Now, before we switch gears, and we are gonna switch gears on you, quickly, what are your thoughts on the MLS's impact so far on, on this, uh, World Cup?

Yeah.

I, I mean, you, you look at, you look at the World Cup and you see how many players are, are from our league, uh, in the United States, and that's huge.

I mean, uh, even b- before you came in, Mike, like I, I signed in what, '99? And my first match was in year 2000.

There was 10 teams.

[laughs] Now, now we have 30.

You know, everyone, most, most clubs have their own stadium, um, training facilities.

[laughs]

Yeah

... really well.

But, um, I thought there weren't enough guys that took that opportunity to, to, you know, to make a case for themselves, to play a little bit more, uh, have more of a, I would say, uh, more of a role, uh, going into the round of 32.

I thought that part was, it let me down a bit and was dis- a bit disappointed, uh, in that, in that, uh, in that end.

But as far as the bigger picture, and you, you said it earlier, Colin, we qualified and we got top of the, top of the group.

That was the, the first goal.

That's the first step.

Are you shocked at how we went from a year scoring drought to this in it felt like two weeks?

Yeah

... really well.

But, um, I thought there weren't enough guys that took that opportunity to, to, you know, to make a case for themselves, to play a little bit more, uh, have more of a, I would say, um, more of a role, uh, going into the round of 32.

I thought that part was, uh, let me down a bit and was just a bit disappointed, uh, in that, in that, uh, in that end.

But as far as the bigger picture, and you, you said it earlier, Colin, we qualified, and we got top of the, top of the group.

That was the, the first goal.

That's the first step.

Are you shocked at how we went from a year scoring drought to this in it felt like two weeks?

And I

think that's something that Pochettino has been good at doing is keeping everyone on the same level, same keel.

Because you guys know you guys.

And those first couple months that Pochettino was in charge, it was more about getting the culture right and the attitude of the players and making sure We're all marching to the same beat.

And it was it was rough for that first year.

You know, he left a lot of big names out of 19 camps that we probably thought should have been in.

But that's how he wants to manage his team.

I have zero UEFA Champions League appearances to Marcus.

DaMarcus, um, all this time on, how has the USA developed as a footballing nation? What are you seeing here at this World Cup?

Yeah, I'm, I mean, when you look at this group, and not to get too much, uh, deep into it, but when you look at this group, this group has been together for a long time.

And, you know, from the failures of 2018 when we didn't qualify for Russia, this group basically, the m- this, the main core of this group has been together for th- that whole time.

And obviously in 2000- 2022, uh, a lot of their first time playing in the World Cup, and yeah, it was okay.

Um, they didn't, they didn't do anything that we expected them not to do.

Uh, but you look now and you watch those first two matches against, uh, Paraguay and Australia, and you, you can see, y- you can see their improvement.

You can see how much, um, they've enjoyed playing with each other.

You like him?

go in this tournament?

It's a really good question.

I know that's what everyone's thinking.

Can we win the World Cup? I think a quarterfinal setup is an achievement for this team.

And I say that because, yes, we're talented.

Yes, we have good momentum going into the round of 32 and to the knockout stages.

But in the past, we have yet to beat powerhouses with this team.

And just sitting back and watching, how has that made you feel about the MLS?

Mm-hmm.

I have Spain, by the way, who I think might win the World Cup.

But, um, they have to get back to that, and I think they will, I think they will do.

Uh, I think this team is ready.

I think this team is hungry.

Uh, they want to win the World cup.

That is their goal.

How do they match up with the US?

go in this tournament?

It's a really good question.

I know that's what everyone's thinking.

Can we win the World Cup? I think a quarterfinal setup is an achievement for this team.

And I say that because, yes, we're talented.

Yes, we have good momentum going into the round of 32 and to the knockout stages.

But in the past, we have yet to beat... powerhouses with this team and to be able to do that three times in a row that's a tough that's a tough call that's a tough that's a tough task uh for this team so yeah it's uh i think depending on who we get in that round of 16 quarterfinal match i think we can get to there and then after that you know you never know it's knockout knockout matches um One game, we can compete with anyone in the world, I'll say that.

And just sitting back and watching, how has that made you feel about the MLS?

When you watch those young guys, what are the memories that come back and how challenging is that to be making your first entry in the biggest stage in your sport?

Yeah, I'll tell you what.

What Alex is doing right now in this World Cup is incredible.

The way he's playing, the confidence that he has, the confidence that his teammates have in him.

I mean, since he, I mean, you just look at his, and I love his story.

You look at his professional career, even when he was younger.

You know, he goes at, he's in Orlando.

team in quite a while in terms of at least the production so far, but within the scope of the other 31 teams that are going to advance, how good is the U.S.? They're up

If

that happens.

Playing at 45 from the start, I don't know what that looks like because we don't know from the camp, inside the camp, how much he's done from the training side of things.

But if he comes on for 20, 30 minutes at the end of the match, regardless if we're winning, if we're losing...

I think that's a huge boost for the group and, you know, and for the fans.

You know, everybody wants to see Christian play.

And we want to see him play.

Yeah.