Speaker 1: All right, hot tag, and this is where we get
Speaker 1: to try and chase after one of the busiest men
Speaker 1: in show business. And I mean this because phase one,
Speaker 1: and it took me a while to figure out how
Speaker 1: that it is phase one. It wasn't necessarily group stage.
Speaker 1: It's phase one. Phase one is done. Now we're getting
Speaker 1: into quarters and semis and working through and juggling that
Speaker 1: in the MLS schedule. And for that we go and
Speaker 1: catch up with the executive director of Leagu's Cup, Tom Mayo.
Speaker 1: Tom Mayo on the keyboards, Tom Mayo, Sorry, as my
Speaker 1: Peter Frampton joke this morning.
Speaker 2: Tom, welcome aboard to.
Speaker 1: The Morning show and the chaos that is a Friday.
Speaker 1: Glad that we were able to finally catch up with
Speaker 1: you to find out everything about League's Cup.
Speaker 3: Thank you apologies about the earlier bump we were in
Speaker 3: the in the process, lots goes on right and we've
Speaker 3: got a considerable amount of games in this very it's great.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Thank you for appreciating on the show. It's
Speaker 3: great talk to you listeners, and yeah, explain a little
Speaker 3: bit more about Leaguess Cup.
Speaker 1: What attracted you to become the executive director of League's
Speaker 1: Cup in the first place, lots.
Speaker 3: Of aspects, great teams to work with. You know, I
Speaker 3: met with both legam X and MLS teams and their
Speaker 3: front of office. Great teams to work with, right, and
Speaker 3: they've got some bold plans. I think secondly was how
Speaker 3: often is a soccer tournament in its infancy like this
Speaker 3: in its year three and it's got so much future
Speaker 3: ahead of it. That's incredibly rare. There might be one
Speaker 3: or two added to the global soccer calendar every year,
Speaker 3: but that was it. And I think, yeah, opportunity to
Speaker 3: work with great people. This new soccer venture that was
Speaker 3: building had some history and was looking for some you know,
Speaker 3: someone to jump in and you know, sort of guide
Speaker 3: it for the next five ten years.
Speaker 1: And if I remember your past correctly, you're a track
Speaker 1: and field guy. Yeah, so I would imagine to carry
Speaker 1: out an early analogy here in the interview.
Speaker 2: Were you a sprint guy or a distance guy?
Speaker 4: Middle distance? So mana, okay, So.
Speaker 1: You know about strategy in a race, whether you need
Speaker 1: to be the rabbit, whether you like to hang off
Speaker 1: the outside shoulder of somebody while they're in the inside
Speaker 1: lane and make your move last lap, bell lap, backstretch, whatever,
Speaker 1: I would imagine that that kind of a mentality also
Speaker 1: helps when you're trying to piece together this tournament and
Speaker 1: all of the tweaks that are in this year where
Speaker 1: the schedule is more compressed. You don't have the gap
Speaker 1: space between the end of Phase one and getting back
Speaker 1: to MLS scheduling. I would imagine that part of that
Speaker 1: mentality helps in trying to figure out, Okay, let's do this,
Speaker 1: let's do this, let's do this so that way when
Speaker 1: we get to the bell lap in twenty five, everything
Speaker 1: is fine and we make the sprint to the tape
Speaker 1: and it is what it is exactly right.
Speaker 3: There is that ability to sort of maneuver quickly in
Speaker 3: the environment that you're in and stay calm. At is,
Speaker 3: stay calm in it. I mean the fact of running
Speaker 3: a mile or a fifteen hundred meters. It's the ability
Speaker 3: to stay calm under pressure. And the calmer you are
Speaker 3: for the longer you are, the more the more you
Speaker 3: can sustain and think clearly across the line. But there
Speaker 3: was what there's one aspect of the you know, the mile,
Speaker 3: and it took me eight years to break four for
Speaker 3: a mile. It just took eight years of hard work
Speaker 3: and it's just relenting, unrelenting hard work to do that,
Speaker 3: and you only see the end and it's the race.
Speaker 3: But and I think that the team around me and
Speaker 3: myself is we've dug in for the long run. It's
Speaker 3: gonna be really hard, and so sort of I've got
Speaker 3: the same mindset. Look, this is going to take eight
Speaker 3: to ten years to to you know, keep keep applying
Speaker 3: pressure every day, keep building the tournament, and that's how
Speaker 3: you end up with those great races because it's just
Speaker 3: hard work every day. So that's sort of my mentality
Speaker 3: of going into it. It's it's delightful when you get
Speaker 3: to that end of the eight years and you break
Speaker 3: the break the all minute mild, but it is just
Speaker 3: that focus every single day.
Speaker 4: You just keep going and going. So yeah, both skills.
Speaker 1: How difficult is it to show patient or have other
Speaker 1: individuals around you be as patient as you and your
Speaker 1: group are, because there's always that idea of instant results,
Speaker 1: instant gratification.
Speaker 2: Hey we got to turnament on. Hey it's new, Hey
Speaker 2: it's shiny.
Speaker 1: We've got to you know, we have to have all
Speaker 1: the fireworks exploding, you know, like the end of the
Speaker 1: Yabu Dhabi you know, one race or something, how difficult
Speaker 1: is it for folks around you to be patient understanding
Speaker 1: that slow, you know, slow and steady wins the race.
Speaker 3: It's sometimes it is difficult sometimes, and I think everybody
Speaker 3: wants there's there's no magic wand and I learned that
Speaker 3: probably quickly, of course all the sports I've been involved with.
Speaker 3: Sometimes you're blessed with moments like MESSI with his comments
Speaker 3: last week or two weeks ago, and that suddenly gives
Speaker 3: you a bump. But I think incremental every single day
Speaker 3: you make an incremental step forwards. You're making incremental changes,
Speaker 3: and the stakeholders and all the partners you're with, whether
Speaker 3: it's Ligo, Max, MLS, Conker, CAF, sponsors, everyone, they're seeing
Speaker 3: these incremental changes and just building on the tournament, building,
Speaker 3: you know, building its future. And I think that's important
Speaker 3: that everyone sees so that we're just focused on, Look,
Speaker 3: we want this to be a cornerstone of global and
Speaker 3: US soccer in ten years and how are we going
Speaker 3: to get there?
Speaker 4: And all those little steps together is there.
Speaker 1: I know that scheduling for those of us that cover
Speaker 1: the event, the idea of wrapping phase one and the
Speaker 1: tournament into the MLS schedule instead of having the big
Speaker 1: gap spaces there have been in years past. That's been
Speaker 1: a help in blending everything together. What's the feedback that
Speaker 1: you've gotten from clubs etc. When it comes to the
Speaker 1: new tweaks coming into the twenty twenty five version.
Speaker 4: Good, very positive.
Speaker 3: So obviously there was a lot of work then actually
Speaker 3: before my tenure. I started in December, but I know
Speaker 3: as soon as the format finished last year, all the
Speaker 3: club CBOs you know, the front office staff and every
Speaker 3: club in Mexico and US got together into right this,
Speaker 3: there's something great to this tournament. How do we just
Speaker 3: make it better? And they just went through in a
Speaker 3: process and went to, okay, every aspect, what's our focus
Speaker 3: and those matchups?
Speaker 4: Was it right?
Speaker 3: So you put the matchups on and you put Lega
Speaker 3: X versus MLS and then you see that creates the
Speaker 3: competition on the field and everything flows off that. And
Speaker 3: then it was about finding that window. And there are
Speaker 3: much smarter people than me and you know, in MLS
Speaker 3: and Lego X putting these schedules together, and it's a
Speaker 3: very complicated process, you know, sort of the regular season,
Speaker 3: the FIFA windows, you've got CONCAFT competitions.
Speaker 4: You've got all of this myriad and.
Speaker 3: Then they're presenting everyone of the best options for you know,
Speaker 3: players travel, player travel. You know, what's the best windows
Speaker 3: for you know, for broadcast, what's the best windows, for partners,
Speaker 3: what's the best window. But you know for fans and
Speaker 3: so yeah, there's lots to take in. But I think
Speaker 3: it's been great so far, so I won't say anymore.
Speaker 3: We head into a quarter final with some great feedback.
Speaker 2: No doubt.
Speaker 1: Guy like Dominate Toron has been quite vocal about the
Speaker 1: scheduling from a Lega Emeki's perspective. I believe he called
Speaker 1: it a trap tournament, where he says it gives you
Speaker 1: very little, takes away a lot, takes away training time
Speaker 1: quality from what we're trying to build, argues winning the
Speaker 1: trophy wouldn't bring much prestige. What would you say to
Speaker 1: coaches and to those that might have that point of
Speaker 1: view when it comes to the Lega Mchi side of things, I.
Speaker 3: Think, Look, we work with Lega e Mechis closely and
Speaker 3: you know, I know lots of comments in post match
Speaker 3: conferences and it's it's always you know, people are immediate
Speaker 3: views and they think we just take a step back,
Speaker 3: and we talked to them all as well after the competition,
Speaker 3: and we meet with all the players and many players
Speaker 3: as we can, and the coaches, and we say, look,
Speaker 3: what is it about this format that we can improve
Speaker 3: and look after we've made considerable strides with you know,
Speaker 3: looking after players this year flying in from Mexico and
Speaker 3: their travel arrangements and how we best prepare them for
Speaker 3: their best performance. And I think it is you know,
Speaker 3: we are still year three and this format, the tournament,
Speaker 3: everything else only aims to improve and address any comments
Speaker 3: that they've got when we all catch up afterwards in September.
Speaker 1: I know that it's difficult to juggle two leagues, three
Speaker 1: countries all at the same time. And I know that
Speaker 1: there is probably a desire on some front, at some
Speaker 1: point somewhere down the road where the Lega Emechi sides
Speaker 1: could have home matches in their own stadium, because if
Speaker 1: you go to a place like Nemessio Diaz or Akron
Speaker 1: or as Teca, those are great ambassadorial locations for the sport.
Speaker 1: How difficult is it for someone who doesn't know the logistics,
Speaker 1: How difficult is it to do something like that where
Speaker 1: all three countries are represented, and I know that for
Speaker 1: the sake of travel and making sure that everybody gets
Speaker 1: the destinations, that it's self contained inside the US and Canada.
Speaker 3: Yeah, once again, I think good question because when I started,
Speaker 3: as was another question I had as well. It's like,
Speaker 3: look at you know, we've got a location in the USA,
Speaker 3: and what's what's the now for this at this stage
Speaker 3: in year two heading into year three, and I'm about
Speaker 3: to go through that process as well. But it is
Speaker 3: a very thorough analysis just around starting a tournament, the logistics,
Speaker 3: the schedules, and they chose the USLC to and both
Speaker 3: parties in LIGROMX and with the support of all the
Speaker 3: clubs and the US as well. So look, it's going
Speaker 3: to be a full analysis at the end of this
Speaker 3: year and then we start to look at we will
Speaker 3: look at it again and it's something we're committed to
Speaker 3: every single year as this tournament grows. So I won't
Speaker 3: say a either way, but look, it's full analysis. We
Speaker 3: go back to the just like coaches do. Right of
Speaker 3: the end of the tournament, you go back, you look
Speaker 3: at everything, so how can we improve And it'll be
Speaker 3: definitely a consideration.
Speaker 1: Tom Ayo, the executive director of League Cup, hanging out
Speaker 1: whether it's here, is phase one is now complete? There
Speaker 1: were some bouts are crazy in phase one. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie there. There were some matchups that
Speaker 1: were just absolutely nuts. You had Seattle putting seven on
Speaker 1: the board in forty five minutes. You had matches that
Speaker 1: were going through thirteen minutes. Added, you had Crazy shoe
Speaker 1: out to going twelve frames before they were decided. What's
Speaker 1: the feedback been like for you about Phase one in general?
Speaker 1: Where you've had a great run by a team like Juarez,
Speaker 1: who was I think ranked thirty second coming in and
Speaker 1: they get right to the end before math and a
Speaker 1: loss takes care of it. What's the feedback then about
Speaker 1: phase one with all the different storylines.
Speaker 3: I think there's been a we're getting stats last night
Speaker 3: in the operations center. There hasn't been a game nil
Speaker 3: MIL in this tournament, which is unheard of.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 3: Ninety three percent of our games that have gone through
Speaker 3: have consequence, right, And it was only in that final
Speaker 3: day that you know, you found those teams, a couple
Speaker 3: of those teams that matched up that weren't able to
Speaker 3: alter the table. So from those fronts, we were delightfully
Speaker 3: surprised that the nil nil aspect, you know, there is
Speaker 3: no nil, it's just everyone's scoring and then going into penalties,
Speaker 3: we've got on average or was it three point five
Speaker 3: goals per game, up from two point five last year
Speaker 3: and up again from them less league next season.
Speaker 4: So it's we're going to go and looking at it.
Speaker 3: The intensity on the field that's being created by this
Speaker 3: intense tournament, which you.
Speaker 4: Know it's it is.
Speaker 3: There are no prisoners here, right, You've got to win
Speaker 3: straight away, as soon as you're in your first game.
Speaker 3: You've got to take as many point time as possible.
Speaker 3: When you go again, you go again, and I think
Speaker 3: there is yeah, and I think that's shown on the
Speaker 3: field emotion.
Speaker 4: I was delightfully surprised as well.
Speaker 3: You know, when the penalties are taken, all the teams,
Speaker 3: you know, arm in arm, and they're very emotional about it,
Speaker 3: and it starts.
Speaker 4: It means a lot to them, right, they are going
Speaker 4: to advance or they're not.
Speaker 3: And for some players this is their first international tournament
Speaker 3: and for some clubs this is the first potentially a
Speaker 3: first international trophy as well, and it's a different pace
Speaker 3: and it's a different level.
Speaker 4: I remember my first international tournament.
Speaker 3: Right, and it's just a completely different world, different pace
Speaker 3: of the game, different just everything changes and you just
Speaker 3: step up another level. And that's what I've been That's
Speaker 3: what's been great to watch is just that competitive aspect
Speaker 3: of these are hard games to win and people are fighting.
Speaker 1: For it is Obviously, I would imagine one of the
Speaker 1: other things that's going to get just put on the
Speaker 1: table the idea of more than four making it from
Speaker 1: each side. Obviously TV partners have to be a part
Speaker 1: of the discussion as well, because in American college football
Speaker 1: there is the discussion with the college Football Playoff where
Speaker 1: they go from four to eight to twelve and it's
Speaker 1: like Team thirteen.
Speaker 2: Is going to sit there and go, well what about us?
Speaker 1: Obviously, the idea possibly expanding after phase one into a
Speaker 1: phase two on the table two.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, well that happened in some respects last
Speaker 3: years we went into that other round and we had
Speaker 3: seventy seven and this year we you know, we've gone
Speaker 3: down to sixty two. So it is a very it's
Speaker 3: a very you know, tight pyramid in that regard, whereas
Speaker 3: last year there was that that that room. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I think once again, we'll just get the end this season,
Speaker 3: say right, what can we do to take that feedback
Speaker 3: from those clubs that you know may want to you know,
Speaker 3: have a second chance or be you know, remain in
Speaker 3: the tournament for longer. But it is a it's ruthless.
Speaker 3: It's a tough competition. You've got to win everything and
Speaker 3: get out on top. Look at Seattle, yeah they they
Speaker 3: and then look at Club America. You know, if you
Speaker 3: don't put away that first win, it's your strategy has
Speaker 3: to be as many goals as possible and as many
Speaker 3: wins thereafter.
Speaker 1: Nothing like win and win big. You got to like
Speaker 1: win them all and you've got to win big from
Speaker 1: the absolute beginning.
Speaker 3: Loaded with strikers, right, you're just going to put all
Speaker 3: your strikers on goal.
Speaker 1: We're going to go nine to one one, and we're
Speaker 1: just going to go ahead and line everybody up and
Speaker 1: rock and roll. How many of the matches were you
Speaker 1: able to see in person to gauge atmospheres and things
Speaker 1: like that.
Speaker 3: I saw two in person, and obviously we were running
Speaker 3: and that was great to see. I think we were
Speaker 3: down at Red Bulls there was the we were watching
Speaker 3: the weather down there, and that was great to see
Speaker 3: the atmosphere. And I think from from our perspective obviously
Speaker 3: in the the O sort of the operations committee, so
Speaker 3: we're surrounded with you know, you know, I'm sure the
Speaker 3: listeners understand, but everything from medical to security to broadcast,
Speaker 3: and we're in there making live decisions whether the game
Speaker 3: needs to be bumped because of lightning, you know, as
Speaker 3: you find sort of you know in Orlando or Cincinnati.
Speaker 3: We're watching those, and then you're looking at other aspects
Speaker 3: that on the field, quality of the field, how are
Speaker 3: the players, the referees, the var all of those aspects
Speaker 3: that's all coming into one room, and it's it's a
Speaker 3: very intense five six hours that we go from you know,
Speaker 3: I'll say it's longer at seven hours, from seven in
Speaker 3: the evening to last night with two am, and then
Speaker 3: we pick it.
Speaker 4: Up again the next morning.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's I couldn't go to as men as
Speaker 3: I wanted because it's just the way the formats structured. Right,
Speaker 3: You've got East coast, West coast, five to six games
Speaker 3: a night and it's on and I'll spend all my
Speaker 3: time in an airplane, but I'll get to see more
Speaker 3: as quarters, semis and final go on.
Speaker 2: So what cup of coffee are you on this morning?
Speaker 4: But my second, my seconds ago.
Speaker 3: But look, i'm I'm I benefit from an incredibly smart
Speaker 3: bunch of people that work in LEGA X and MLS,
Speaker 3: right there is some of the smartest brains in soccer,
Speaker 3: whether it's the scheduling, whether it's the fields, whether it's weather,
Speaker 3: and they really surround themselves with some very smart people
Speaker 3: to help us all make good decisions together and keep
Speaker 3: building this tournament. So yeah, I think everyone's on coffee,
Speaker 3: and yeah, we're all in this together. And let's three weeks,
Speaker 3: two and a half weeks to go and we'll find
Speaker 3: the winner.
Speaker 2: Yep. And there's some great matchups coming up in the quarters.
Speaker 1: When it comes to officials and officiating, who is in charge?
Speaker 2: Is that a conker CAFF decision crews and such?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's concer We work with CONCAF on it and
Speaker 3: it's a program we have in working with Concer CAF
Speaker 3: and it's a long time. We don't just turn up
Speaker 3: to them and say, hey, look can you provide some referees.
Speaker 3: We really you know, we've got a very close relationship
Speaker 3: and we work on every aspect. Obviously the tournament's new
Speaker 3: and educating the format and educating the new rules of
Speaker 3: the game that came in this year as well, and
Speaker 3: we do summits and workshops and we really are very.
Speaker 4: Close in this process.
Speaker 3: But ultimately it's Conka CAF that make those decisions nominate
Speaker 3: the referees.
Speaker 4: But they're a great partner.
Speaker 1: I was going to ask because does League's Cup as
Speaker 1: an entity have discussions about peer review, official review, those
Speaker 1: kinds of things where that specifically just left a conkor
Speaker 1: Calf and their own devices when it comes to cruise
Speaker 1: an individual, I think.
Speaker 3: I think we have an open conversation about the games.
Speaker 3: You know, every day we're looking at every game, whether
Speaker 3: it's what were the the red cards, what were the
Speaker 3: yellow cards, what with the you know what the field
Speaker 3: conditions like, what with the picture everything. You can imagine
Speaker 3: that we're just going through for two hours every morning
Speaker 3: and just reviewing.
Speaker 4: So if there's something with with referees or there's feedback, it's.
Speaker 3: It's an open communication with conkor CAF on it and
Speaker 3: it's something we'll review as well at the end of
Speaker 3: the tournament and we put.
Speaker 4: It all together.
Speaker 3: We don't make decisions in the heat of the moment
Speaker 3: with this stuff. We we really try and take it away.
Speaker 3: If we can't sit down, then just have a you know,
Speaker 3: have a have a discussion around how it went, what
Speaker 3: we can do to improve, and we move.
Speaker 4: On to next year.
Speaker 1: Round of eight and there's one matchup that just jumps
Speaker 1: out at you. Messy and Friends and Tea and nothing
Speaker 1: like nothing like being the three team out of League
Speaker 1: Amechis and having to play Inner Miami in round two.
Speaker 1: It's Seattle Puebla, Messi and friends in Tigress lag who
Speaker 1: has had a rough season in Major League SciTS. We
Speaker 1: always talk about tournaments and what they can be. You
Speaker 1: get through the math in the West and you take
Speaker 1: on Pachuca and the Purple team, ticking on to Luca.
Speaker 1: You look at those final eight, what do you see.
Speaker 3: I think it's always a surprise, right, you know, as
Speaker 3: much as everyone in the office has got their own
Speaker 3: sort of different positions, I think we've got a very
Speaker 3: you know, we've got some very strong games and some
Speaker 3: good narrative going in. I think our focus is just
Speaker 3: like we're just you know, working with all the stadiums
Speaker 3: of the venues and they're travel and making sure you know,
Speaker 3: all the places in place for the players for broadcast
Speaker 3: for TV, and yeah, that's going on all around us
Speaker 3: this morning before we announced the exact date and time
Speaker 3: for kickoff. So yeah, it's great matchups. It's the into
Speaker 3: Miami t gress. Well you've got those, you know, two
Speaker 3: Argentinian strikers. Who would have thought that in Messi's hometown, right,
Speaker 3: And yeah, it's good, it's exciting to watch, but lots
Speaker 3: of work.
Speaker 4: To do in the meantime.
Speaker 1: Well, as always, you know that as long as the
Speaker 1: tournament exists, you've got a home. You know, if you
Speaker 1: want to come in and sit there and say, I
Speaker 1: got something to talk about, what we'd like to do
Speaker 1: if it's okay when League's Cup is over over, is
Speaker 1: have you back to kind of talk about the tournament
Speaker 1: on the whole and what everybody learned and now that
Speaker 1: you've got a champion with a trophy and all these
Speaker 1: kinds of things, and maybe you can bring the trophy
Speaker 1: on the show and sit there and just kind of
Speaker 1: show it to everybody's kind of borrow it from the champions.
Speaker 4: The team though, I've got to go in and get
Speaker 4: off the team. That might be quite difficult. We'll just
Speaker 4: sit there and.
Speaker 1: Go tell you now, we got to get it shiny.
Speaker 1: We got to take the fingerprints off of it. You
Speaker 1: get your day with it. From there, I got to
Speaker 1: take it someplace, so I will roll out the red
Speaker 1: carpet when the tournament is over, over for you to
Speaker 1: come back and we can talk about things. Thank you
Speaker 1: for doing this. Unlimited sleep and your second cup of coffee.
Speaker 1: I know we've been trying to track you down for
Speaker 1: a while, but I'm glad we did. When's your first
Speaker 1: meeting today?
Speaker 4: It's in. We've already hit We started at two o'clock
Speaker 4: this morning.
Speaker 2: Whoa.
Speaker 3: Then we all got some sleep and then we're going
Speaker 3: again in twenty minutes. Okay, look, just once again, thank
Speaker 3: you so much. Thanks for havings on. I appreciate all
Speaker 3: the listeners here. We'll come down, we'll try and bring
Speaker 3: the trophy. Let's see if we can get some players
Speaker 3: as well, maybe to talk too. But thanks again for
Speaker 3: the support.