So what kind of drove you into the lifetime of storytelling?

Well, when I was a really little kid, I started writing in those marble notebooks, you know, the black notebooks with the white speckles on them, and I would draw pictures.

I still have it here somewhere.

My parents had a little Dutch wooden shoe.

I have no idea why they had never left the country, even though they probably should have on a couple of occasions.

And I wrote, I was probably seven, and I was writing children's stories where it was a sailboat.

It had a mast.

So how do you integrate yourself into like the writer's room and sort of prove yourself as part of the team to the other team? I mean,

Which the chances are not all of them will.

Yeah, I mean, we're guaranteed that not all, all of them will.

Most of these players are gonna go back to youth national teams, whether it's the under 20s or the 23s, after this camp.

I mean, once the competitive games start again, which is next month in the Nations League quarterfinals, I, I would have to think that Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie, some other guys that have been a huge part of this team for a long time, are gonna come back in, and that means that certain guys aren't, aren't gonna be here.

But the, the, to answer your question, Jay, the kids were ready.

Like, you can only play who's in front of you.

Like, they got a chance, and we've seen US teams lose games like this in, in the past, and no one would've said anything if these games had been not great because th- there's a built-in excuse.

... has prepared them.

Some of these players that everybody is talking about right now, did you get the feeling that Mauricio Pochettino in this moment is looking to kind of turn a page and at the very least look at and maybe add some of these young players that I think are getting people excited, and I think a lot of people feel like this U.S. team needs after what was a successful World Cup, but I think also I think everybody agrees, and I think Pochettino would agree, left something on the table and a bad taste with that last game.

The national team needs new blood.

There's no question about it.

Every national team does after a World Cup cycle.

I do think we're going to see a bunch of young players.

Plotch said it's going to be a mix of experienced guys and newcomers, guys that maybe haven't been with the program, weren't on the World Cup team.

So I think you're going to see... you know, he made the point that you can't just have young players.

What did you glean when it comes to this situation with an undoubtedly talented player in Noah Kai Banks as it relates to the national team going forward under Pochettino?

Are we going to go play games in Europe at some point? Is there any plan for that? It's a

great question.

And actually, I fail to mention that there's also a World Cup that the U.S. team now has to qualify for.

So lots of road games in really hard places to play.

I know we all think it's easy to go down to places like Costa Rica or Honduras or Guatemala and get results.

It's not.

I mean, the U.S., I don't think they've ever won a competitive game in Costa Rica.

pursued and had a chance? Or was it pretty much from the inside we're running it back and that's how it's going to be, not even hiring the search firm?

Um, what has been your... do, you believe that Mauricio Pochettino is not the man to lead this team into the next cycle?

I don't see how anyone could think that he would be after what we just saw on Monday night.

I mean, you had the benefit of playing in a World Cup at home.

Uh, you are a seeded team, something that is not gonna happen if you're not a host country, unless you're one of the very best teams in the world, which the US isn't.

And, you know, for me, the bare minimum for this team was to get to a quarterfinal.

The expectations are higher when you bring in a coach with, uh, the resume that Mauricio Pochettino had.

He was supposed to be better.

True.

That said, looking forward, Senegal, Belgium, who do you think advances out of there, and what do you think about the U.S.'s path overall?

Well, first of all, I push back a little bit, right? Because the U.S.

team has reached the round of 16 at each of the last three World Cups it has participated in.

Obviously, it didn't qualify for 2018.

But 2010, 2014, tougher groups in both of those competitions.

And in 2022, with the youngest starting lineup in the entire tournament.

And none of those World Cups happened on home soil.

What has it been like compared to kind of other experiences you've had in covering this team?

Dortmund,

right.

Um, and about, you know, something about his training habits and Reina was kind of mentioned, uh, you know, the same thing, something about him blowing off a training program in the summer.

I don't know that that's true.

I saw that too.

Yeah.

I don't know that that's true.

What do you make of his move and how he's

I'll give you a little opportunity to expand and expound on this and maybe justify or re-justify this hot take, my friend.

Well, Happy New Year to both you guys.

It's something I've said in the past on the show, as you noted.

And it's something I believe.

I mean, I've watched this team for a long time now, guys, over 20 years.

I saw Tav Ramos play.

I saw Claudio Arena play.

But do you see any of these players either that are playing in Europe right now? making moves in January, or like I said, some of these MLS players who, again, if that bird in the hand happens here in January as opposed to throwing all of your chips into the summer, make some moves.

This is twice the height of the Empire State Building, and there's eight columns.

Okay, so here we go.

There's a heated debate erupted over whether Egyptologists have found these beneath the pyramids of Gaza.

Right now, they say that they're there, and they are 2,000 feet beneath the surface.

And they could have been used as water pipelines, spiral staircases.

The fact that they are there is true.

Whether the humans could have done that, I'll say it again.

I don't think