I don't know. I hate it. Well, what are you replacing it with? Scrumptious? No, I just go to.

But, you know, I just go to another direction. I'm just like, no, it's all over. It's all wrong. These 10 seconds are all wrong. I'm gonna change it.

David Mossey
But, you know, I refer to Georgia multiple times as Cinderella. And she took that out. Uh, she would surprise team, or she'd. Figure out I would lean into Cinderella. Yeah.

Cinderella is evidently not a very americana. Yeah. All right, should we go over to Copa? Please. Mossy, which one you want to start with?

Honestly, when the tico scored those two early goes, I thought it was going to be a really bad night for me, but. All right. So anyway, Costa Rica gets a win, so congratulations. They still go out. And they beat Paraguay two to one.

Alexi Lawless
Nothing much to see there other than or some early goals and some, some angst there when it came to Mossy. But the real game, and really the only one that we were watching, it. Was a mouthwatering matchup. Brazil and Colombia, you know, two. Two very, very good teams.

Although, Mossy, I'm going to let you take the floor here in terms of set it up in terms of how you felt going into the game. Well, we talked about this last night. I think the Brazil coach made the right calculation playing the starters, even the guys on yellows, because it was worth it to try to win the game to get Panama in the next round. As I said in our production meeting today, I would rather face Panama minus multiple starters than Uruguay with all your starters available. However, that calculation backfired seven minutes into the game when Vinicius Junior gets a foolish yellow.

David Mossey
And now you're thinking, boy, was this really the right call? So it ended up being a disaster the way it played out because Brazil didn't win the game. They get Uruguay and Vinicius is suspended. Oh, Rob, sonos something. I'm raising my hand because I want to channel my inner Alexei right now, because, God, I've spent so much time with you over my lifetime.

Rob Stone
How dare you, David Mossy, say that Brazil, five time world champions, is afraid of Uruguay, that they would rather sacrifice to play Panama and they can't get by Uruguay. How dare you preach. That's. Preach. Pretty close, but not nearly as obnoxious as Alexi would be if he had delivered that rant.

David Mossey
No, listen, by the way, I was talking to my dad before and the now show was finishing up and there was all this yelling here, and even my father was like, what on earth is going on in the background there? And I had to explain to him what we're dealing with here with that nonsense. Complete chaos and immaturity, yes, but onto the game. I don't know how much longer you're going to keep trying to fight me on this. This Brazil team is not any good.

It's amazing. Anytime a player on the ball comes under any pressure, he gives it away. There's no fluidity, there's no flow, there's no opportunity that comes about because of a good passing sequence. There's no spell of the game where Brazil is on the front foot. Columbia just felt so much more dangerous anytime they got the ball and moved forward.

And Brazil was actually somewhat fortunate that Colombia, in the second half, kind of took the air out of the game and was willing to play for a draw. And they still had the best chance of the second half with Borre at the end. So I look at Colombia was fortunate because it's a penalty. I was going to say Brazil's performance was so bad that I can't even get worked up about that play. However, it was a penalty, and some of the officiating we've seen in this Copa America has been.

Alexi Lawless
And that makes it at that point, what, to nothing right now? Yeah. So, I mean, so again, the referees are against Brazil. I mean, it was a stone cold penalty. I don't understand why it wasn't called in the moment.

And I don't understand when they went. Why they. When they went up to var that they didn't see it. A couple of things. I do not know what's going on with Allison, but he's now, at least once a game, he's good for just a ridiculous giveaway.

David Mossey
And the Columbia goal, now, a lot happens. So, you know, there's. It's not a direct causation, but the sequence started with a bad giveaway by him, and then that's how Columbia got possession and they moved it around and they eventually scored the goal. So that's concerning the endrick situation. Situation is really bizarre because he's not the type of player that Dodiva junior is trying to turn him into as this goal poacher that you throw on late in games.

If you've watched him play, he's more of a second striker. He's a guy that likes to float and run at defenders and cut in from the right. He's a talented, creative player, and yet he's been reduced to this role where you throw him in for the last 510 minutes of a game when it's desperation, kitchen sink time, and see if he can just get a go out of nothing. I'd like to see him get on the field a little bit earlier where he can get into the flow of the game, utilize them differently. So, no Vinny junior for the next game.

Rob Stone
Is that an opportunity for him? In theory, but I don't think that's the way he's going to go. He's going to play a front three of Savigno, Raphine and Rodrygo, and it's going to see which Savigno and Raffinhe are both players that can play in either wing. So I guess they can alternate throughout the game, but I'm interested to see what their main reference points are in the beginning of the match. But I am very pessimistic.

David Mossey
I think Uruguay is going to beat Brazil and knock us out of this tournament, put us out of our. Rodrigo has been a bit of a disappointment for me. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, Brazil, you know, they're playing without a center forward and he's this sort of false nine, but you really feel it when lots of times where Vanessa gets the ball in the wing and he clears that half a yard of space and he looks up and there's nobody for him to cross the ball to in the box, and then he ends up having to hold on to it longer and he loses it.

Or he just sends a hopeful ball straight at a defender. And so, yeah, there's a lot wrong. Set pieces, though, David, I thought were really impressive today from Brazil. Numerous chances, including their goal. Well, you had the two Rafinha freak, obviously, the one he scored in the first half, and then he came close in the second half.

But on the topic of set pieces today, I don't think I've ever seen anybody quite like James Rodriguez. Every corner or foul to the side, he puts it perfectly in the middle of the box. I mean, your heart is in your hands if you're an opposing fan, because, I mean, every chance they get from a set piece, it's like. It turns into, like, a clear scoring opportunity because of him. And so he is phenomenal.

Rob Stone
I wonder what's going to become of Hamish Rodriguez after this tournament. You know, like, like, who's going to be interested in him because he shows up at these international tournaments and any club out there would be like, well, we could. He's only 32, right? Yeah. You know, like, we could use that.

But then it's just. Yeah, I know, I understand, but I get there's some MLS teams there. That was the chatter years ago. I'd be like, why couldn't we bring this cat to insert american city here? But it's that whole club country thing again.

Alexi Lawless
All right, Masif. Well, what I hear is that you do not like Brazil and you love Colombia, is what I hear. I like this Colombia team a lot. I think Uruguay beats Brazil. Colombia beats Panama and Uruguay.

David Mossey
Colombia is going to be an incredible semi final in this tournament. Nice. All right, as we mentioned, we have no games at all tomorrow on either tournament, so everything is dark, including the state of the union. We will be dark. Just let everybody get a breather and go home.

Alexi Lawless
And then we come back on Thursday for the Copa America quarterfinals, Argentina and Ecuador. That's at 09:00 p.m. eastern on Fox. Rob, since we have you here and we went through this, I mean, I can use the word emotional day yesterday when it comes to this team. And, you know, we've been covering this team for years, and there is an attachment that we have and a personal type of attachment and emotion that we have.

And I'm always interested in what you have to say because you, you are the consummate host and you are incredibly gifted at what you do, but it also means that we don't always hear your opinion, and that's by design in many cases. But I tell people, whether you're there or not, that Rob Stone has some of the most interesting takes on soccer. He's been around, he's seen a lot on and off the field, and I am always interested in it, whether it goes on air or not. But we have you here. But now, a day after obviously bad defeat, but more importantly, a bad tournament and a bad moment.

Right now, thoughts on the us men's national team. Sad. Disappointed. I like Greg Berhalter. I like Greg Berhalter as a human being.

Rob Stone
I think he really cares about this program. He represented this nation twice at a World cup. He spent hours and hours just becoming a better and more educated person around the craft that he chose. So it's not like he mailed this in. And as of this recording, he's still the us manager.

And if he goes forward, I am full on supporting him. But we've been talking so long about this next generation and how important 2026 was and that this was the last great big test. I know they're going to have the Gold cup next year. I pray that they somehow figure out a way to juice up that tournament. I know it's going to be really difficult because otherwise it's just kind of a little, it's a minnow tournament, right?

It's just a little regional tournament. It's an exercise of a couple games in a, in a short window that's going to do its best to replicate a World cup. So the fact that there's tangible evidence out there that we haven't gotten better and we haven't found solutions disappoints me because one of my favorite lines you said yesterday, Washington, I should be happy right now. I should be excited. This World cup is coming to our country in two years.

It's going to be the biggest sporting event this planet has ever seen. And I want everybody to be enthused about this party and to show off, frankly, the growth of american soccer on and off the field. Right. Whether it's, and I know a lot of the stadiums are going to be NFL, but a lot of these NFL stadiums were built with soccer in mind. You know, the companies that are going to be attached to it, what we at Fox Sports are going to do for this amazing spectacle, and I want everybody else to be excited about it.

And now we have to manufacture that. Now we have to go do it for this team because this team right now is not getting anybody excited, and they shouldn't be, because who out there has reason to be really excited about this team? Yeah. You work in sports, and we all know that sports are, like we said, incredibly emotional. And perspective is not something that often we associate with sports.

Alexi Lawless
And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it's an escape where we just be crazy and, you know, go off and then fly off the handle and do all that. But sometimes, also, as you get further away from something, you do tend to have some perspective and maybe you look back on it, but. And I know it's still only a day, but I don't feel any different than I felt yesterday. No, I don't think anything has changed.

I don't think a lot of people out there. I think I actually feel worse, to be honest with you. I feel worse because Uruguay is a better team. Right. And I think we all knew that if every chip fell our way, maybe we got a shot to win the group.

Rob Stone
But in the back of our heads, I think we're all saying, you're going to get out as the second place team from Group C. Again, the bare minimum. And we didn't even get the bare minimum. And when you look at that group, if this was Moss, if this was a World cup draw, right, and you take a look at it and you're like, Uruguay, Bolivia, Panama and the US? Hell, yeah, we're getting out.

You are doing cartwheels. And I know Copa America, a smaller field. It's not the World cup, but this was a very manageable, easy draw for the US. And the red card spun everything off. I think everything just went off the axle when the red card happened.

I'm not sure the balogun injury in the first half is getting enough attention, because I feel like he was getting into his own. He was that. That one threat up there, and it just felt like kind of a collision of events gone wrong that are going to probably be the demise of Greg Berhalter in the end. A couple of things. I had a very sobering moment today.

David Mossey
I was asked to put together a graphic of the US's upcoming matches, and the next three friendlies they have lined up are against Canada, New Zealand and Panama. Now, Canada and Panama are two countries that advance to the knockout stage of this Copa America. Think about that for a second. The US and Mexico go out, Canada and Panama advance, and frankly, Costa Rica had a better performance in either the US or Mexico, drawing Brazil and beating Paraguay tonight. But, you know, no disrespect to those teams, but it's kind of, oh, it's back to playing those teams for the foreseeable future.

This was, this summer was the chance for something different and to test yourself against elite competition. And they really didn't make the most of it. I do want to read our good friend Doug McIntyre had an interesting post on x today. Ok. He said for anyone wondering, no, us soccer wouldn't have to increase the salary of us women's coach Emma Hayes to match what any new us men's coach might make.

If it's more than Hayes currently earns, they aren't linked at all. Got it. Okay, well, that's important. That's good to know. That's important because you're banging the drum for Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola.

You want them to go that big? I went very Alexei Lawless last night. Go big, go big or go home. That's what we do in America. And why should we not be swinging?

Rob Stone
Swinging hard and swinging for every fence for this country. And I don't think our federation has done that enough. I think they're swinging for the women more than they are for the men, to be honest with you. I think they are. They've been almost pushed back and say, all right, we gotta step up and fight for this women's program a little bit more than the men.

Let them take care of themselves and figure it out. No, I'm tired of that. I mean, I'm not tired of that. I'm happy that they're fighting for the women's national team, but they need to up their game on the men's side. And the obvious place is a manager starting with a name, starting with somebody who can generate interest.

And I understand Pep and Juergen. You know, it's. It's club coaches. It's not national team coaches. Those are two different gigs.

But I look at those personalities and to me it's a seamless transition. You know, Pep Guardiola has, or still has a place in New York City. We saw him at Boston Garden taking an NBA playoffs. Like a sabbatical over here. Yeah, the american culture entices him.

And Jurgen Klopp to me is very american. You know, with that smile and his. Outfit, all that kind of stuff, everything. I mean, he's. It almost makes too much sense.

Alexi Lawless
And he's free. And the other thing too is the us job is a job that is sexy that people would want. Let me set you up on that. If Jurgen Klopp or Pep Gordon walked in this room right now and they said, I'm kind of on the fence. Rob Stone.

David Mossey
Sell me on the job. Make the case of why this is a job that an elite manager should want. Yeah. What is it like to manage a host country at a World cup? How many opportunities does that present itself?

Rob Stone
And by the way, it's just a two year gig. It's a two year gig. Come by, enjoy America. Enjoy everything that we're building down in Atlanta. Enjoy this young talent.

Go around, scour, find anybody you want that's got somewhere on their passport, USA. And we're going to give you everything you need to succeed. And, my God, the scene in 2026 is going to be amazing. And when you're done, and if you love it, you've got a lifetime job here at us soccer. You want to be.

You want to. You want to be technical director? You want to be. We'll create a job for you. We'll figure it out.

A lot of people want to come to America. Jose Mourinho, there was a reason all his camps, years ago were always in LA. He wanted to come to America, you know? And I think we keep seeing it with the players, like, oh, it's so enticing. Let's go to America.

Let's. Let's see what it's like. The next step is some of these managers saying, let me come out here. And I think it's easier to do it with a national team than with an MLS team. Carlo Enchiladi is here right now.

David Mossey
I keep seeing pictures on my social media. Yeah, come on in, car. Yeah, I'll talk to him. I don't know. I don't know who.

Rob Stone
I just made myself director of national. I love it. I love it. Rob Stone. I love it.

Alexi Lawless
I think you're seeing why I enjoy talking with Rob Stone and why his opinions. I want to find avenues to get them out. So I poke me. You provoke me, though, right? Because we carpool to work all the time, and he sits there and he's like, hey, Rob, what do you think about the Colorado Rapids?

Rob Stone
And I'm like, don't bite stone. Don't bite stone. Remember when we had the UEFA chamber, Zeke? Those phone calls you guys would make to me when you were driving on the way to work, we would call. Mossy to just, like, a download of what's coming, and it would just, you know, we'll rip.

While we're stuck underneath that tunnel, underneath lax, we're like, download us. Okay, good. There's the a block. Yeah. How much producing you and I have done in the cars driving to work.

Right? I love it. Oh, my goodness. All right, let's get you guys out of here. Let's go to one for the road here so we can finish off yet another pod here.

Alexi Lawless
All right, so roll the thing there. And that mossy loves. We have a thing for the thing. Yeah, we got a thing here. So, you know, it's a.

It incorporates our open, but we use it for one for the row. Where did you get that van? You know, don't worry about it. Don't you worry. Pretty little head.

Everything's just gonna be fine. All right. We had a good time. It's a good looking van. All right, listen, somebody asked me over there on the old x machine in light of what happened yesterday, but this is kind of an evergreen type of question.

Could anyone on your 9014, that would be the 1994 World cup team, actually make this 2024 potential? It's not a potential. They're going to the World Cup World cup team. And so I started to think about it, and I think it gets back to the point that a lot of us have been making, and maybe a lot of us have come to realize is that what we thought this team was isn't necessarily what the reality he is. And this generation that we talk about that has been given so much, and let's be honest, has done a lot.

I bristle a little bit when people say we haven't evolved, we haven't progressed. I do think that we have. Have we gone up and down at different times and taken meandering paths? Yeah, certainly. But I would agree, and I think everybody would agree that we haven't progressed to the extent that I think was promised and that we should have over the years.

And so when somebody asked me this question here, you know, first off, it's set up for me to grumpy old man. It's set up for me to be that old guy talking about how good it was and how. How bad we had it, and yet we still forged ahead and the spirit and all that kind of stuff. But, you know, I don't talk a lot about playing and things that happened in the past in terms of my playing career, but every once in a while, I like to stand up for the players and for that era and again remind people that it was a wild west type of existence relative to what everything is today. And this other evergreen thing that we do is we try to put players from one era and judge them in another era.

Well, if you're going to do that, you also have to recognize that they will have gone through the same things or not gone through things in that era. And so everything in terms of advantages that christian politic, for example, has been given in this era, all right, you would have to apply it to somebody like a tab Ramos or something like that and give them all of those pathways and all of those opportunities and all those resources. Or if you took him back, you would have to take away all of those opportunities and all of those resources. And then to look at it. And so I went through some different people and I think it highlights some of the problems that we have in this national team.

Tony Mjola. I think right now Tony Miola is a better goalkeeper than Matt Turner. Okay. When I look at somebody like Claudio Reyna, who was also in the 1994 team, I think he's better than his son right now. That might change eventually, but I think he's better than his son.

When I look at someone like, all right, well, we talk constantly about the striker position, right? I think Eric Wynalda at this moment is better than Balogun. Maybe in time Balogun can be better. But I think Eric Wood all is better. And this does, I'm not happy to say this.

This isn't me tooting the horn of those guys. This is just me saying, unfortunately, this is the new reality. Who do you think is more opinionated between those two when alder Baligan. Well, I mean, you'll have to ask Eric. I mean, obviously you've seen Eric.

He's been spouting off, as he does some other people when it comes to, let's say, a Thomas Dooley. I would put him up against people in the midfield, like maybe Weston McKinney, cello. Cello. I would put him absolutely up a Chris Richards. Are you kidding me?

So I'm starting to list off players that from 30 years ago. 30 years ago, exactly. Could play on this team. And then you say, well, then have we progressed? And I do think that we have progressed, but it does highlight some of the weaknesses and then highlights some of the realities of where we are right now.

David Mossey
It sounds like if you were to put together a combined best eleven of the two, there'd be more 94 guys, maybe close. And again, it's easy to look back and it's easy for me. And if I were having a debate, the, you know, I don't know who you would have as a representative of this team, Christian or something like that. I think he would say, no, this is the situation and this is why I would have this person now keep in mind, this is just for the 9014, okay? You could go in other eras, and I think that there's other, certainly other players that absolutely would be able to play in this team.

Had the US figured out a way to advance, we would have had us, Colombia, almost 30 years to the day. Of, you know, we're not doing anything to celebrate 30 years for this team. It's really strange. I texted some guys the other day and I was like, we're not doing anything. Which seems strange because it has been 30 years, and I know we're going to do a 32 year thing in 2026.

Alexi Lawless
I get that. But it seems strange. Everybody loves celebrating the 32nd anniversary. I mean, it's a big one, right? Is that a diamond anniversary?

Rob Stone
I can't remember what that is. Platinum. The 32nd anniversary thing. I don't know. Anyway, it just seems a little bit strange that we're not doing that and maybe I'm just overly sensitive.

Quit moaning and step it up and do something. But shouldn't it have been done relative to the Copa marathon? Welcome to american soccer, my friend. God, we dropped another ball. Rob Stone, anything before we go?

Alexi Lawless
You want to tell the people, hey, listen, you're a big social media star out there. Rob Stone's collaborating and doing all the different stuff out there. Where can they find you on all the social media? You and I just collabed. We did.

Rob Stone
I got to drop it. Our tick tock Joe was cooking it during this thing. I'll have you know, David Mosse, this guy has Brazil going through to the final. Yeah, he is a believer. Yeah, he is a believer.

Alexi Lawless
More brazilian than Mossy. So insane. What has. What has become of us? And here, just shy of July 4, you have shed your red, white and blue and have shown your true.

Oh, no, no. Don't worry, canary yellow. Everything's going to, you know, everything's going to happen. When you were arguing for why a coach would want to come coach the us men's national team. Because it's the greatest country in the world.

That's it. America. Boom. Just drop the mic and say America. Who wouldn't want to come and coach the greatest, greatest country in the world?

So that's what we do. Mossy, anything before we go? Did I hear today that this is Henry's last day with us? His internship is over. Yes.

My son is being let out, as it were. When it comes to the. Well, it's not jail, but he has been doing all of the hours that I have been doing and seeing a lot of the behind the scenes, stuff that goes on, including Rob Stone and others. Some great parenting there, lawless parenting. So he's actually.

He's been wonderful. I've had a real fun time hanging out with him. Why won't Henry join us? Henry? You're right.

Rob Stone
Come on, Henri. Get over here. He's a behind the scenes type of guy. He's a behind the scenes type of guy. That's how he rolls.

David Mossey
There's going to be some car ride home for.

Rob Stone
We're gonna pull over and get him some ritas. It's gonna be great. Rockstone. Thank you, buddy. Thanks for.

Alexi Lawless
I know you gotta drive me home and everything, but I'm so warmed up. For you, mister Lawless. We really, really appreciate it. All right, listen, keep reviewing and downloading and subscribing and doing all the different things that you do out there. Oh, we're at big numbers when it comes to the YouTube, so smash that subscribe button.

Smash it. Smash it. Smash it. And whether you're watching or listening, we're so thankful that you are each and every day, except for tomorrow. We're all going to relax for a day.

Everybody take a break. And then we come back bigger and better than ever with more Copa America and more euros. We'll talk to you again tomorrow. No, we won't. We'll talk to you again the day after tomorrow.

But until then, and as always, my friends, thank you to rob Stone and size the day it.

Rob Stone joins the Pod, Türkiye's cinderella story continues, Brazil & Colombia advance

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1: Introduction and Guest Welcome

2: Türkiye's Performance

3: Netherlands and Brazil's Tactical Plays

4: Colombia's Strong Showing

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