Speaker 1: Live today seven to seventy West Riverdale Road in Ogden,
Speaker 1: thirteenth Dannuel Memorial Day Weekend tenth sale.
Speaker 2: Come on by and say hello.
Speaker 1: We are giving away a really nice cooler, a Lone
Speaker 1: Mountain one ten qt cooler from Pittmaster Supplied Company in
Speaker 1: a draw name coming up at five o'clock. We'll get
Speaker 1: back to some college football storylines with Matt Brown. Do
Speaker 1: some NBA in the five o'clock hour. But let's switch
Speaker 1: gears now. Rayle saw Lake welcomes in. One of the
Speaker 1: best teams in Major League Soccer. Vancouver is the opponent
Speaker 1: coming up on Saturday. Our next guest chief soccer operator,
Speaker 1: technical director. He has several different titles, Kurt Schmidt, what
Speaker 1: is your preferred title? I guess I'll just ask you.
Speaker 1: Since I feel like I've got seven different answers, you.
Speaker 3: Can you can just call him a sporting director.
Speaker 2: That's the title, sporting director.
Speaker 1: Okay, Sporting director Kurt Schmidt on a Thursday afternoon. All right,
Speaker 1: some exciting news for Diego. I mean it means you
Speaker 1: guys are probably gonna miss him for a while. But
Speaker 1: Diego Luna called up to the US men's national.
Speaker 2: Team roster for the Gold Cup.
Speaker 1: Kurt, what does this mean for Diego and what does
Speaker 1: it mean for the club.
Speaker 3: It's it's obviously a huge, huge opportunity for Diego, and
Speaker 3: we're very excited for him.
Speaker 4: He's earned his work and his play.
Speaker 3: And to to have the level with both the national
Speaker 3: team and with US to catch the attention of the
Speaker 3: national coaching staff is massive for him. And you know,
Speaker 3: he knows every every chance he gets to impress is
Speaker 3: an important opportunity to grab and hold on to. So
Speaker 3: we're really excited for him here. He's earned it, he
Speaker 3: deserves it, and we hope he does really well.
Speaker 1: So from what I understand, players report June first, do
Speaker 1: you have well you probably know how long are you
Speaker 1: going to be without Diego?
Speaker 3: Basically the entire month of June and the first.
Speaker 4: Few days of July.
Speaker 2: Okay, so it's.
Speaker 3: A tournament, so of course at the on the US's advancement,
Speaker 3: but that's the end of the tournament.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: So the Gold Cup typically, and you'll have to educate
Speaker 1: me here just based off of my recollection, Like I
Speaker 1: can remember before Kyle or Nick and even Tony. I
Speaker 1: think Tony had a Gold Cup experience before you know,
Speaker 1: Kyle and Nick became consistent with the US men's national
Speaker 1: team involvement.
Speaker 2: The Gold Cup was kind of their first experience.
Speaker 1: Is it fair to say that this is just kind
Speaker 1: of more of an opportunity maybe for the staff with
Speaker 1: the US men's national team to get a look at
Speaker 1: some players that they wouldn't otherwise get a look at.
Speaker 1: Is that kind of fair to say?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think, I mean, it's like a obvious up to
Speaker 3: them to use it how they fit. But it is
Speaker 3: a really competitive environment in which they can test some
Speaker 3: guys who they haven't seen maybe at the highest level
Speaker 3: and their most important games at this stage. So yeah,
Speaker 3: it's it is a little bit, you know, I think
Speaker 3: experiment is maybe the wrong word, which is the word
Speaker 3: that almost almost was in my head, But it's something
Speaker 3: where they can let guys prove themselves essentially.
Speaker 1: So, Kurt, is it fair to say that you listen
Speaker 1: to this radio show for four hours every day and
Speaker 1: you never miss a moment?
Speaker 2: Is that fair to say?
Speaker 3: Are we being honest here? It would be nice?
Speaker 1: I'm only asking asked, did you have a chance to
Speaker 1: listen to your head coach on this radio show this week?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I didn't.
Speaker 3: I didn't listen to it live, but I was, I was,
Speaker 3: I was sent it later.
Speaker 2: Correct, Okay, fair enough.
Speaker 1: So I'm glad that somebody's sent it to you, and
Speaker 1: I guess it's it's my little Birdie, my little buddy,
Speaker 1: my little Birdie.
Speaker 2: I'm glad that it was sent to you.
Speaker 4: You know it? Yeah, you know?
Speaker 2: Fair enough? Fair enough, because I did want to get so.
Speaker 1: Pablo caught me entirely off guard with this, and my
Speaker 1: guess is you're aware of it, because I mean, hell,
Speaker 1: you run the show. But he hopped on and said
Speaker 1: that as a result of this new ownership change, he's
Speaker 1: been told that they're not really interested in moving on
Speaker 1: from younger players, and they're not interested in selling players
Speaker 1: that you guys have identified and developed.
Speaker 2: Now does that mean you'll never do it? Of course not.
Speaker 1: If somebody wants to write you a five hundred million
Speaker 1: dollar check for Diego, my guess is you're going to
Speaker 1: take that.
Speaker 2: But can you shed any light on what.
Speaker 1: Pablo articulated as a bit of an ethos change for
Speaker 1: the club now that they're new ownership in charge.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think. Look, every conversation.
Speaker 3: That I've had with with Uh. With new ownership has
Speaker 3: been really positive and they've been fantastic to work with,
Speaker 3: to talk to, spend time with. And what I think
Speaker 3: is fair to say is they're they're interested in making
Speaker 3: decisions that help us win. And and that's something that obviously,
Speaker 3: you know, myself and Pablo and everyone else in the
Speaker 3: front office is really excited to hear and we couldn't
Speaker 3: ask for anything more. So that obviously, you know, along
Speaker 3: with that, there's no absolutes.
Speaker 4: You know, we're not going.
Speaker 3: To say we'll never do this, We're always going to
Speaker 3: do that, et cetera, et cetera. You know, every situation
Speaker 3: presents a different set of variables, but the end result
Speaker 3: and the prison through which we need to look through
Speaker 3: those decisions is going to be does this help us win?
Speaker 3: Does this help us be successful on and off the field? Is?
Speaker 3: Does this help us become a team and a club
Speaker 3: that the community can be proud of?
Speaker 1: So how do you balance that, Kurt? And of course
Speaker 1: it's going to be case by case. And I was
Speaker 1: being facetious with a five hundred million dollar number for Diego,
Speaker 1: but there there is still a number, you know, there
Speaker 1: there's a number that exists for young players that make
Speaker 1: sense for the organization, even if the ethos is no longer,
Speaker 1: we identified develop and move on. So when it comes
Speaker 1: to your role, and then obviously you have Jason, and
Speaker 1: you have Tony, and you have your staff and the
Speaker 1: synergies with ownership, what are the dynamics that you balance
Speaker 1: when making these decisions even if the walking line now
Speaker 1: is we would refer to hang on to our better players.
Speaker 3: Analysis in terms of you know, when when an offers
Speaker 3: do come Look, I think in an MLS, you know,
Speaker 3: and obviously this happened last year with Andreskomaz. I think
Speaker 3: when when when someone comes in and offers a significant
Speaker 3: enough value for or some of your better players, you know,
Speaker 3: it does become difficult to turn those things down. It
Speaker 3: maybe becomes more a question of when and not if
Speaker 3: in those scenarios, because it's because if you're if you
Speaker 3: get an offer that represents something that you feel is
Speaker 3: you know, exceeds the player's current value, that you might
Speaker 3: not you know, if if if I.
Speaker 4: Wouldn't sell him for ten million.
Speaker 3: Well then I'm essentially making this in that I'm buying
Speaker 3: him for ten million. And so if if that's not
Speaker 3: something we're comfortable with, then we feel we can deploy
Speaker 3: those resources across two players, or we can you know,
Speaker 3: spend those resources in other parts of the roster. Then yeah,
Speaker 3: we still make those decisions. But like I said, I
Speaker 3: think in the future of those decision points, maybe you know,
Speaker 3: they could be they can be a when and not
Speaker 3: an if. And I think if we receive offers for
Speaker 3: guys that you know we don't feel value the player
Speaker 3: appro quickly and don't really let us both replace the
Speaker 3: player and end up ahead in some way, those those
Speaker 3: things don't make sense for us.
Speaker 1: So as it pertains to the way this could potentially
Speaker 1: relate to Diego. Obviously, his star has just shot through
Speaker 1: the roof over the past counter year, and he's still
Speaker 1: so young, with so much potential. I wonder if you
Speaker 1: could shed any light to the fan base and folks
Speaker 1: that are just badly hoping and he stays here for
Speaker 1: as long as possible about what this potential shift in
Speaker 1: mindset could mean for the decisions that you have to
Speaker 1: make for him.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think if if you're someone that does want
Speaker 3: him to stay here as long as possible. His success
Speaker 3: with the national team is phenomenal because of the proximity
Speaker 3: to the World Cup and the chances that he's getting
Speaker 3: right now with the national team while playing for US.
Speaker 3: You know, if I'm Diego, I'm thinking how can I
Speaker 3: keep doing this? Not how can I change everything? Because
Speaker 3: obviously what's what he's done up to this point has
Speaker 3: gotten him into this opportunity, and as you're heading into
Speaker 3: an important tournament or important series of national team games,
Speaker 3: you know, him playing as much as possible, at as
Speaker 3: high level as possible is the best thing for him,
Speaker 3: right And one thing that I think he's got going
Speaker 3: for him.
Speaker 4: Even relative over and.
Speaker 3: Above what some of the other other players in the
Speaker 3: pool might have, is is the level of responsibility he
Speaker 3: has within our team. And I think that's that's a
Speaker 3: little bit of a unique thing for maybe this national
Speaker 3: team pool that Diego has, I think in his favor.
Speaker 3: So the level of responsibility that he has within our
Speaker 3: club and our team is maybe a bit higher than
Speaker 3: some other guys that might be at bigger clubs that
Speaker 3: might have a really different role. And how that changes
Speaker 3: when you go to the national team and what you're
Speaker 3: asking of those players in that environment, you know, are
Speaker 3: they ready to give that? Well, Diego, someone that's shown
Speaker 3: that you can rely upon him, he can take that responsibility,
Speaker 3: and so I think him continuing to do that is
Speaker 3: obviously going to put him in the best position to
Speaker 3: succeed with with us in the national fame.
Speaker 1: And when it comes to the decision as far as
Speaker 1: you know, either sending him on his way or keeping
Speaker 1: him here, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm not in the meetings.
Speaker 1: I mean you're behind closed doors, like with the new
Speaker 1: ownership transition and this supposed new mindset. Do you guys
Speaker 1: like identify a number that if a club calls and says, Okay,
Speaker 1: this is what we're willing to do, and that number
Speaker 1: is hit. It's that simple. Is it a synergistic conversation
Speaker 1: with his reps? Obviously if he wants to go, and
Speaker 1: you guys have shown this with other players, if you
Speaker 1: do not want to be here, then you know, best
Speaker 1: of luck elsewhere. But when it comes to the dynamics
Speaker 1: intertwined in a very very big decision for the club
Speaker 1: in Diego Luna, what would you say to that based
Speaker 1: off of conversations you've had with with the ownership group.
Speaker 3: Yeah, look, each situation requires something a little bit different,
Speaker 3: you know, and I know there are some scenarios in
Speaker 3: which you know, just just name me a number and say, hey,
Speaker 3: look we will we'll work with you and if we
Speaker 3: get actual, let you go. But I'm whether you believe
Speaker 3: this or not, I'm maybe a very collaborative person. And
Speaker 3: so I find working working, as you said, synergistically, which
Speaker 3: I hope is a word with the agent and the
Speaker 3: player and ownership obviously is the best way to go
Speaker 3: about it, and to find a pathway that is a
Speaker 3: win win win, Kurt.
Speaker 1: When you do radio four hours a day, five days
Speaker 1: a week, you invent words and you don't even think
Speaker 1: twice about it, buddy. So if it's a word, great,
Speaker 1: If it's not, I feel like it works and what.
Speaker 3: Do you need it? So that's going to mean something.
Speaker 1: And by the way, what do you mean, believe it
Speaker 1: or not? That was like a personal shot.
Speaker 2: I believe you. I believe you to be a collaborator.
Speaker 3: I've I've had a lot of meetings the last few days.
Speaker 3: But so yeah, but no, I'm a collaborator. I I
Speaker 3: I lean on my staff here a lot, Tony Jason,
Speaker 3: you mentioned you know, John Spencer, Louke, Maulhall, and Joe Thomas.
Speaker 3: These guys, are are massive helps for me and and
Speaker 3: in the day to day and the things that I
Speaker 3: do obviously over over and above you know, Poplo and
Speaker 3: the coaching staff and and everyone is the sports staff.
Speaker 3: So yes, very very collaborative here.
Speaker 2: Do you lean on Trey for anything that's real?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 3: Sometimes physically, but but no, just.
Speaker 2: Picturing Tray is great.
Speaker 3: Trade Tray is great, and and him coordinating with with
Speaker 3: you guys and and being uh.
Speaker 4: Trey is uh, you know.
Speaker 3: A strong, strong advocate both for the club and it's
Speaker 3: players and employees. And I appreciate him for that.
Speaker 1: That's enough, good, good talk of Trey. That's we've made
Speaker 1: his weekend.
Speaker 2: That's enough.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like you need to lean on me
Speaker 1: for anything more during your decision making processes?
Speaker 3: You know what, I will give that some serious thought
Speaker 3: and come back to you.
Speaker 1: Okay, fair enough, all right, So Diego will be gone
Speaker 1: for a month plus and as you reference, if the
Speaker 1: US advances and does well in the tournament, could be more.
Speaker 1: I don't have to tell you when Diego doesn't score,
Speaker 1: the goals are hard to come by.
Speaker 2: So how are we going to turn this around? Buddy?
Speaker 2: I mean, ultimately, Pablo also reference, like, look, the group
Speaker 2: is the group.
Speaker 1: He was very honest about his opinion that you guys
Speaker 1: are a couple of editions away from being elite.
Speaker 2: But of course those additions.
Speaker 1: Can't come for a while until the summer transfer windows open.
Speaker 2: And I believe we're approaching two hundred and fifty minutes.
Speaker 1: Without a goal, so what gives. Obviously the offense is
Speaker 1: not where it needs to be.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's fair to say. I'm not gonna
Speaker 3: sit here and deny that and when when it's in
Speaker 3: black and white. But what I can say is, you know,
Speaker 3: in Pablo said this a time, so this isn't you know,
Speaker 3: breaking the ground. But obviously I think, you know, in
Speaker 3: a lot of these games, I think we do really
Speaker 3: well from box box, We do really well in the builds,
Speaker 3: base and getting into the final third, and where we
Speaker 3: struggle is is in that execution and those decisions making,
Speaker 3: you know, in and around the goal. And obviously that's
Speaker 3: the important part when you're talking about scoring goals, and
Speaker 3: that's the thing we need to work on. So at
Speaker 3: the same time as it's disappointing that we're not finishing
Speaker 3: those chances in the.
Speaker 4: Final third, you know, it's important.
Speaker 3: That we remain positive about the play.
Speaker 4: Up until that point.
Speaker 3: And and what it I think helps us realize or
Speaker 3: get to is, you know, hey, look, this isn't this
Speaker 3: isn't the you know, a massive shifts that needs to
Speaker 3: happen to change everything, to throw the baby out with
Speaker 3: the bath water. There are a lot of positive things happening,
Speaker 3: and so now how do we get that last five
Speaker 3: or ten percent? And that's you know, that's what that's
Speaker 3: that's why Pablo is where he's at because because his
Speaker 3: job is to work with those guys and to get
Speaker 3: that out of him. And you know, whether it's a
Speaker 3: few new signings or these guys or whoever it is,
Speaker 3: you know, pablo job is always to get you know, five, ten,
Speaker 3: fifteen percent more out of out of the players than
Speaker 3: maybe even they think they have. And I think, I
Speaker 3: think you can do that. And I think it's just
Speaker 3: about polishing up from on a team team wise standpoint,
Speaker 3: our execution in the final third. So you know, that's
Speaker 3: obviously what the staff is working on and you know,
Speaker 3: hopefully we see the fruits of that labor.
Speaker 1: Excuse me, So from what I have in front of me,
Speaker 1: a secondary transfer window opens on July twenty fourth and
Speaker 1: closes on August twenty excuse me, August twenty fifth. So
Speaker 1: with those dates, when you look at the potential, let's
Speaker 1: just operate off a really fun hypothetical curtain. Put zero
Speaker 1: pressure on you and your staff. If you sign somebody
Speaker 1: on July twenty fourth, the first day possible, that gives
Speaker 1: you thirteen matches and ten league matches left. Now that's
Speaker 1: not nothing. It's not the entire season, but it's also
Speaker 1: not nothing. Help our listeners, and quite frankly me understand
Speaker 1: the processes put in place between now and July twenty
Speaker 1: fourth to potentially bring in the reinforcements that a lot
Speaker 1: of people thought you were going to bring in during
Speaker 1: the primary transfer window. To do that in the secondary
Speaker 1: transfer window, is it even realistic to expect that maybe
Speaker 1: the day that it opens, we could have some reinforcements
Speaker 1: on the way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I think that. You know, one of
Speaker 3: the most important things that I that I think is
Speaker 3: maybe missing from that thought process or or mind of reasoning,
Speaker 3: is is that you know, we can't be consistently thinking
Speaker 3: in short term, you know, with short term mindset, and
Speaker 3: so you know we can't we can't see the results
Speaker 3: right now, and you know, make a rass decision as well.
Speaker 3: Let's just do this. Hopefully this will help us in
Speaker 3: August and September and you know, and then we'll deal
Speaker 3: with the rest of it later. I think it's important
Speaker 3: that we continue to make good long term decisions and
Speaker 3: not and not be focused on the short term. But
Speaker 3: that being said, obviously that doesn't mean we're not looking
Speaker 3: to add.
Speaker 4: A piece in summer. We are.
Speaker 3: It is realistic, and we want to make sure that
Speaker 3: we find the right guy that can fit in and
Speaker 3: that is here for not six months or eighteen months,
Speaker 3: but many years, right and is a difference maker for
Speaker 3: us for many years because you know, hey, I don't
Speaker 3: you know, I don't need to go looking for a
Speaker 3: difference maker every window. That'd be a great thing. But
Speaker 3: but again, beyond that, it's the process, which is what
Speaker 3: you asked about, and you know it. And it's a
Speaker 3: little bit of just a continuation of what we did
Speaker 3: in the winter, you know, which which obviously we weren't
Speaker 3: able to get towed in over the line in time.
Speaker 3: But now as you get into the summer window in
Speaker 3: Europe and we're able to you know, get out a
Speaker 3: little bit more scouting over the past few weeks and
Speaker 3: see Seymour guys live and we broaden our our net
Speaker 3: and and Seymore players in summer window in Europe means
Speaker 3: there's more guys that are available, whether that's free transfers
Speaker 3: or GUIDs that are just on the move in the
Speaker 3: European offseason, and so the pool of players that we're
Speaker 3: looking at is a lot bigger. So you know, I
Speaker 3: think the the odds of or the chances or the
Speaker 3: ease of which doing a deal becomes becomes.
Speaker 4: A lot better.
Speaker 1: You know, once upon a time, Kurt, in MLS, you
Speaker 1: could piece together a team with you know, teams or
Speaker 1: players that weren't necessarily among the highest paid in MLS.
Speaker 1: And you know, before we had this massive economic boom
Speaker 1: of owners being willing to write checks for millions of
Speaker 1: dollars sometimes for bid pieces. You can win a Cup
Speaker 1: in two thousand and nine with a roster that wasn't
Speaker 1: necessarily among the highest paid. Of course, that's changed, and
Speaker 1: that's good. It indicates growth, It indicates economic and investment.
Speaker 1: And now I just don't think there's any other way
Speaker 1: to put it other than if you're going to be
Speaker 1: one of the best teams in MLS, you have to
Speaker 1: have an ownership group that is willing to economically invest
Speaker 1: in the roster.
Speaker 2: I've just asked you.
Speaker 1: Have you received assurances from this ownership group that they
Speaker 1: are willing to write checks for good players to help
Speaker 1: this team grow in the right direction.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and look, obviously that's that's a really important question.
Speaker 3: And you know, I'll say, nobody comes to you and says,
Speaker 3: here's a blank check, do whatever you want with it, right,
Speaker 3: But like I said earlier, you know, they've they've come
Speaker 3: to be and we've had really positive meetings and conversations
Speaker 3: about this, and they said, look, you know, find the
Speaker 3: right guy that can help the team win, and that
Speaker 3: can create a team that can be a difference maker
Speaker 3: on the team and help us be a club you
Speaker 3: know that represents the community. Well, and we'll we'll get
Speaker 3: that done. So you know, what do I take that
Speaker 3: to mean. You know, again, it's not a it's not
Speaker 3: a blank check. And you know you mentioned how things used.
Speaker 4: To be an MLS.
Speaker 3: I think you know the rules in MLS still necessity
Speaker 3: efficiency and you've got to be efficient with your roster
Speaker 3: build and your roster spend or you won't be successful
Speaker 3: even if you are spending millions at the top end,
Speaker 3: you know, and you can look at some teams in
Speaker 3: the league now that are that are exhibiting that when
Speaker 3: you look at you know, teams like Atlanta and Toronto
Speaker 3: who have spent a lot of money sort of at
Speaker 3: the top end of their roster, but you know, aren't
Speaker 3: achieving the results that they'd like with that spend as well.
Speaker 3: So efficiency is important. You mentioned even Vancouver at the top,
Speaker 3: our next opponent. You know, they're not a team that's
Speaker 3: spending ten, fifteen to twenty million on transfer fees and
Speaker 3: salaries for players and are are doing quite well.
Speaker 4: So so you know, my goal.
Speaker 3: My job is obviously to be as efficient as possible,
Speaker 3: not just you know, spend as much money as I
Speaker 3: can possibly spend to see if you know we can
Speaker 3: we can win the most up. It's how do we
Speaker 3: build the right team and put the right pieces together
Speaker 3: so that we can be efficient and compete year in,
Speaker 3: year out. And and again you you quoted Pablo, I
Speaker 3: don't think we're eleven players away from that, right, I
Speaker 3: think we're one or two different makers away from from
Speaker 3: being back where where where we were pretty successful last year.
Speaker 2: I know Diogo picked up a knock.
Speaker 1: How healthy are you guys leading into the match coming
Speaker 1: up on Saturday against a very good Vancouver side.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's uh, that's still there. But as far as
Speaker 3: the rest of the injury report, I think guys are
Speaker 3: slowly starting to come off of it, Guys like Kobe
Speaker 3: and Brian Arra. You know, Phil Quinn has been in
Speaker 3: the twenty as well. Like those guys are starting to
Speaker 3: come back in you know, which is really good. But yes,
Speaker 3: Diogo's still that is knocked. So these day to day more.
Speaker 1: Or less, can you guarantee multiple goals on Saturday night?
Speaker 3: Oh? I can guarantee nothing. But but I think but
Speaker 3: what I've seen in training, what I've seen in training
Speaker 3: is is really positive and really encouraging. And you know,
Speaker 3: I think, I think again, even in games when we
Speaker 3: haven't scored, I think we've been we've been created, we've
Speaker 3: we've had some good chances. Sometimes it always doesn't always
Speaker 3: redown to things like like goals obviously, which is important,
Speaker 3: or even XG because you've got to take a shot
Speaker 3: to end up with with some XG and sometimes we
Speaker 3: don't end up getting quite there either. But I'm actually
Speaker 3: very encouraged with what I've seen in training this last week.
Speaker 3: And and you know, the team that we're gonna put
Speaker 3: on the field, I think is going to be exciting
Speaker 3: and and you know, exciting an attack, but hopefully you
Speaker 3: have the same solidity in the back and able to
Speaker 3: to keep the team to a minimums chances.
Speaker 1: All right, before I say you lose one more thing,
Speaker 1: Apparently Gozo graduated high school today, which is kind of
Speaker 1: mind blowing. I don't need to ask you about his diploma,
Speaker 1: but I feel like you got some with this kid, Kurt.
Speaker 2: There's something there.
Speaker 1: And look, I'm no expert, I'm no scout, so I
Speaker 1: will leave the particulars to you. But what sort of
Speaker 1: potential do you think this kid has when it's fully baked,
Speaker 1: when it's fully formed? What do you think this looks
Speaker 1: like with this young man?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean another good question. Look, I think you
Speaker 3: can find talent all over the place, and there's obviously
Speaker 3: a lot of different skills or speed. There is one
Speaker 3: to you one ability of technical ability. You know you
Speaker 3: can you know, heading into whatever it is. One's one defending.
Speaker 3: Guys can have different skills. That's different talents. You need one,
Speaker 3: you know, what we call either an elite talent or
Speaker 3: a superpower or something like that, something that can carry
Speaker 3: you and make you stand out even at the highest level. Still,
Speaker 3: you know, with someone like Gozo, I think, you know,
Speaker 3: and this is this is maybe why he progressed quickly,
Speaker 3: but it's it is obviously his speed and his work
Speaker 3: rate is something that even at the MLS level right
Speaker 3: helps him stand out even when some other things maybe
Speaker 3: aren't quite as polished as you want them to be.
Speaker 4: He's still bringing the.
Speaker 3: Pace and the energy and the work rate, and that's
Speaker 3: that's adding value and creating a lot of positivity. The
Speaker 3: one thing that I think it's overlooked as a talent,
Speaker 3: and I think that I've always valued and and find
Speaker 3: and the guys that really are successful at younger ages
Speaker 3: and are successful for a long time, they have this
Speaker 3: which you know sounds maybe a little basic, but it's adaptability.
Speaker 3: And you know, Gozo, I've seen Gozo's you know, grow
Speaker 3: up here essentially, which is crazy, but you know, he
Speaker 3: came in with the U fifteens and was one of
Speaker 3: the top players and it was kind of like, all right, well,
Speaker 3: let's see how he does when he gets to the
Speaker 3: next age group and he's playing a year up, and
Speaker 3: he does that, and he adapts really quickly, and he's
Speaker 3: one of the better players there. It's like, all right,
Speaker 3: well then let's see how he doesn't monarchs, and he
Speaker 3: does that. It's like now it's the first team. So
Speaker 3: his ability to adapt quickly at every level is something that's,
Speaker 3: you know, for me, is one of the special things
Speaker 3: about Goozo and and you know, adaptability is maybe another
Speaker 3: way of saying something that that again I think Pablo
Speaker 3: says a lot, which is, you know, someone's learning here,
Speaker 3: someone's ability to learn to receive information and incorporate into
Speaker 3: their game. You know, if you can't do that, you
Speaker 3: can't adapt quickly. So his ability to do that is
Speaker 3: obviously very good. And so for me, yeah, I'm I'm
Speaker 3: really encouraged by by that trait that he has. And
Speaker 3: I think when players have that, you can't really you know,
Speaker 3: you shouldn't put a ceiling on them because that they
Speaker 3: can keep going and you know, you're just gonna look
Speaker 3: dumb if you cap it too early, because because they're going,
Speaker 3: they're gonna surprise you.
Speaker 4: And so those was a great kid.
Speaker 3: So I couldn't be happier for him as a person,
Speaker 3: but he's a good player with a bright future ahead
Speaker 3: of him.
Speaker 2: Court thank you, my friend.
Speaker 1: You approached this conversation very synergistically, so I appreciate the time.
Speaker 1: Have a great weekend and best of luck Saturday. Okay,
Speaker 1: thank you, Sir Kurt Schmidt, RSL Technical Director, Sporting Director,
Speaker 1: Chief soccer Officer.
Speaker 2: What happened