Speaker 1: So first off, did you have the final four? Did
Speaker 1: you have this final four as your final four in
Speaker 1: the Gold Cup?
Speaker 2: No, definitely not. I did think the US of Mexico
Speaker 2: would make it, but I also thought Canada and Panama
Speaker 2: would be there. I mean, look, I said there was
Speaker 2: the Tuesday last week, the final group day of B
Speaker 2: and C, the Canada group and the Panama group. To
Speaker 2: put it sort of where people might actually understand. I
Speaker 2: thought that that was either going to be concer chaos
Speaker 2: or chalk just boring. Hey, it's what we expect, and
Speaker 2: it was basically not boring. Necessarily, there were some good games,
Speaker 2: but it was basically what we expected, right, and then
Speaker 2: the quarterfinals working chaos, that was not what we expected.
Speaker 2: All three of the matches involved teams go to penalties,
Speaker 2: and the Mexico Saudi Arabia match, which involves a guest
Speaker 2: team Saudi Arabia. I'm not sure they really want to
Speaker 2: be here. The government wants them to be here, but
Speaker 2: do the players after a long summer, does the coach
Speaker 2: after you know, going to the next round in Asian
Speaker 2: qualification instead of qualifying directly. Probably not. I mean they
Speaker 2: went to some nice like San Diego Austin and northern California.
Speaker 2: There are worse places in the US to visit. But yeah,
Speaker 2: but when you look at this quarter the quarterfinals, I
Speaker 2: look like, over and over again, I think those of
Speaker 2: US who keep track of CONCCAFF and look at our region,
Speaker 2: I think we just kind of you almost end up
Speaker 2: feeling like, hey, maybe the critics are right and it's
Speaker 2: just the US and Mexico and even Canada maybe can't
Speaker 2: get it done. But then you look and you say, well,
Speaker 2: every team that was playing another CONCACAFT team held extremely tight,
Speaker 2: played a great game. And then Ondudas and Guatemala, two
Speaker 2: teams that have not been to this stage, in Honduras's
Speaker 2: case since twenty thirteen and Guatemala's case since nineteen ninety six,
Speaker 2: all of a sudden are back on this kind of
Speaker 2: big stage, in this final four. And even if you
Speaker 2: end up with the US Mexico final and people say, oh,
Speaker 2: the Gold Cup always ends up like this, I think
Speaker 2: you can still totally reasonably say, yeah, but we enjoyed
Speaker 2: the ride. You know, so I thought it was a
Speaker 2: special quarterfinal round and not at all what I had forecast.
Speaker 1: So Guatemala, what does this mean for the evolution of
Speaker 1: their program and where it is to be back here
Speaker 1: in the first time in almost three decades.
Speaker 2: I mean, and even even in three decades ago. You know,
Speaker 2: you're talking about a Gold Cup that was just so
Speaker 2: wildly different. You know. Now we talk about this tournament
Speaker 2: that this year is smaller because it's only taking place
Speaker 2: west of the Mississippi. But in nineteen ninety six it
Speaker 2: took place in Anaheim, La and San Diego, and it
Speaker 2: was all in January and there were only nine teams.
Speaker 2: So you're just talking about a different idea. Really, this
Speaker 2: has never been done before by Guatemala. The other thing
Speaker 2: that they've never done before is made the World Cup,
Speaker 2: and that's been the focus for Luis Fernando Thena, the
Speaker 2: Mexican manager, since he arrived in twenty twenty one, late
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one, and so this is almost like
Speaker 2: a happy footnote. You know, this is almost like I
Speaker 2: just think that the momentum that they generate from this tournament,
Speaker 2: even if they lose handily tomorrow against the US, you know,
Speaker 2: it's gonna give them a lot of confidence. In the
Speaker 2: toughest group of World Cup qualification. The format is that
Speaker 2: there are three groups of four teams. The top team goes.
Speaker 2: The two teams that are best ranked a little confusing
Speaker 2: in second place go to a playoff. So I think
Speaker 2: that they feel good about keeping that dream alive now
Speaker 2: and just being in this stage means a huge amount
Speaker 2: to Guatemala. You know, it's the biggest country in Central
Speaker 2: America by some margin, and I think in the US
Speaker 2: we sort of almost overlook the migrant community of Guatemalan's
Speaker 2: in the US because we talk about Mexican immigrants, even
Speaker 2: on Gordon immigrants El Salvadora Salvadoran immigrants. But as we've
Speaker 2: seen at the Gold Cup, there are huge amounts of
Speaker 2: Guatemalan people that live in this country, that travel to
Speaker 2: this country, that are excited about this team. They've been
Speaker 2: showing up at all the stadiums. I don't think that
Speaker 2: Guatemalan team themselves thought there would be anyone in Minnesota,
Speaker 2: and yet they're worth thousands and so, you know, I
Speaker 2: just think that it's a really special moment for this team,
Speaker 2: but also the culmination of a process. You know, there
Speaker 2: are very few countries that make the semi finals of
Speaker 2: their continental tournament. However easy or difficult you want to say,
Speaker 2: that it is without some sort of long term plan,
Speaker 2: and when you look at what Tenna has done to
Speaker 2: empower some of the local players, but also to bring
Speaker 2: in some of the US born recruits, make sure that
Speaker 2: team meshes, make sure there's good synchrony there. I think
Speaker 2: has been really smart in a way. You say it's
Speaker 2: not a surprise for manager that's won a gold medal
Speaker 2: with Mexico. That was a long time ago, and I
Speaker 2: think there are some real criticisms about how he managed
Speaker 2: that his last couple of the gamechi stops. But now
Speaker 2: he's got this Guatemala team in the semi finals in
Speaker 2: believing that they might be able to make the World
Speaker 2: Cup for the first time ever, which would just be
Speaker 2: huge in this region. You know, if they're back in
Speaker 2: the US next summer. We think the crowds are good
Speaker 2: this summer, they'll go crazy next year.
Speaker 1: Who is the biggest disappointment in this tournament to date
Speaker 1: so far.
Speaker 2: Well, until Sunday, it was pretty clearly Jamaica. Right until
Speaker 2: Sunday was pretty clearly Jamaica. Because Jamaica, with their project
Speaker 2: and their new recruits, everyone thinks that all that that
Speaker 2: they can do it. Steve McLaren not exactly an experienced manager.
Speaker 2: Literally coached England, right and all of a sudden he's
Speaker 2: coaching Jamaica and they can't get out of the group
Speaker 2: stage and they didn't. They beat wat a loop, so
Speaker 2: they ended with three points, but they didn't even look
Speaker 2: like they were going to get those. But I have
Speaker 2: to say that after Sunday, even though it's a difficult
Speaker 2: result and they played better than Jamaica did in any
Speaker 2: of their games, Canada has to be a huge disappointment.
Speaker 2: They drew with Currasau in the group stage, that kind
Speaker 2: of overcame, that survived it. But to me, when we
Speaker 2: talked about Canada after the Nation's League, John, it's like, well, okay,
Speaker 2: that's cool that they had two good games and they
Speaker 2: beat the US in the third place game, but the
Speaker 2: standard for Canada has to be trophies at this point
Speaker 2: and they didn't come close to it. Right, They're not
Speaker 2: in the semifinals, they didn't get out of the quarterfinals.
Speaker 2: They didn't particularly close, and I think that, you know,
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe it's not fair that they didn't look close,
Speaker 2: you know, if that game goes differently with that with
Speaker 2: the red card to Schaffelberg. I think you're probably talking
Speaker 2: about Canada and the Semis. You're probably talking about US Canada.
Speaker 2: But the fact that that that standard has to exist
Speaker 2: now for Canada to be that much higher. And then
Speaker 2: the way I like Jesse Marsh. I like that he
Speaker 2: sort of enjoys to poke the bear, it seems. But
Speaker 2: when you poke the bear, you set yourself up to
Speaker 2: having these moments where it looks a little silly. When
Speaker 2: you said before the tournament that everyone wanted to be here,
Speaker 2: and then after the tournament when you get eliminated at
Speaker 2: the quarterfinal stage, you say, ah, but I didn't have
Speaker 2: my old team. It doesn't really square. I think that Bombito,
Speaker 2: the center back was the most important absence in Canada.
Speaker 2: That's one that people didn't really talk about because you
Speaker 2: end up starting a teenage kid who you know, bummer
Speaker 2: for him, doesn't convert his penalty. You know, these things happen,
Speaker 2: and think that when when the squad isn't as deep
Speaker 2: as you need it to be. In Canada's still in
Speaker 2: that process, especially at the back of who are the
Speaker 2: better players going to be? You know, you set yourselves
Speaker 2: up for these situations. So I think Canada's probably the
Speaker 2: biggest disappointment, but Jamaica's right there as well.
Speaker 1: I was gonna ask what you thought about this whole
Speaker 1: Jesse marsh heel promo wrestling villain, dropping pipe bombs and
Speaker 1: waving his finger at the US kind of persona that
Speaker 1: he's developed these days.
Speaker 2: I kind of think it's fun. Man, look like I'm
Speaker 2: I'm I'm in like a weird space of like both
Speaker 2: being of the generation that enjoys like you know, like
Speaker 2: Jose Marinos Special One TV was like one of the
Speaker 2: first things I remember consuming a soccer content to like
Speaker 2: marionette of Jose with the outsized personality, but you know,
Speaker 2: he became this sort of like God where you're just like, man,
Speaker 2: it's so funny that he's always trying to stick his
Speaker 2: finger in the eye of the others. I watch a
Speaker 2: lot of Latin American soccer, as you know, there's a
Speaker 2: lot of character is like that in Latin American soccer,
Speaker 2: and I kind of think that in the US, in Canada, kind.
Speaker 1: Of in.
Speaker 2: English speaking North America, I think we could use more
Speaker 2: of that. So overall, I sort of enjoy it, but
Speaker 2: I think like part of the risk you run when
Speaker 2: you are a wrestling heel is that when the face
Speaker 2: takes you down, everyone really celebrates it, right, And I
Speaker 2: think that Jesse's a smart enough guy to know that.
Speaker 2: And I think he's smart enough to understands what he's doing,
Speaker 2: you know, and I don't. And maybe if you had
Speaker 2: him sit down on the record on your show, he
Speaker 2: would kind of wink, wink, nudge nudge past it. But
Speaker 2: I think you know, you inject him with tru Saram.
Speaker 2: He knows exactly what he's doing, and I think he's
Speaker 2: smart enough to manage it. But he's also going to
Speaker 2: knows that he's gonna have to take his lumps when
Speaker 2: the team has a disappointing performance like they did on Sunday.
Speaker 1: So if Jesse Marsh is the iron chic and that
Speaker 1: makes Murcia Pochettino Hulk Hogan, what have you thought about
Speaker 1: the US where they have problems up top, but they're
Speaker 1: still finding ways to push through at the end of
Speaker 1: the day to get to the semis.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I don't think you can play like that.
Speaker 2: I am a real Limerrikan for Pochettino, right, even though
Speaker 2: he he seems to have a little bit of I
Speaker 2: don't know, he made a weird joke about wanting to
Speaker 2: get invited to the White House, So maybe I don't know,
Speaker 2: Maybe we don't know exactly where his politics are unlike Hogan.
Speaker 2: But you know, on the field, I think the US
Speaker 2: has been okay. I in a way, like after that
Speaker 2: game against Costa Rica, Bochettino said like, hey, these are
Speaker 2: the experiences that we need, and I think he's right.
Speaker 2: You know, when you talk about this, the tournament kind
Speaker 2: of fundamentally changed for me before it started, where for
Speaker 2: many years in the US, I think this tournament had
Speaker 2: been built up as the men's national team's test run
Speaker 2: for the World Cup. But the Club World Cup takes
Speaker 2: two players three players from you Blissit pulls out the injuries,
Speaker 2: however serious they are or not mean you're playing with
Speaker 2: alternate fullbacks and alternate forward. So you know, all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, this changes from a goal cup of must
Speaker 2: take it seriously and win two Ah. Now we are
Speaker 2: in this sort of proto development mode that the Gold
Speaker 2: Cup is served for a long time. Who are the
Speaker 2: players that will impress? Who will in a roster spot?
Speaker 2: And when that tournament fundamentally changes, the mandate becomes like
Speaker 2: like Porchettino says, we need these experiences, not we need
Speaker 2: to win convincingly, and and they're getting the experience. I
Speaker 2: think the important thing is to learn from the experiences.
Speaker 2: If the US rides their luck again in that in
Speaker 2: the in the game against Suatemala and gets through another
Speaker 2: penalty shootout, perhaps they didn't learn the lessons they needed
Speaker 2: to learn from the Costa Rica game. But I think
Speaker 2: time is going to tell about those those results. Forward scoring, creativity,
Speaker 2: the things that I think they're looking worse at right now,
Speaker 2: asides from whatever it is Max Arfson is doing, sometimes
Speaker 2: being great and sometimes being yeah, you know. Aside from that,
Speaker 2: I think you're right in saying, like, hey, the forward,
Speaker 2: the attack, the goal scoring has been sort of the
Speaker 2: most confusing and inconsistent part. Again, like in theory, you say, well,
Speaker 2: Baligan's the first forward on your team sheet in the
Speaker 2: World Cup, Ricardo Pepsi's your second. Maybe Azamon who's starting
Speaker 2: this tournament is the third. But I don't know that
Speaker 2: it's reason for long term worry. And I think it's
Speaker 2: sort of a credit to por Chatino and his staff
Speaker 2: that they are getting this group as far as they're
Speaker 2: getting them it's easy to pencil them into the final.
Speaker 2: They're clearly not there yet. But if they make the
Speaker 2: final and lose to Mexico, I think you say successful
Speaker 2: tournament learning experience. Again with the kind of caveat, you
Speaker 2: actually have to learn from your learning experiences because if
Speaker 2: you don't apply the lesson, oh he.
Speaker 1: Froze up, we'll sit with it. Hang on, John Arnold,
Speaker 1: get conca caft on substack, and it is mandatory subscriptions
Speaker 1: to get this, so basically it is getting concacaft. Get
Speaker 1: concacaft dot sub stack dot com. You can catch up
Speaker 1: with John that way and you can find out anything
Speaker 1: and everything going on in concacap. I do have another
Speaker 1: couple of questions for John when he comes back and
Speaker 1: tell you what, let me let me do this, because
Speaker 1: he has frozen, so I will remove him temporarily. And
Speaker 1: my guess is someone tried to call him on whatever
Speaker 1: device he's on, and so, uh, he's going to be
Speaker 1: dialing back in at any moment, So tell you what,
Speaker 1: let me let me do this. I'm going to remove
Speaker 1: him and hope that the uh that the madness comes
Speaker 1: back in and hopefully you guys can still see me.
Speaker 1: I mean that would be a good thing. So hopefully
Speaker 1: the transmission on my end is still okay. But uh,
Speaker 1: there we all right, So here we go. I don't
Speaker 1: know what happened, but he froze. He froze, but he's back.
Speaker 2: Like the Uh well, I was gonna make a Marvel
Speaker 2: reference and then realize those over my skis whoever the
Speaker 2: one that he thaws is Captain America. Yeah, Chrisian ballistic.
Speaker 1: That sounds good to me. Another couple of minutes. By
Speaker 1: the way, you have to get concacap dot substack dot
Speaker 1: com to get all of John's stuff. And as I
Speaker 1: fully disclosed at the beginning of this subscribe have from
Speaker 1: the beginning because for all of the diehards and all
Speaker 1: of the intel that we need, it is a go
Speaker 1: to place for for me.
Speaker 2: This one.
Speaker 1: We were talking managers and stuff, and since you mentioned
Speaker 1: Costa Rica, I wanted to know what you thought about
Speaker 1: Miguel Heneda being in charge of Costa Rica wearing that
Speaker 1: blazer these days.
Speaker 2: That's right, he's got a new patch on his blazer. Nah, listen,
Speaker 2: man like Bojos Bojo, and I think that you get
Speaker 2: you get all of them, You get the good where
Speaker 2: I do think he puts a level of seriousness into
Speaker 2: the program and the tactical knowledge is decent, but you
Speaker 2: also get some antics and I think you get some
Speaker 2: limited flexibility. He's a manager that I've been covering for man,
Speaker 2: this is crazy, but like more than a decade now,
Speaker 2: because I was I was with him in Chile in
Speaker 2: twenty fifteen when he was taking Mexico to Copamerica, did
Speaker 2: the Gold Cup in twenty fifteen, which they won. He
Speaker 2: gets fired after that tournament because you got in a
Speaker 2: physical altercation with a commentator at the Philadelpia airport after
Speaker 2: he won the tournament. So these are the things you
Speaker 2: get with Miguelada, right, you get some trophies in in
Speaker 2: some fights. I think that you know, even in all
Speaker 2: that time, he's shown more tactical flexibility than he did
Speaker 2: at the start of his career, which you would expect.
Speaker 2: People grow, people of alved people get new ideas. But
Speaker 2: I still think that Costa Rica would benefit from him
Speaker 2: being a little more open to modifying some of his ideas.
Speaker 2: But then you know there are some again, like there
Speaker 2: are benefits like where I wasn't so sure about him
Speaker 2: convincing Kaylor Navas to come back and then novel so fantastic.
Speaker 2: Kaylor looks like Kaylor and everything kind of works out.
Speaker 2: So I think Hereta has a really good eye for talent.
Speaker 2: He's obviously a great motivator. I think players like playing
Speaker 2: for him, and maybe that's what you needed in Costa Rica,
Speaker 2: where there's been some sort of prickly personalities and yeah,
Speaker 2: like well and they got ditched by a really good
Speaker 2: manager in a Fato and so you know, and maybe
Speaker 2: you just need someone who's absolutely gonna be there, who's
Speaker 2: gonna wave the flag ahead of the tournament, and overall
Speaker 2: is just a personality. And you know, I think the
Speaker 2: biggest thing for Costa Rica right now, it's Herretta kind
Speaker 2: of distracts from the fact that like this generational change
Speaker 2: that Costa Rica's needed for so long is actually happening.
Speaker 2: So you have all these kids who are under twenty three,
Speaker 2: maybe under twenty five in some cases, who are absolutely
Speaker 2: the future of the Costa Rica national team, who look
Speaker 2: like they'll be very good at the twenty thirty World Cup,
Speaker 2: twenty thirty four World Cup, and he's kind of you know,
Speaker 2: he in a way provides the cover for those guys
Speaker 2: to make mistakes, and Kaylor does too, where it's like
Speaker 2: he's drawing all the attention. He obviously cleans up the
Speaker 2: mistakes of the back. But you know, the uncomfortable truth
Speaker 2: is that maybe you need to finish that generational change.
Speaker 2: You're not gonna kick Calvo or Kalo off the team,
Speaker 2: you know, because it's good to have leadership. You need
Speaker 2: those guys in the locker room if you're going to
Speaker 2: get to the World Cup this fall with these qualifiers,
Speaker 2: those guys are going to play a part. But ideally
Speaker 2: you have someone who replaces them on the field who's better.
Speaker 2: They need those players to come. I think Kaylor's replacement
Speaker 2: is obvious in Patrick Siquira. The less obvious is the
Speaker 2: defensive replacement for Godvo. You saw with Jalen Mitchell, the
Speaker 2: center back injured in the US game, they had to
Speaker 2: bring a gombola and experience. Put Calvo in the on
Speaker 2: the fullbacks side or on the outside, and all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, he's a big flashing red light. That's his
Speaker 2: attack here, attack here, and the US does it and
Speaker 2: you know it leads to some results. So look like Ereda,
Speaker 2: he's fun, he's weird, he's himself, but I think this
Speaker 2: is a team on the rise. Is he the right
Speaker 2: guy for the job short term? Probably? Long term no,
Speaker 2: but it's certainly fun to see him in Conker caff
Speaker 2: and have him coaching a national team again.
Speaker 1: And just make sure that the batteries in the walkie
Speaker 1: talkie you are fully charged when you need those, and
Speaker 1: make sure that you tell Francisco Calviot, look, bruh, if
Speaker 1: you're going to be at the spot, go left or
Speaker 1: go right, don't go down the middle because because then
Speaker 1: Matt free sits there and just perries it.
Speaker 2: It was it was really remarkable that, you know, Freeze
Speaker 2: after the game credits the goal, keep a coach Tony
Speaker 2: Jimenez for the scouting. But you know, he said, I
Speaker 2: was wanting the plane watching penalties, and man, it's a
Speaker 2: good thing that like Prince is dying because I think
Speaker 2: back in the day he probably would have been reading
Speaker 2: a newspaper, but he's studying the iPad, watching the thing.
Speaker 2: And I mean, it was really remarkable how good he was.
Speaker 2: It's funny because on the TV interviews like, ah, penalties
Speaker 2: are my thing, and I'm like, oh, yeah, he is
Speaker 2: good at penalty shootouts, and then you look and it's like, oh,
Speaker 2: he did a Harvard level research study on penalties and
Speaker 2: it showed. I mean, he really seems to know his stuff.
Speaker 2: And credit to those guys, because I don't think that
Speaker 2: Costa Rica realized how scouted they were, especially when there
Speaker 2: was a penalty earlier in the game that he doesn't stop.
Speaker 2: But then the shootout different different animal there. And I
Speaker 2: mean so many great stories from shootouts and Conka Calf
Speaker 2: this weekend just really really look like whether you like
Speaker 2: him as a way to in the game or not,
Speaker 2: we all have fun watching them, for sure, no doubt.
Speaker 1: I think he guessed right on all of them, and
Speaker 1: I think touched five of the six or five of
Speaker 1: the seven. I think he was like right there with
Speaker 1: most of them. Before you go, obviously we do have
Speaker 1: to talk about Texas Tech football eight and five last
Speaker 1: year lost to Arkansas and the Liberty Bowl. And you are,
Speaker 1: I believe sixty days away from your season kickoff against
Speaker 1: Arkansas Pine Bluff, if I remember, if I remember my
Speaker 1: research correctly, do you ever get the chance to go
Speaker 1: back and watch home games to Jones at and T
Speaker 1: or or do you how you stuck watching him on
Speaker 1: TV because you're the busiest man in Conca CAF show business.
Speaker 2: I make it to one a year. I've got a
Speaker 2: fifteen year old who has decided he's going to Tech,
Speaker 2: which is awesome. We'll see, we'll see if that takes.
Speaker 2: He's still got a couple of years to change his
Speaker 2: mind and you know, go somewhere less academically prestigious obviously,
Speaker 2: but yeah, no, I make it. I make it back
Speaker 2: to one a year. This year is the one hundredth
Speaker 2: anniversary of the student newspaper at Texas Tech, and we're
Speaker 2: all getting together for the Okie State game, which is
Speaker 2: a big one. So yeah, man, you know, the Jones
Speaker 2: and the program itself. All of a sudden, you know,
Speaker 2: I think Texas Tech is so funny because it's like
Speaker 2: a lot of your your viewers in the in the
Speaker 2: South will understand, but you know, like it it's a
Speaker 2: nothing in place lub you know, you know, supposedly, but
Speaker 2: it's so special to those of us who are there.
Speaker 2: And I think, you know, I see you sipping on
Speaker 2: an auburn cup, like I think it's kind of similar
Speaker 2: but smaller where you know, if you get it, you
Speaker 2: get it right, and and but like when I'm in
Speaker 2: Mexico or in the CONCAF region and I'm streaming these
Speaker 2: horrendous non conference games that they're like what are you doing? Man,
Speaker 2: Like why do you care about this? And like this
Speaker 2: is our thing, this is like what we care about.
Speaker 2: And so yeah, I make it back to one home
Speaker 2: game a year being based here in Dallas. This year
Speaker 2: it worked out to make that Okie State down. I
Speaker 2: was worried it was going to be qualifiers, but it
Speaker 2: kind of fell in the right way. So yeah, especially
Speaker 2: this fall with the Somember October November, windows probably be
Speaker 2: watching more soccer than than American football. But you know,
Speaker 2: I obviously keep track of the Red Raiders in the
Speaker 2: in the college football picture.
Speaker 1: As a whole. Yeah, the boss is the Auburn alumna
Speaker 1: and I am a Florida State grad. So we are
Speaker 1: a cross conference marriage. And that is the only way
Speaker 1: that we think this could have worked in the Southeastern
Speaker 1: United States.
Speaker 2: Yeah, College Texas Women's so they're undefeated in football, but
Speaker 2: they don't have any games.
Speaker 1: Right and so but hey, you get that zero to
Speaker 1: the right of the dash, you're still unbeaten. You up
Speaker 1: because if we look. Our first anniversary was the Rose
Speaker 1: Bowl Game No Lie with Florida State and Auburn for
Speaker 1: the National Championship. The seats ended up in the Auburn section.
Speaker 1: I don't know how that happened. And if our marriage
Speaker 1: can survive that National Championship game, I think we're in
Speaker 1: good shape. I think one completely and totally promotional question,
Speaker 1: what has it been like for you to build becoming
Speaker 1: getting a concacaffe aated and the substack and get concacaf
Speaker 1: dot substack dot com. What's it been like for you
Speaker 1: to build all this stuff? Because it's been really cool
Speaker 1: to see this progression.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny, man, I mean getting Concacaf. The newsletter
Speaker 2: started in twenty twenty when I knew I wanted to
Speaker 2: leave my full time job and did. I was a
Speaker 2: staff writer at Gold. Still have a lot of great
Speaker 2: friends there. They're doing a good job on the US stuff.
Speaker 2: They're kind of they're back. I left when I was
Speaker 2: getting frustrated with the direction, but now they're doing great.
Speaker 2: So check those guys out too. But yeah, I thought
Speaker 2: it would just be somewhere to kind of give me
Speaker 2: a place to scribble. I thought maybe like history projects
Speaker 2: about conkor CAF and you know, just stuff that I
Speaker 2: get curious about and go down a rabbit hole. But
Speaker 2: it's been funny to see it kind of become my
Speaker 2: niche and like also to get respect from major media
Speaker 2: outlets and kind of put some of the stories that
Speaker 2: I think they're realizing that work on the newsletter on
Speaker 2: that major media outlet as well. So that's been really cool.
Speaker 2: I think that overall, look like there's just more space.
Speaker 2: Right People are interested in a lot of different things.
Speaker 2: I actually think college sports is a great example of that,
Speaker 2: where like the Sickos Committee, right, like they revel in
Speaker 2: finding these goofy stories that are the same types of
Speaker 2: things that I have always liked finding the CONCACAF region.
Speaker 2: It just takes people a little longer to buy in.
Speaker 2: I think that the college football fans are already used
Speaker 2: to the idea of checking in on Appalachian State or
Speaker 2: watching a Sunbelt game on a Tuesday night or whatever
Speaker 2: the case. With soccer fans, maybe you know in this
Speaker 2: country at least are a little a little more, a
Speaker 2: little more pre disposed to watching Premier league match and
Speaker 2: thinking everything is very serious and you can consume sports
Speaker 2: like that, and that's fine if you don't. If you
Speaker 2: liked it to get into the weirdness of CONCA chaos,
Speaker 2: then you know, I think there's a lot of people
Speaker 2: that have done that. So building those channels and being
Speaker 2: and being convinced that it that that that lane exists,
Speaker 2: I think has been the biggest key where it's just like, look,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna drink my coffee in the morning and talk
Speaker 2: about bottom all and soccer and people are gonna watch
Speaker 2: it and uh, and they have and it's been really gratifying. Obviously,
Speaker 2: we can always use more. Everyone welcome to join, but
Speaker 2: it's been good man and and and sort of expanding
Speaker 2: to the video stuff and doing more. You're certainly not
Speaker 2: stopping ahead of twenty twenty six, and we're gonna have
Speaker 2: more conkor CAF teams in the World Cup than ever before,
Speaker 2: the Men's World Cup, but also the Women's World Cup.
Speaker 2: There will be more teams than they were in Australia
Speaker 2: and New Zealand. So you know, keep watching, keep looking.
Speaker 2: It's it's it legitimately is just a fun way to
Speaker 2: consume sports. And I think especially now for American soccer
Speaker 2: fans in the US, man like in a lot of ways,
Speaker 2: the US. I keep telling my buddies, like, the US
Speaker 2: has grown into a real soccer country. And I know
Speaker 2: that because Tim Howard and Landon Donovan are grumpy on
Speaker 2: the podcast, and then it gets aggregated and people, you know, like,
Speaker 2: then you're just in the cycle of somebody who sees
Speaker 2: an article and they respond to it and then that's
Speaker 2: a headline. Dempsey says that Donovan is X and then oh,
Speaker 2: but you know, Jermaine Jones says that Dempsey says that,
Speaker 2: and like that happens in every soccer country. Is it good?
Speaker 2: I don't think so. And if you want to get
Speaker 2: off that treadmill a little bit, dip into getting Concacaf,
Speaker 2: because yeah, we'll touch on some of that stuff, but
Speaker 2: we're also touching on all sorts of other stuff that
Speaker 2: you probably didn't know you were interested in, but hopefully
Speaker 2: it captures your attention.
Speaker 1: And that's why we love having you here to talk
Speaker 1: about it, and that's why we subscribe, and that's why
Speaker 1: we followed get concacaf dot substack dot com at Arnold
Speaker 1: Common on the two hundred and eighty character app. All
Speaker 1: the socials be well, my friend, be safe. You now
Speaker 1: have with that email that I sent you this morning,
Speaker 1: you now have the garage door opener. You now know
Speaker 1: where the key is under the mat. So if you're
Speaker 1: ever bored and there's like the Hour of Chaos on
Speaker 1: a Friday and you want to come in and talk
Speaker 1: about FC Dallas, like ten thirty to eleven oh five
Speaker 1: Eastern time, it literally can turn into the Hour of
Speaker 1: Chaos and people just come in and sit there and go, hey,
Speaker 1: latest update, or hey you suck you know, anything like that.
Speaker 1: To wrap up a week. You've got the garage door opener.
Speaker 1: My friend, it's carte blanche. Great to see you. Do
Speaker 1: not be a stranger. We'll catch up soon.
Speaker 2: I'll be here, man. I always appreciate it. John, thanks
Speaker 2: to you, thanks to the audience. We'll talk soon, man,