Mike DeCourcy Joins to Talk the Latest Headlines in Sports

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00:00Always good to hook up with Mike DeCorsi, the famed scribe from the Sporting News. You can see

00:04him during the college basketball season on Fox Sports and the Big Ten Network. He's on the take

00:07for the Indiana Hoosiers. Always good to have him on Coast to Coast. The coach, Punxsutawney Phil

00:15of the USA soccer program, has got the boys in red, white, and blue in the semis, right,

00:23of the Gold Cup. Very exciting what's happening there. What did you think of their penalty kick

00:29win over Costa Rica, Mike? I will tell you, Scott, that I don't think I've ever seen a better

00:36shootout performance by a goalkeeper than Matt Freeze delivered in that game. Now, look, I mean,

00:43he wasn't going against Lionel Messi and that group. It was Costa Rica, which is not the best iteration

00:50of Costa Rica that we've ever seen. But to get his hand on five of the six attempts and to stop three

00:58of them, amazing. He guessed correctly on five of the six attempts and at least got a fingertip to

01:05five of them. You just don't see that, Scott. It doesn't happen. And he said after the game that

01:11shootouts, penalty shootouts are his thing. He's good at it. And he was really good at it on Sunday

01:17night. Again, not the greatest opposition, but no matter who you're going against, if it was me and

01:24you going up there to kick penalty, they still have to guess right or we've got a wide open goal.

01:29And he was able to do that consistently. It does a great job. I fell into that myself. Guess. It's

01:36not guess. They're reading it. They're trying to anticipate based on body language and angle,

01:42which way the player is going to go with their attempt. So it's not really a guess. It's a read.

01:48They don't always read correctly, but this time he did it almost every time.

01:53So they're playing Guatemala tomorrow, right? Tomorrow night at seven Eastern on FS1 in the

02:00one semi. And then Mexico and Honduras is the nightcap, same channel right after the USA game.

02:08They look pretty good, all things being equal, going into this game. And I guess for the first time,

02:16some excitement about him for next year in the real world cup, no?

02:21Yeah. I mean, I think that what this, this gold cup is doing and a loss to Guatemala would maybe

02:27undo some of it because Guatemala is not a powerhouse. They, they got a fortunate draw in

02:32that sense. Mexico got a slightly less fortunate, but still fortunate to not have to play Panama,

02:39which had come in as one of the favorites in this tournament. Both Canada and Panama lost

02:44semi-final quarterfinal games that led to these semis. So I think if, if it's not Mexico, U.S.,

02:50it's going to be a little bit of a disappointment for the United States, but they have developed some

02:56elements of their 2026 world cup team through the use of this tournament. Max Arvston, the left

03:02back for Columbus crew. He, he, he was involved in all four goals on Sunday night too. He helped

03:10surrender. He committed a penalty that led to a goal for Costa Rica. Then he got beaten at the top

03:16of the box and that led to another. So he's got to do better defensively, but now the U S knows they

03:21go next year. They maybe need some help in the back offensively and they can bring him in. Or if Jedi

03:28Robinson were to get injured, they know what they can get from Max. Malik Tillman, their midfielder is,

03:34is the starter now on the, on the full national team. When they get everybody in camp, uh, hopefully

03:40in September for the friendly, they'll play in Columbus. He belongs on the field. There's no

03:44doubt right now. Gio Reyna, terrific talent, uh, hasn't gotten on the field much for Dortmund.

03:50Here's Malik Tillman just got transferred to Leverkusen in the same, in, in the Bundesliga,

03:55the same league, and he's gotten transferred for $40 million or so and playing brilliantly. So they've

04:00learned that and now they know, uh, that they've got another keeper and freeze that they can use

04:04in certain situations. Maybe they get into a world cup, uh, and they're late in the game and

04:09they've got a sub left, uh, and they're, they're playing, let's say they're playing Matt Turner at

04:13keeper, but would you not want to put Matt freeze into the game for a shootout? If you needed it to

04:18move on to the next round, I sure would. So they've learned a lot about this team. Yeah. Yeah. He's

04:23fantastic in that pressure moment. No doubt. Who do you like in that Mexico, uh, other semi,

04:30uh, are they the favorites and are you taking them? Yeah, Mexico's favorite. And that's who I

04:36would be, uh, picking if in, in that circumstance at Honduras did a really nice job against Panama

04:42of, of breaking down Panama, when they want to bunker, uh, and just play defense, they're really

04:48tough to get through. But Honduras did a really nice job on Sunday night in Minneapolis of breaking

04:54through and getting a goal. And then of course they advanced as well in a shootout, the way the rules

04:59are set up for this Scott is that, uh, in the quarterfinals and semifinals, if you don't have

05:05a winner after 90 minutes, you go straight to penalties in the final, which will be Sunday.

05:10If it's still tied up at the end of 90 minutes, they will play extra time, 30 minutes, and then

05:16they'll go to penalties if necessary. So in the, uh, in the club world cup, we saw Palmeiras

05:24advance Chelsea PSG slaughtered Miami four zip baron one easily inter Milan lost, uh, fluminance.

05:33And then how about Al Hilal upsetting man city. And then today rail Madrid and have Venice are

05:40scoreless. So I guess, uh, you know, I know in the, uh, on Saturday, I believe, well, first

05:48Friday is, is fluminance and an El Hilal Palmeiras and Chelsea Saturday, a great game PSG and Bairn.

05:56That's as good as it gets. That could be a final. If you ask me, those two teams are so good.

06:01Yeah. It's interesting that a lot of people are using this tournament as a referendum on

06:06the ML MLS salary cap system. Uh, and maybe the cap could be higher. I'm not saying it couldn't,

06:12but the cap system itself, I'm a believer in that in every sport. Uh, cause remember a cap system

06:18doesn't say you're not paying any players. What it says is that everybody kind of has the same

06:23pot to deal with. And, and it's really about how smartly you spend that money. Uh, baseball needs

06:30it in, in major league baseball. They need it desperately. We see it in NFL, NHL, uh, and MLS,

06:35it makes the league more interesting. Uh, and so the interesting thing is that everybody using that

06:41as a referendum on MLS, what about Manchester city getting their tail kicked by, uh, Saudi Arabia?

06:48Uh, Al Hillau. I mean, uh, does that mean the premier league needs to reconsider what they're

06:52doing? No, it just was a game that happened and they weren't good enough that night. Look,

06:57there there's nobody and no way that, uh, uh, that Miami is going to be as good as the best team in

07:04the world. Paris Saint Germain is the best team in the world. The only team that's even, uh, that even

07:10had a year close to them this year was Liverpool. And for whatever reason, the silly math that led to

07:16this, they didn't even get in this tournament. So let's switch gears. What did you think?

07:21Obviously, uh, the sad passing of Dave Parker before he goes into the hall of fame. And what

07:27did you think of the Steelers deal for Ramsey and, uh, Johnny Smith for Minka Fitzpatrick,

07:34basically? Well, I, I, I'm, I'm at least a little bit pleased that Dave was able to know that he's a

07:41hall of famer, uh, and that he'll be in Cooperstown forever. Uh, I, it frustrates me though,

07:46Scott, when I was, when I was, uh, uh, uh, voter very briefly for the Naismith hall of fame,

07:53uh, Dennis Johnson was on the ballot and I'm like, yeah, Dennis Johnson, absolutely. Hall of

07:59famer, no question. Uh, greatest defensive guard, maybe at that point ever, and maybe Peyton surpasses

08:05him. Uh, but certainly in that conversation and he didn't get in on either of my two times voting

08:11and then he passes away maybe six or eight years later and then he gets that shouldn't happen.

08:17And so I'm glad that Dave knew, but it should have happened many years earlier. He was a hall of

08:23famer as for the trade. I like it. I don't see how you don't like getting two star players for one star

08:30player. I, unless that one star player is the greatest player in the game and make us terrific,

08:35but he's not that, uh, I think that the Steelers absolutely did the right thing here. Uh, there's

08:40a lot of consternation about getting a second wide receiver. Look, it doesn't matter to me who you

08:44throw the ball to. If you move the ball downfield, you get first downs and touchdowns. Johnny Smith

08:49certainly gave that to a, to a team in Miami last year that needed it badly. So do you like your

08:56chances now? Everyone thinks they're not going to be any good. I think they're going to be the same.

09:01They always are nine, 10 wins automatic. It all depends on Rogers. I'm not a believer,

09:06you know, Scott, uh, but what if he surprises us? If he surprises us, they have a lot of other good

09:12pieces. I hope he's surprised.

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