00:00What other players excite you from this team that we saw a lot of alternate talent that might be fighting for a spot in the top 11 once these big, big names come back to the team?
00:11When we say big, big names, you're talking about one guy in particular.
00:14Pulisic, we have McKinney, we have several Gio Rey. Now there's a bunch of players that were known in the roster.
00:20Exactly.
00:20But from the ones that you saw play, which ones do you see dressing up in 12 months?
00:26Yeah. All right. So we're definitely adding Luna to the squad.
00:30I think he's shown himself throughout this tournament and that's why this tournament was great.
00:33Without those breakout stars like Pulisic, it gave opportunities to players like him.
00:37Anja Meng, who we know is a great player as well, but also doing great stuff up front for the U.S.
00:42I think he could have done a little bit better there in that final, but that's beyond the point.
00:45And then, of course, going all the way to the back line, Matt Freese, I think, was pretty solid in terms of keeping.
00:51He had some shaky moments earlier on in the tournament, but he did show out.
00:54And I think he's going to also be maybe the backup, maybe the starter come the World Cup.
00:59We'll have to see how things go.
01:00And it begs the question, are MLS and Liga MX competitive enough to grant these players a spot on the starting XI in the next World Cup?
01:10Definitely. I think there's some positions that we already know that the people in Europe, that's their position,
01:15especially the defense, midfield, and Raul Jimenez at top with Santi Jimenez.
01:21Now, on the outside, old Mexican talent from La Gloriosa Liga MX, for sure.
01:26I think 60% of our starting lineup in our first game in the World Cup is going to be players from Liga MX.
01:32Liga MX, the thing is that people don't know how tough it is.
01:37It's a league that requires well-prepared players.
01:42Nick, what about MLS?
01:44We've seen in the Pochettino squad that he relied on a lot of MLS players,
01:48and they still have a lot of tournaments ahead of them.
01:53Is that an itch for them?
01:55Yeah.
01:55I think, and we talked about this last week,
01:57I think it does wonders for developing the game here,
02:01sort of getting people to rally around the national team.
02:05It builds up that national pride.
02:07Now, is it as competitive enough to get the squad ready for come a World Cup,
02:12where we're going to be facing, I don't know, who knows what we're going to draw with,
02:14a Portugal, a Germany, a Brazil, an Argentina, you name it.
02:18The question is, sorry, the answer is not at all.
02:21I don't think so.
02:22But I will say this.
02:23You have other players, key players who are playing in Europe,
02:26who didn't participate in this tournament.
02:28Whatever the reasons are, we're not going to get into that.
02:30That's not important.
02:31But how they're going to plug into the squad and aid them and lead them
02:34is going to be very important.
02:35MLS isn't there, but we're showing that we're getting there.
02:38And I think it's still, whether you think MLS is competitive enough or not,
02:42I think that it's great that Pochettino is using homegrown players
02:45in the homegrown league.
02:47A big blow to the MLS aspirations as a world-class league.
02:51It will be for Lionel Messi to decide to prepare for the World Cup somewhere else.
02:57Rumor is out there that he's looking for a team with more competition.
03:02Now, Tamila, what is the problem with the U.S. and Mexico not having official games?
03:09They will be playing some high-profile game like the Mexico versus Japan happening in September.
03:13But what happens to a team where their players are not necessarily invested in these friendlies
03:19and they might have to do long travels for games that might not give you anything as a coach?
03:23I mean, I think the risk is monumental.
03:25Just having these such long stretches without, you know, being with your team,
03:30being able to get that rhythm going, it's going to have a very negative effect on this team.
03:34I think if they don't show up to these small amount of games that they do have
03:38and perform to their 100%, that's the risk to lose their place in the World Cup,
03:43which is coming soon.
03:45And lack of these games and lack of practice, lack of being as a unit together is risky.
