Speaker 1: Here we go, Here we go. Dave Johnson along with
Speaker 1: US Soccer Hall of Fame with Bruce Murray. It's another
Speaker 1: episode of First eleven. A lot to get to as
Speaker 1: DC and I are returning to play, and we have
Speaker 1: some time. We've got a big Gold Cup quarterfinal weekend
Speaker 1: coming up as well, and a Club World Cup continues.
Speaker 1: Who would have thunk? Who would have thunk? We've been
Speaker 1: talking about this much soccer in one summer, and of
Speaker 1: course Major League soccer, everything's going on. I remember, and
Speaker 1: I know you do too, Bruce. In nineteen ninety two,
Speaker 1: we were thrilled to have one game US game at
Speaker 1: RFK Stadium against Ireland on that rainy night. Did you
Speaker 1: play in that game? Do you remember that?
Speaker 2: I did? I played in that game and it was
Speaker 2: a magical game. Roy Wigerley scored a goal three to
Speaker 2: one win against Jackie Charlton's Republic of Ireland.
Speaker 1: Who had a great Euro eighty eight, as I remember,
Speaker 1: if I got the dates correct. But the point being,
Speaker 1: and I know this is a history lesson for so
Speaker 1: many of you, so many of you you probably not
Speaker 1: alive back then, but it just it's just how you
Speaker 1: should appreciate all this soccer, because once upon a time
Speaker 1: it was it was not that way. And I thought
Speaker 1: about it today as we've got Major League soccer at
Speaker 1: DC United returning and all this great competitions, all these
Speaker 1: great competitions going on, and you know, once we lived
Speaker 1: for one game that would show up at RFK and
Speaker 1: then we wouldn't see another game for another six months.
Speaker 1: All right, let's quickly hear from head coach Troy la
Speaker 1: saying on the injury situation, Christian Beneke at training this week.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Christian has been back in training this week, so
Speaker 3: that's been fantastic, and so is Peglow and so is
Speaker 3: Jackson Hopkins. So you know, I talk about all those
Speaker 3: three guys at the same time because we've been this
Speaker 3: in those three guys for different periods of time. But
Speaker 3: it's it's fantastic. I have Christian fantastic, have Peglo fantastic.
Speaker 3: I have Jackson back in full training. The expectation for
Speaker 3: this weekend is hopefully they can be a part of
Speaker 3: the roster. There's still a little bit of a question
Speaker 3: mark there, so I don't want to fully commit to
Speaker 3: saying that they will be, but they've made really good
Speaker 3: progress this week, and I'm really optimistic about the weekend
Speaker 3: for them.
Speaker 1: So again, no guarantees about tomorrow against Nashville. Gain will
Speaker 1: have the broadcast for you at the seven fifteen. Our
Speaker 1: coverage starts on the iHeartRadio app and you can sync
Speaker 1: with Apple TV now. Bruce Murray, you were doing some math.
Speaker 1: You think DC and it needs twenty three out of
Speaker 1: forty five points to make the postseason? Is that correct,
Speaker 1: math professor?
Speaker 2: Yeah, based on last year and throwing an extra point in,
Speaker 2: I believe that there's forty five. Well, I know there's
Speaker 2: forty five points to play for, but I believe twenty
Speaker 2: three added up to their eighteen would get them over
Speaker 2: the finish line. And to me, if you look at
Speaker 2: that as a as a goal, it's doable. If you know,
Speaker 2: if you look at it like as oh, man, look
Speaker 2: what we've already not accomplished this year and being negative
Speaker 2: about it, then it's gonna it's gonna spread through the squad.
Speaker 2: I like the way I'm looking at it. I think
Speaker 2: Troy la saying feels the same way.
Speaker 3: Bruce. I appreciate that, man. I like optimism. I think
Speaker 3: it's much better than cynicism, which I think is far
Speaker 3: too prevalent. This and many things in our life right
Speaker 3: look at it with positivity because the opportunities there, and
Speaker 3: that's that's the approach that we're taking one hundred percent.
Speaker 3: So when I speak to individuals, when I speak to
Speaker 3: the team, we look at the reality of where we
Speaker 3: are right now, which of course we want to be better.
Speaker 3: But the reality of where we are right now is
Speaker 3: as we're twelfth in the table, we have fifteen matches left,
Speaker 3: seven out of the fifteen or against teams that are
Speaker 3: around us right now, so those those matches are going
Speaker 3: to be even more important. And we're a part of
Speaker 3: a quarterfinal cup competition that the club hasn't been a
Speaker 3: part of since twenty thirteen. So there's plenty of things
Speaker 3: in front of us right now that we need to
Speaker 3: look at. Last season we finished and we're a point
Speaker 3: shy of making the playoffs, and this is very disappointing.
Speaker 3: This it's still in front of us to accomplish that.
Speaker 3: If we can accomplish that target of making the playoffs,
Speaker 3: if we can accomplish making the from quarterfinals to semi
Speaker 3: finals in the Open Cup as a next step, that
Speaker 3: we're taking the right steps towards having success in twenty
Speaker 3: twenty five.
Speaker 1: Okay, you heard Troy was saying appreciating Bruce Murray's optimism,
Speaker 1: and he noted, you can point to certain moments of
Speaker 1: this season the DNA of this club, whether it's comeback
Speaker 1: wins or comeback ties. You know, Chicago jumps out when
Speaker 1: Jacob Rrole scored that wonder goal the win over f
Speaker 1: C Cincinnati. But consistency has eluded this team. And it's
Speaker 1: encouraging to hear that Ben Tech game Peglo Hopkins might
Speaker 1: be returning, but more over, Bruce, in your mind, regardless
Speaker 1: of who's playing, to get those twenty three points, how
Speaker 1: do you achieve that consistency?
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, you have to go out and go for it.
Speaker 2: You have to. There comes a certain time in the
Speaker 2: in the season where you say to yourself or a
Speaker 2: big game national team, look, you know what, I'm a professional.
Speaker 2: I have to go out there. I know what the
Speaker 2: coaches are telling me, and I have to stay within
Speaker 2: the program. But I also have to if I'm a
Speaker 2: guy who can take people on, I gotta take them on,
Speaker 2: even if it's two guys in front of me. I've
Speaker 2: got to do that. You know, i e. Jack McGlenn
Speaker 2: or or Quinn Sullivan type players wingers in this league.
Speaker 2: And I think that's what you have to the mentality
Speaker 2: you have. You stay within the program, but you got
Speaker 2: to go rogue at times during that in a big game,
Speaker 2: you gotta take chances. We have the same problem with
Speaker 2: the national team and everyone's playing it safe. It doesn't
Speaker 2: work right.
Speaker 1: So that that's a when we say sense of urgency,
Speaker 1: that really has to come from the players. It's not
Speaker 1: about raw ross speeches from the coaches. It has if
Speaker 1: I hear what you're saying, it has to come from
Speaker 1: how the players express themselves on the field.
Speaker 2: They do, That's exactly how it is. And the locker room.
Speaker 2: You know, there's if you want to talk about urgency,
Speaker 2: there's no you know, more urgent player on the field
Speaker 2: than Troy Lsay. I don't know if we watch him
Speaker 2: up and down the sideline, you know, he looks like
Speaker 2: a player out there. You know, the coach can't get
Speaker 2: it done. The players have to eventually, you know, come
Speaker 2: together and say, look, we're all pros here, we're good,
Speaker 2: we're talented players. Let's go out and let's start, you know,
Speaker 2: with one win and then let's start to stack him up,
Speaker 2: because all of a sudden, if you can do that,
Speaker 2: you know you get three or four in a row,
Speaker 2: or two or three in a row, that twenty three
Speaker 2: point goal gets closer and closer.
Speaker 1: Well, and that's why it's encouraging to hear a Peglow.
Speaker 1: And we don't know again if he's going to play
Speaker 1: against Nashville that he is coming back. Because when I
Speaker 1: think of players that you're talking about, I think you're
Speaker 1: describing it's a Peglow or are he's healthy a parani?
Speaker 1: I mean, we've seen his ability to seize moments and
Speaker 1: sees and change games.
Speaker 2: Well, I agree with you, Dave. If you think about
Speaker 2: the game back in New York, Uh we played Red
Speaker 2: Bull the first time. Peglow had two just ridiculous goals
Speaker 2: and you know he made he wasn't a difference. He
Speaker 2: won the game. And and so if Peglo is healthy,
Speaker 2: that's that's when one one part of being a really
Speaker 2: good player is somehow learning how to ride challenges stay healthy.
Speaker 2: He's a young player. Maybe he doesn't quite understand that yet,
Speaker 2: but I I there's just nothing but upside with Peglo.
Speaker 2: He's been fantastic.
Speaker 1: Uh. Randall Leal, you had a chance to speak to
Speaker 1: him this week. What was your takeaway from what what
Speaker 1: he was talking about from a player perspective, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Mean he's saying everything that we're saying right now. I
Speaker 2: just uh with with Leal. I can tell that he's
Speaker 2: on the cusp of being a full time player and
Speaker 2: they're trying to find him more time. In every game
Speaker 2: we play, Leal's in the lineup, He's coming in for
Speaker 2: you know, significant minutes.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: So they're putting uh the onus on Leal. I think
Speaker 2: he's got himself in better shape to be on us
Speaker 2: with you. I think you know, you can see the
Speaker 2: way the fitness, he's got more, He's got more air,
Speaker 2: more oxygen as the game goes on. So I think
Speaker 2: Leal is going to be one of those players that
Speaker 2: we're going to be relying on Dave because he's got
Speaker 2: great feet and he has great ideas. Right now, they're
Speaker 2: not quite coming off, but they will.
Speaker 1: Christian Vinzeki again might return. But again, it cannot be
Speaker 1: about Okay, Ben Tech is back, all the problems are solved.
Speaker 1: How how can this team? We talked about individual expression,
Speaker 1: but how can this team be you know, more dynamic
Speaker 1: and attack. And again the players take on initiative. Is
Speaker 1: is it, you know, overloading one side of the field.
Speaker 1: What what will make this team? Quite frankly, that was
Speaker 1: not very dynamic on the road against Real Salt Lake.
Speaker 1: Dynamic enough to to contend for the postseason.
Speaker 2: Very simple, very simple, executing plays in the final third.
Speaker 2: That's number one. The other thing is playing players open.
Speaker 2: When I watch right now, in the middle, you know,
Speaker 2: you know, Jose, you know, there's not a whole lot
Speaker 2: to pass to, so everyone's playing very very square or
Speaker 2: backwards in order to I watched a game yesterday. I
Speaker 2: know this is insane, but it was a twenty fourteen
Speaker 2: World Cup game Belgium, USA, and I watched that game
Speaker 2: and I thought, how like, how good we were playing
Speaker 2: players open? You know, we had wingers, we had full backs,
Speaker 2: we had guys who are making runs, initiating the ball
Speaker 2: to find them. That's what we have to do. You
Speaker 2: have to have movement, Dave. You've talked about it up top.
Speaker 2: We need players moving to create space so other players
Speaker 2: can fill in on that space.
Speaker 1: Well, you bring up the USA in that Belgium game
Speaker 1: from twenty fourteen again, DC and IED National art coverage
Speaker 1: begins at seven fifteen iHeart Radio app USA. Costa Rica
Speaker 1: is coming up this weekend in the quarterfinals of the
Speaker 1: Gold Cup. Give doctor Murray your prescription for the United
Speaker 1: States from what you've seen so far.
Speaker 2: Go out and go for it, and everyone is you're
Speaker 2: at You're in the US squad for a reason. Go
Speaker 2: out and just play within, within the system. But at
Speaker 2: some at some point, you're gonna have to do what
Speaker 2: you're good at doing and make sure that happens. Because
Speaker 2: this Costa Rica team, this is a good team.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: Uh, make no mistake. The game against Mexico the other day,
Speaker 2: you know, stalemate, we're celebrating big wins. Now against Haiti.
Speaker 2: Uh you know it's to me, to me, we need
Speaker 2: a signature win. And and there's only there's only one outcome.
Speaker 2: It's a it's a proper outcome or necessary outcome, and
Speaker 2: that is the United States winning the Gold Cup. Because
Speaker 2: if they don't, all the questions are gonna fly again.
Speaker 1: That's the Hall of Favorite. Bruce Brio. I'm Dave Johnson.
Speaker 1: I hope you'll join us for DC and IED on
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app and synk with Apple TV. We start seven
Speaker 1: to fifteen on Saturday. We promised eleven minutes or less
Speaker 1: your first eleven. Thanks for listening.