First, Greg gives his 5 biggest needs for the USMNT roster, and Belz lists his preferred changes ahead of the fall international calendar. Then we hustle through the European player pool, talk about each guy's club status, and look briefly toward the season ahead.By Adam Belz.

A long episode breaking down the loss to Mexico, the opening flurry from the US, the gradual annexation of the game by Mexico, and that 20-minute period of utter helplessness in the second half culminating in the match-winning goal for El Tri. We try to discuss what this game and the overall performance in the Gold Cup all mean for the USMNT an ...…

Easily the most pleasing to the eye performance from the USMNT in the Berhalter era. We break it down and look ahead to Mexico on Sunday. Thank you to Away Days Football for being our first sponsor! Check out awaydaysfootball.com and their very cool Mystery Kit product. You pay $25, you pick your jersey size, and a few days later you receive an ...…

The USA faced a composed, savvy Curaçao side in the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup. We take a look at the game while airplanes fly overhead and children shout in the background. It’s a busy week at Scuffed HQ. Apologies. Scuffed is on Patreon and we're trying to ramp up the patron-only content to make patronage even more worthwhile. It only cost ...…

Henry Bushnell, a sportswriter for Yahoo Sports who covers soccer regularly, joins to break down the USMNT's final group stage match at the Gold Cup. Rotation, rotation, rotation. But did we learn anything? Check out Henry on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HenryBushnell Check out his takeaways on the Panama game: https://sports.yahoo.com/usmnt-pa ...…

You know the drill. Lengthy chances and scoring summary, followed by a series of thoughts on what the game taught us. In this case, we pose several questions and answer some of them. Scuffed is on Patreon and we're trying to ramp up the patron-only content to make patronage even more worthwhile. It only costs $2 per month to support the podcast ...…

No spoilers! Except that Gyasi Zardes was in the starting lineup, Greg and Belz got loose for the game, and then they recorded real late at night. Thank you to Away Days Football for being our first sponsor! Check out awaydaysfootball.com and their very cool Mystery Kit product. You pay $25, you pick your jersey size, and a few days later you r ...…

FC Dallas has arguably the best academy in Major League Soccer. Four players who came through its doors were on the 21-man U.S. roster at the U20 World Cup in Poland. The national teams at younger age groups are peppered with Dallas kids. And now those kids are getting professional minutes at the ages of 16 and 17 with North Texas SC, the franc ...…

Velasquez and Belz go through the U20 World Cup roster in detail and assess each player’s performance, their likelihood of breaking into the USMNT and the likely timing of that breakthrough, when applicable. Then we talk about the 3-0 loss to Venezuela rumors (later confirmed) of Tyler Adams’ absence, and the general crappiness that prevails at ...…

No spoilers! Doyle, senior writer for MLSsoccer.com, joins me to break down the quarterfinal showdown with the South American U20 champions. Scuffed is on Patreon and we're ramping up the Patron-only content. GIFs are ok there! And it only costs $2 per month to support the podcast at the base level: https://patreon.com/scuffed…

Greg and I break down the Gold Cup roster, talk as quickly as possible about the 1-0 loss to Jamaica, and move on briskly to the U20 World Cup. Scuffed is on Patreon and we're ramping up the Patron-only content. GIFs are ok there! And it only costs $2 per month to support the podcast at the base level: https://patreon.com/scuffed…

No spoilers! Joining me to break down the Round of 16 match is Franco Panizo, a New York-based reporter who covers the USMNT, MLS and all things American soccer for SBIsoccer.com and other outlets. Franco's Twitter: https://twitter.com/FrancoPanizo Thank you to Away Days Football for being our first sponsor! Check out awaydaysfootball.com and t ...…

This is going to be more encouraging than you think. Brian joined me from his car, in the middle of a New Jersey thunderstorm. He made a good point about McKenzie starting at right back and projected a starting XI that will have you psyched for Tuesday. And Scuffed does have a Patreon. We are always excited to add more pledges and are working t ...…

The U.S. faced Nigeria in a game that was, if not must-win, at least a must-draw. The Total Soccer Show's Daryl Grove, a great friend of Scuffed since the beginning, took time to join Belz to break down the match. No spoilers here. Check out the Total Soccer Show if you aren't already a listener: https://www.totalsoccershow.com/ They're on Twit ...…

No spoilers here, but we talk about the game and the game ahead against Nigeria. Tab trotted out a lineup with some headscratchers against a very tough and organized Ukraine side. Thank you to Away Days Football for being our first sponsor! Check out awaydaysfootball.com and their very cool Mystery Kit product. You pay $25, you pick your jersey ...…

Velasquez makes his return to the pod. We’ve got the 40-man provisional roster for the Gold Cup and a summer training camp roster to discuss. Then we quickly preview the U.S. v Ukraine at the U20 World Cup on Friday. 0:30 Lots of names to sort though, but we spend the most time discussing the omissions, because we don’t know yet who will actual ...…

Opposition research! This week we hear from journalists on three continents about the nations the U.S. U20s will face in the group stage in Poland. Vadim Furmanov, a Ukrainian-American living in North Carolina, spoke with me about Ukraine. Emmanuel Chinaza, a reporter in Lagos, spoke with me about Nigeria. And Babagol founder Uri Levy spoke wit ...…

US Soccer Twitter legend @USMNTVideos joined the pod to help me recap the group stage at the Concacaf Championship for the U.S. U17s. This is the qualifying tournament for the U17 World Cup, Raphael Wicky’s first meaningful competition as coach, and a rare chance to see these players in international competition. We recap the three matches, and ...…

The U20 World Cup begins May 23 and the U.S. roster will drop in just over a week. Matt Hartman (@mattshartman) joins to chat about that roster — who we’d like to see on it, who’ll miss out, and why. You don’t want to miss Hartman’s 5 principles of a Tab-selected U20 World Cup squad. We then (pretty much) settle on a roster and an XI for the to ...…

Warshaw and Gass called much of Generation Adidas Cup from the booth, the spoke to a lot of the coaches, and they’re brimming over with thoughts about the tournament, which saw its first ever MLS academy winner in the Champions division. I joined them on Twitch last week to talk about it all, and recorded the whole thing, and published it essen ...…

Real Monarchs, RSL and U.S. U20 goalkeeper David Ochoa joins the pod to talk about how he learned to be a goalkeeper from his dad, his path from Oxnard, Calif., to Chivas, to Real Salt Lake, his decision to sign a Homegrown contract with RSL and how he practices saving Alex Mendez free kicks. Then Matt Hartman (@mattshartman) joins to talk abou ...…

Chris Gloster, the left back for the Hannover U23s and the U.S. U20s, joins the pod to talk about his 2018 move to Germany, the transition to life there and his development as a player. He discussed in detail the outrageous racist abuse he suffered in an away match at VfB Lübeck on Wednesday and his reactions to it. At the end of the interview, ...…

San Antonio FC head coach and technical director Darren Powell joins the pod to talk about the signings of teenage attackers Ethan Bryant and Leo Torres to the club, the viability of USL as a pathway to elite professional soccer, and many other things. Then Belz goes solo on Brian Kleiban's ouster at the LA Galaxy, a big weekend for a few US U2 ...…

Travis Clark from Top Drawer Soccer joins us in our hour of need to discuss the latest U17 roster, the first called by new manager Raphael Wicky and the last before U17 World Cup qualifying in May. We run through the roster, the notable omissions and how we'd like to see this team line up. 0:30 housekeeping 6:30 Raphael Wicky's first U17 roster ...…

The U.S. played to a 1-1 draw with Chile on Tuesday night, and the match is actually kind of hard to summarize. It wasn’t horrible. It wasn’t great. We definitely didn't control the game. We were missing Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams and Christian Pulisic came off for reportedly precautionary reasons after a half-hour. We run through the time ...…

Paxton Pomykal was a standout performer for the U.S. U20s at the Concacaf Championship, and the creative central midfielder has come out swinging in 2019 for FC Dallas. He's started 3 of 4 games for one of the better teams (so far) in the western conference of MLS, and he's drawn attention on both sides of the Atlantic as a midfield orchestrato ...…

The U.S. beat Ecuador 1-0 in Orlando on Thursday night. It was not a match that quickened the pulse, but the U.S. out-possessed Ecuador, a generally respectable South American opponent, 62 to 38, and Berhalter now has 3 games and 3 wins since taking over the national team. We try to glean what we can from this friendly.…

Greg lays out his best rationale for the roster decisions that had us scratching our heads last week. I nod along. We try to predict Berhalter's starting XI vs Ecuador (we recorded before it was reported that Adams will play right back, but generally anticipated it). Then we go over the U20 roster with an eye to the World Cup in May. 0:25 "How ...…

This week, Gregg Berhalter announced and explained his 24-man roster for friendlies later this month against Ecuador and Chile. First big chance for him to have the full squad at his disposal and he left off Sargent and Weah, called Baird and Lewis back up. We get into all that, and also clipped a bunch of Berhalter quotes from the press confer ...…

Quick rundown of the youngsters in MLS on opening weekend, an abridged discussion of the March friendlies roster (due next week), and then Phill Grooms of the USL Show joins to discuss young Americans in USL. 0:30 MLS rundown and an abridged take on the March friendly rosters (child-rearing cut it a little short) 16:00 March friendlies roster d ...…

The 2019 MLS season kicks off this weekend, so here’s a thorough look at which young Americans to watch in the league. Matt Doyle of MLSsoccer.com joins the pod to help invent some categories and work through a list of 50+ names. Everyone from Chris Durkin to Derrick Jones, Sebastian Saucedo to Omir Fernandez. (the categories are definitely not ...…

19-year-old (almost 20-yr-old) centerback Mark McKenzie joins the pod for a conversation about centerbacking, his breakout 2018 for the Philadelphia Union, January Camp, and the U20s' dominant showing in World Cup qualifying in November. Then Greg and Belz run through the player pool news, Fabian Johnson's revival (?), the USWNT She Believes ro ...…

Belz goes under the knife for his garbage predictions about Miazga and Weah, and then the hosts discuss three key questions about the USMNT after January Camp. Will we see the inverted fullback system with a dedicated holding mid and dual 8/10s in March? Who will Berhalter play in the central midfield? What's going to happen with DeAndre Yedlin?…

Ted Kroeten is the founder of Joy of the People, a non-profit in the Twin Cities focused on free play as a way to develop more instinctive, resourceful soccer players (and people). A former player, long-time coach and current soccer parent, Kroeten now believes that up to at least the age of 14, the best way for kids to improve is by playing fo ...…

The USA beat Costa Rica 2-0 on Saturday in San Jose, California, with a couple of goals in the last 10 minutes. This was a Costa Rica side that was a bit stouter than the Panamanian opponent a week ago, and another convincing Concacaf friendly win for Berhalter. 0:30 Daryl Grove's GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/team-daryl-grove 1:30 th ...…

Yes it was a Panama B team, but the U.S. is likely to face several similar sides at the Gold Cup in June, and the win on Sunday was a coherent, competent, even dominant, performance. Compared to USA-Bosnia in 2018, and January camps in previous years, this was a large step in the right direction. Plenty to discuss: Surprises in the lineup, and ...…

We run down the action in Europe over the weekend, mostly in the Bundesliga. Greg explains what worried him about the USWNT’s 3-1 loss to France. Then we talk about the upcoming Panama friendly, who the 6 is going to be, and we give our (half-hearted) starting XIs. Mostly we're just curious about the game.…

LA Galaxy's academy is one of the top talent centers in American soccer, and U19 head coach Brian Kleiban is in the middle of it. He's now got former players all over the U.S. boys' youth national teams, he's been to two straight Development Academy finals, and he joined the pod for a wide-ranging conversation on everything from the time he spi ...…

Ajax and U.S. U20 right back Sergino Dest joins the podcast from the Netherlands for nice little chat. And then Greg and Belz gin up predictions mostly to honor this coming weekend's return of the Bundesliga. 0:30 Sergiño Dest, the 18-year-old attacking fullback who's a standout for one of the world's best academies and a U.S. youth internation ...…

We talk about the Pulisic move to Chelsea and lots of other moves, run down what we’re looking for from January camp, and then (don’t miss it!) interview Martín Vásquez, the dean of the Real Salt Lake academy, which has been a factory of talent for the U.S. U20 team in recent years. Lots of detail in the show notes so make like a honey badger a ...…

Brian Clarhaut (pronounced Clair-heart) is the 32-year-old manager of Nyköpings BIS (pronounced New-shoppings BISS) in the Swedish third division. He’s taken the road less traveled. Grew up in New Jersey, played college soccer, was an assistant at a few colleges in the Northeast, and then got an assistant coaching job in Sweden and was named he ...…

Joey Anthone (@USAProspects), Matt Hartman (@MattSHartman) join for a draft of uncapped U-21 Americans with assembling hypothetical teams for the 2026 World Cup in mind. The three of us each pick a 20-player roster, and briefly discuss who came out best. Here were the rules: Only U.S.-eligible players born in 1997 or later are allowed. Anyone a ...…

In August, we recorded a catalog of worst case scenarios for USMNT players abroad in the first half of the European season. This week we check in on those (a disconcerting number came true), and then discuss Richie Ledezma’s pending move to PSV, the Champions League draw, and Dave Sarachan’s new job. 0:30 Worst case scenarios, revisited. In chr ...…

A lot happened over the past couple weeks in American soccer. We take it on piece by piece. Check the show notes. 0:30 Gregg Berhalter 18:30 January Camp 28:45 MLS Cup, Atlanta 33:50 Andrew Carleton's misdeeds 36:45 quick lookahead to the spring calendar 38:45 Josh Sargent debut and GOAL 45:30 Revierderby 51:40 Yedlin 55:00 Encouraging Young Ya ...…

Andrew Erickson, the former Crew SC beat reporter for the Columbus Dispatch, joins the pod to talk about covering newly announced USMNT coach Gregg Berhalter, and then Belz and Matt Hartman discuss what we learned about the U17s in the Nike Friendlies. 0:30 Andrew Erickson interview 26:45 the U17s at the Nike Friendlies: all the players discuss ...…

U.S. men's U20 coach and youth technical director Tab Ramos joins to talk about the Concacaf Championship and a few other things. Then Greg and Belz talk briefly about the Italy friendly, evaluate the first team minutes requirement floated by some after the game, and break down the satisfying, trophy-winning 2-0 win over Mexico in Bradenton fro ...…

Belz, Joey Anthone and Matt Hartman take a deep dive into the pool of players born in 2002 or later and therefore eligible for the U17 World Cup next year. We talk about how this age group stacks up against past cycles, discuss more than 50 individual players and try to answer a bunch of very good Twitter questions. This is a long one. Listen a ...…

It was a pretty bad performance from the Americans at Wembley, but hiring a coach should help. an abysmal opening 13 minutes why this happened (a bad job by Sarachan and not the players' faults) a roster rundown and a few other things bright spotsBy Adam Belz and Greg Velasquez.

The USA will face England on Thursday afternoon and Italy on Tuesday, and we’re here to talk about the roster and who we’d like to see in the starting XI. Might be the first time we get to see Pulisic, McKennie and Adams on the field at the same time! We talk about the U20s and the USWNT later in the episode. 0:30 roster absences 11:48 goalkeep ...…

We talk about quality of the soccer being played by our U20s in the Concacaf Championship, assess individual performances in some detail, give the new USMNT roster a once-over and welcome Alex Mendez to the podcast. 0:30 how the U20s have looked (not great despite the 26-2 margin of victory) 11:50 the good performers (Mendez, Servania, Llanez, ...…