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Jimmy Maas and Juan Garcia talk with Phil West of Verde All Day and Eric Goodman of the Austin Chronicle about the Major League Soccer All-Star Game and Austin FC’s prospects after Brandon Vazquez’s injury. Plus Q2’s resident luchador Verdisimo takes on the Bayou Breeze. And the grudge match on the pitch is decided between supporter groups Los Verdes and Pollo FC.
The full transcript of this episode of ¡Vamos Verde! is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
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Jimmy [00:00:36] Welcome back to ¡Vamos Verde!, I’m Jimmy Maas .
Juan And I’m Juan Garcia.
Jimmy And here we are— we are taping this as the MLS All-Star Game, the 2025 MLS All-star Game, not to be confused with other all-star games that we’ve not been to, but the All-Stars game is ending, people are filing out of Q2 Stadium and it’s been quite a week as MLS, as their circus rolls through town.
Juan [00:01:00] They took over the city, they took over the stadium.
Jimmy [00:01:03] They did things their way. They took over the Fairmont Hotel. Yeah.
Juan [00:01:06] Took over a lot of spots, dude.
Jimmy [00:01:07] The domain. The I love you so much sign became an MLS advertisement. They co-opted Brad Stuver for a bit. They did. Also this is this might feel a little more choppy than our usual intros but we’re just going to roll through it in one take and that’s just going be the way it goes. So this was actually I’ve been covering sports since the 90s and this is actually the first all-star game I’ve ever been to of any sport major league baseball NFL whatever. I sort of likened it to a convention. It’s an annual convention that all the MLS people come together and they enjoy their time. A lot of media people that we know well from following locally, well they get to meet their counterparts in other cities and they come in. So, you know, it was an interesting time for people watching, for me.
Juan [00:01:58] It was it was a lot of fun. Yeah, I think that it’s just that like that’s what all-star games are supposed to be Yeah, they’re just supposed to fun, and I think they did that here
Jimmy [00:02:04] And the meaning of it really wasn’t, you know, low stakes, a lot of brand activations. It was just a series of those through the week, but it was still, it was pleasing to be a part of it. I just don’t know if I enjoyed it the way I would if I was like, you know, 15, 17, 12.
Juan [00:02:24] I’m sure a lot of people made a lot of money in Austin this week.
Jimmy [00:02:28] One thing I did, I was looking forward to, and this is Austin’s best opportunity to see the people of Austin, their best opportunity, to see Lionel Messi, their best opportunity. To see Jordi Alba, their best opportunity to see Sergio Ramos for Liga MX, and only one of those guys played on the field. One for three. Yeah, and I’m not saying that it is I get it, you know, stuff happens and maybe you don’t necessarily want to put your body at risk, especially the form that Lino Messi has been in lately, but it’s a tough, when you sell a game as the best of the best, and then maybe not all the best are there, it’s maybe a little bit of an oversell. That’s the one downside to this whole event. That’s what I would say.
Juan [00:03:17] Just like you mentioned, a lot of the marketing went from Lionel Messi’s gonna be in Austin to iShow Speed.
Jimmy [00:03:25] Show speed which by the way, I’m just gonna start I think our real job is on the radio, which is effectively Streaming all the time and I don’t understand why we’re not as famous
Juan [00:03:37] Honestly, I mean, we basically do the same thing as I show speed, but we make a whole lot less money for it. Way less. All right. You know what that tells me, Jimmy? You need to start getting me to jump over cars in order to just, that’ll bring the donors right in.
Jimmy [00:03:51] During National Public Radio breaks, you’ll just jump over cars, another apparati.
Juan [00:03:56] Yes, I don’t know if we can afford like a Lamborghini or a Ferrari or whatever he jumped over, but I don’t know, a Prius? Corolla? Something like that?
Jimmy [00:04:05] Some of the stars of the week that seem to be featured over and over at these activities, mascots. And you know, we had our own interaction with Austin’s favorite mascot, not Speedbump, the other favorite mascot Verdisimo. Last week we had an All-Star live taping out at Central Machine Works, and I say last week, meaning a week before the All-star game, so a lot of this taping happened. Well prior to anyone knowing whether or not little messy was going to come or any of that was happening So here’s a little snippet from our time at Central Machine Works
Juan [00:04:47] We have lots of very special guests coming up, but first I wanna bring out someone special, a special guest announcer, Dr. Rubén Pizarro is a veteran Spanish language sports broadcaster based in Austin. You might know him best as La Voz de los Longhorns, the play-by-play voice of UT Football Games. He’s also an announcer on KUT News 90.5, our home station. If you will believe it, he is also a trained physician. This guy does not quit. Rubén, ladies and gentlemen.
Rubén [00:05:24] Thank you, thank you Juan, very humble presentation. And thank you because 97% of what you said is through it. But this is the best thing of today. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s been a great night in Vamos Verde’s show. You have seen him around the stadiums, not only here, but away for Austin FC. Ladies and gentleman, let’s see, Verdisimo!
Juan [00:06:00] You see him around the stadium, he is getting folks hyped up in and out of the stadium and in and out of The Ring. My man is a terrific wrestler with a fantastic record. Let’s see if anyone can challenge him for the title.
Rubén [00:06:18] He went to practice, he went to train here in Austin for almost a decade before becoming the mosque. Verdisimo almost in FC. He has defeated enemies. He has put down teams as close as Houston. Ha ha! Verdisimooo!
Juan [00:06:39] How does it feel to be the one and only Verdisimo?
Verdeisimo [00:06:44] Oh ho ho ho! How does it feel?
Rubén [00:06:50] No, no, no not now, not here, by God it’s Bayou Breeze! Oh yeah, ladies and gentlemen, Bayou Breeze impresses! Always known as Verdisimo’s rival, Bayous Breeze comes representing the Bayou City, wearing the orange and blue. Austin FC don’t play, they don’t Play Houston until three weeks.
“Bayou Breeze” [00:07:17] For now. Listen brother, I want you to understand before you say one more bad thing about Houston. We are the Bayou City and I’m the Bayou Breeze and we’re coming at you in three weeks as you point it out. And what does he
Rubén [00:07:30] And what is important being by your braids here?
“Bayou Breeze” [00:07:32] Bring us here because we are coming strong like a category five oh boy coming right at you brother and we are here to take on the Verde for the Texas trophy I want the Texas Trophy on my bookshelf
Juan [00:07:49] I feel like this Bayou Breeze could use an air freshener.
Rubén [00:07:55] Hey, hey, hey stop there, it’s not a game here guys,
[Verdismo and Bayou Breeze wrestle]
Rubén Please respect the audience, we are recording this show live from Central Works. And they start doing the action hey and then each other try to meet each other and there goes Bayou Breeze falls down by Verdismo!
Juan [00:08:26] Let’s give it up for Rubén! And Verdisimo everybody! Yeah! Alright, now that we’re nice and warmed up we can get to the actual show. Jimmy, you’re here too?
Rubén You’re here?
Jimmy [00:08:41] Ruben Pizarro, everybody. Verdissimo! All right, most of our show, we do not practice as you might’ve seen just now. All right. Welcome. We have a lot to get to. Where’s my, Juan, help me out. Where’s script? I was just- Look, Jimmy, you printed these out. I ran- If you can’t figure out-
Juan [00:09:12] where it is I can’t really just ran a marathon figured it out yes it’s too many knocks on the head
Jimmy [00:09:17] It is the summer of soccer, guys. It’s the summer of soccer. And that is before the next summer of soccer, which is next summer. But that, you know, anyway, this summer also is the Summer of Soccer.
Juan [00:09:31] And at least for a week, Austin is officially the center of the soccer world.
Jimmy [00:09:37] It’s the first pro all-star game ever held in our little berg and a pretty big moment for pro sports here. So to talk about it and other things related to Austin FC, we brought two of the best.
Juan [00:09:51] Both of these guys have covered Austin FC before they even kicked a ball. Eric Goodman is a writer at the Austin Chronicle. He’s known for his sharp insights and irreverent voice. Goodman also has a sports Emmy for his work with NBC with their Olympic coverage. His reporting is as entertaining as it is informative. Most importantly, he is a Mets fan. Jimmy made me say this. He wrote it in my script.
Jimmy [00:10:19] Yes, and the better-looking one, in my opinion, is Phil West. He’s the longtime writer for Verde All Day, Austin’s go-to subscriber website for all things Austin FC. From tactical breakdowns to match recaps, he delivers insightful and sometimes witty coverage of Austin’s every move. He’s a seasoned journalist based in Austin. He’s written for everything from MLS.com to the San Antonio Express News. He is Phil West and Eric Goodman. Welcome to the stage. Give it up. How is your summer of soccer going so far? What a summer.
Phil [00:10:56] Very soccer-y.
Jimmy [00:10:59] Maybe too much soccer. We’ll start with you, Eric. Your thoughts on the All-Star game. First off, your take on something of this level coming to.
Eric [00:11:10] I mean, listen, this is the kind of thing that when you know, I think a lot of us, we’ve all been in Austin before Major League Sports existed here. And when you get a team in MLS, one of the things that you dream may sometime come to your city is MLS All-Star. And with MLS the game itself, you get pretty much a whole week full of activities in it. And if you’re a diehard that has a lot of time free over the next several days and. Wants to soak it all in. I think there’s a ton of really, really exciting events and, you know, who cares about any, whether this transcends nationwide because here in Austin I think it’s going to be a big deal. It’s going be a lot of fun.
Phil [00:11:51] Yeah, and I’ve been to three of these. I went to 2015, I believe, in Denver, or Commerce City is where the stadium is really located. And then 2022 in Minnesota, 2023 in DC. And it’s great just to see, I mean, from my perspective, just to all the national journalists and the journalists from various cities who come along. Again, these people that you hear and read and listen to throughout the year to try to get perspectives from different places on what’s going on in the league. And then just the opportunity, obviously, to see these players and to see them shine, or in the case of 2023, to see them kind of flail against Arsenal a little bit. A little bit embarrassing. I kind of felt bad, I’m an Arsenal fan, but I’m also an MLS fan, so kind of conflicted in the press box there. But it’s a really good time, and y’all are in for a real treat this next coming week here. We won’t hold your allegiances against you.
Jimmy [00:12:44] How are you with the format? Like you just brought up one of the flaws, like if they take on a Premier League side, maybe they don’t stack up as well. I mean, your take, Phil, on the format of the, you’ve seen different factions. From factions.
Phil [00:12:57] And it got to the point where going against European teams kind of got a little tiresome. And then they did the League of MX versus MLS All-Stars. And I think that’s a much better kind of product. I think it’s interesting to see those two leagues match up against each other. I think we’re at the point now where we could do West versus East again, which is how it was kind of in the beginning. But just in terms of the talent level, just in term of being able to feature more people from this league, I think, we could sustain it. I think could do it at this point. But in the meantime, yeah, having this kind of comparison, this benchmark against the other major North American Soccer League, I think it’s good. It’s a much better measure than getting a European team here in their preseason essentially and kind of seeing what they can do.
Juan [00:13:39] And it seems Major League Soccer in these Continental competitions is starting to stack up a little bit better against some of these Mexican sides. All-Star game is a bit of a different beast. How do you feel the MLS All-Stars are going to stack out against what seems like a pretty stacked team from Mexico?
Eric [00:13:54] Yeah, and one of the things that you might think you would lose by not taking on one of those big European clubs is a little bit of star power, but I don’t know, I’m thrilled that Sergio Ramos is, you know, he’s a player that’s, that’s been, you know, from my childhood as a growing up a Spain fan, one of my all time favorite players, Hamas Rodriguez, another all time, favorite player of mine. Those guys. I prefer James. James. James Rodriguez also very, both players are going to bring star power and I do, I love the format because. It gives both sides a little bit of skin in the game to where, you know, if you’re never going to see in all that we, and this is across all sports, we’ve seen that we just saw this last night in the MLB All-Star game, like you just don’t get players giving everything in these exhibitions, but once you get the league rivalry, and they took a year off of this last year, so getting back to it where now you’re starting to build a kind of an annual tradition with these two leagues, I think it’s going to make for something that is. Better than it would have been in any other format.
Phil [00:14:55] Right, and again, I mean, obviously you’ve got Messi. I mean again, we’re gonna just kind of wait and see if he actually gets into the stadium and he actually plays. He was injured last year, so he missed it, but obviously having this legendary player coming to Q2 is pretty amazing in and of itself. And I think MLS has pretty good top to bottom talent. It’s funny that you mentioned Sergio Ramos because he’s one of my least favorite players of all time.
Jimmy [00:15:17] Wow. Ditto, Phil. A rivalry brewing here. All right. So, Phil, you you’ve you’ve been around the block. Do you like this? Do you like All-Star games? Do we’re one of the few leagues that even bother doing this with Major League Soccer?
Phil [00:15:31] I see it maintaining. I mean, I do think that, again, even though a lot of leagues around the world don’t do this, I mean this is an American sports league and you are used to having these kind of all-star games here. So I think having that sort of template, that kind of relatability is valuable for the league and it’s just a lot fun. And again, you’ve got the all-start game on Wednesday, obviously, but the real fun is the all star skills challenge on Tuesday where you get the giant ski ball, you get crossbar challenge, and you get all the goofy. Kind of wonderful things that you make these players do. It’s a lot of fun. I mean, it’s kind of like those warmup games in FIFA that I’m really bad at that you do before you play the actual games. It’s kind those come to life, right? So I think Mike Croniola from Swoon Tower is the one that made observation, but to me that makes a whole lot of sense. So yeah, I think it’s fun. I think good. I think a spectacle. The thing is MLS Cup, you never know where it’s gonna be because it’s always, it’s not set like the Super Bowl every year where it’s a. Neutral location, it’s always gonna be in the stadium of whoever is the better of the two teams that are left. So All-Star Game is really kind of the place where everybody can kind of converge and you know that they’re gonna be there every year. You know that you’re gonna have that opportunity, again, to see these people that are leading the league, that are covering the league. And then of course, these players that are excelling within the league
Jimmy [00:16:54] I want to move now to a different American pastime from All-Star Games, and that is criticizing the U.S. Men’s National Team. We’ve earned that right. The gold cup occurred over the summer of soccer as well. U. S. Failed to win.
Eric [00:17:13] What did we learn from that? When you consider how they entered the gold cup with two losses, including a four nil loss to Switzerland in friendlies. We need to break up old stuff. The concern was that the U.S. Was going to embarrass themselves in some way, knock it out of the group. They didn’t do that. And you had some really bright spots. Obviously, we saw what Diego Luna was able to do when he was a featured player. You saw great performances from guys like Chris Richards and Malik Tillman. So there were positives to be gained. It doesn’t bother me one bit that the United States didn’t come home with the trophy. It does bother me a bit that they didn’t have to go through when they came up against Mexico, they fell short. They didn’t need to go up against Canada, so I’m not sure if you really learned anything about the competition. In fact, you could argue that the best competition they’ve played in that tournament was here in Austin against Saudi Arabia, and that was a tense match all the way through. So it’s not where we all expected it would be a year. Out from the World Cup next year and I think Mauricio Pochettino has a lot of questions to answer in the year coming and I’m really excited that we’ve just learned that we’re getting big friendly against Ecuador in October which is going to be one of those camps where you really start to see what this team, hopefully at full strength, is going looks like.
Juan [00:18:29] Are we going to see some of the folks from Europe that were left off the roster? Or are we going see more of an MLS heavy roster for that friendly?
Phil [00:18:36] That’s a really good question because that comes at a really complicated time kind of for everybody. I mean, I think the thing that we learned about the US is that Diego Luna absolutely belongs on this team. No doubt. I thought he had a fantastic tournament. It was really good to see him. I mean again, I have dual allegiances by the way, as you can see. I am also a Canada fan. So I was kind of more disappointed for Canada than for the US. I mean the US at least got to the final. Canada got bounced by Guatemala, which again, Guatemala had a really incredible tournament. And they really conca-capped that game up, but you had some of Canada’s best players and some of the U.S.’s best players out of this tournament, so it’s really hard to kind of gage how they’re gonna fare in the World Cup based on this performance, but you got to see kind of who could fill in, who could be these kind of role players who are coming on, and you got some hints, and again, Canada had some really fantastic outings in this, they just kind of fell short, and then the U-S., I mean, obviously. It was gutty, it was gritty to get to the final, but then they did what they do sometimes against Mexico. It kind of goes back and forth. I was a little bit surprised by the outcome, but again, obviously there’s time to reset and there’s to figure things out before the tournament rolls around here next year.
Eric [00:19:51] Not a lot of time though, and Jimmy, I guess the one thing I’m hoping to see in October is just a real sense of urgency that now we’re really are under a year to go until this tournament that has a chance to just come and go like, you know, and people are like, it’s like, how do we, you now, how is it already over and how do We missed this opportunity.
Phil [00:20:11] This tournament that they don’t have to qualify for this time around, so that makes it a little easier.
Jimmy [00:20:15] Another item on the agenda in the summer of soccer, the Club World Cup, hosted here in the United States. I’m not going to ask you to belabor the brilliant win of Chelsea over Juan’s favorite club. No, joking. Chelsea is Juan’s favorite club. No, he loves Liverpool. Everyone knows that. Anyway, get off the… Yeah, anyway. Anyway. I’ve screwed this transition up, but that’s fine. We can at the South. And so let’s go to the Club World Cup, put the U.S. Stadiums, weather, travel, all on display for the world to game plan, see how things might play out. Your thoughts on how that tournament, not necessarily how it went with the clubs, but how it with the fans, with the timing of the games, all of that kind of thing.
Eric [00:21:12] I think it started slow and you saw some really empty stadiums early in that group stage. It obviously picked up steam. It wasn’t for me. It didn’t grab me. I didn’t need more club competition, but like you said, we’ll leave that alone. I would have preferred a Confederations Cup. I think that’s a great way to get people excited about international soccer, which is really what we’re all looking forward to next summer. But I think. You know, a lot was made over the weather and just the heat that teams are up to play. Let me tell you something, as someone who’s fortunate to have family in Spain and making lots of trips, if they think this was bad, just wait until five years from now, World Cup 2030, and play a match in Sevilla in July and tell me how you feel. Yeah, this is… I mean…
Jimmy [00:22:03] Weather is something that we’re all generally just gonna have to get used to, especially if we’re gonna continue to hold this event during the current international.
Juan [00:22:09] Windows. Look, I lived in the place where they held the last World Cup and this is like a cool breezy fall day by comparison. I’m curious about, you know, we saw all of these traveling Latin American fans really bring the energy in the stadiums. Next year for the for the World Cup, you know the international teams maybe don’t have the same, unless you’re hungry, you don’t usually have the Same degree of ultras that you would if you are like a club team, especially in Latin America. You also mentioned the empty stadiums. How do you think the crowds are gonna be a year from now in these stadiums? Do you think they’re gonna fill up the big ones? I would…
Eric [00:22:46] I would be shocked if empty stadiums and poor crowd attendance becomes a storyline next year. Because listen, there’s just such a difference between a club World Cup, despite what FIFA is gonna try to tell you, there’s such a different between a Club World Cup and a World Cup. I think everybody in the country, if they’re even remotely a soccer fan, is gonna at least try to see if it’s within their means to make it to one of those games. And it might not even matter who’s playing. If you’re able to get to one those stadiums, how can you pass? On the opportunity to say yeah I went to that World Cup and we don’t know when another one is going to come back on our shores again.
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[Music]
Jimmy Alright, so just like a wrestling match, we’re working up to the main events. We are at the, roughly speaking, the midway point in the Austin FC season. It’s weighted more to the first half is behind us now. But Austin FC, they play tonight, Austin FC is more or less a 500 club through the midway points, depending on whether you want to count the US Open Cup games or not and the overall win. Of course you do. Everyone in the audience would love that to be counted as well. So still there is some hope. This club, despite its 500 record, despite it’s goal differential, that is very lacking. They are two wins away from Silverware, the first major trophy of it, you know, for the club and an invitation into CONCACAF. And they’re going to catch these teams at a time when They might have other things on their mind, as far as like trying to play off position themselves or that kind of thing. So what’s your take on the US Open Cup? Is this a point where they just go all in on that?
Phil [00:25:24] It’s I think it’s wise to do that at this point yeah I remember so in 2018 I went remember Jimmy was uh wearing that orange jersey a little earlier there against Ferdisamo I went to the uh Houston Dynamo’s um opening up win against the Philadelphia Union and I remember um just very kind of pre-COVID locker room celebration uh media got in there uh shirtless DeMarcus Beasley is kind of entertaining everybody and he’s talking about okay we have had a bad season and this does not erase this, but this is something. To be happy about, this is something to be proud about. And I kind of feel like that’s what it would be like for Austin, and Austin kind of has this team of destiny veneer about it. I mean, again, you remember, they were 20 minutes away from being knocked out of Open Cup by a USL side from El Paso.
Jimmy [00:26:08] Led by a kid from Austin, led scoring two goals for them.
Phil [00:26:12] Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, I mean, yeah. The only Austin player that was scoring that night was an Austin-Bould player. All of a sudden, they come back. They get three goals. They win. And then that San Jose game was ridiculous. They don’t score a goal from open play in 120 minutes. They managed to engineer two penalties. They sacrificed Brandon Vasquez’s knees to the gods. And then all of a suddenly, you’ve got Brad Stuber coming through in a penalty kick sequence. And they’re two wins away at this point. Yeah, so I mean again, it’s not quite the same tournament as it’s been. Obviously it’s going through these kind of weird adjustments as Don Garber is interested in pushing Leaks Cup, so it’s now all of the MLS teams in the mix, but it’s a good chunk of them and they are going to have to beat some good teams to get into this, but it is doable and yeah, I do think that this is a place where they can focus, this is the place where they should focus, and no matter kind of what happens, you know again, my expectation play off wise is, They get there and they kind of wilt in the first round and that’s it, but Open Cup could be a championship. And again, if they do beat Minnesota in Minnesota, it’s here, no matter who the opponent is. So you can see a final in Austin, which would be, I think, pretty electric and pretty magical.
Jimmy [00:27:20] Bigger than the All-Star Game?
Phil [00:27:22] I’ll start again. Oh, okay.
Eric [00:27:24] You know what? It reminds me of a lot. I don’t know if anybody here is a Tottenham fan, but the way that that club, all right, we have some Tottenam haters here and that’s fine. And that’s fine. But here’s a club that celebrated a Europa League title right here. Like it was a Champions League title because it had been so long for them since winning a trophy. Austin’s obviously, you know, they haven’t been around anywhere near as long, but they haven’t t won a trophy in this say what you will about, like you said, the iterations of this competition and how MLS is. You know, tried to maybe, you know sabotage it at certain times and is at best had an awkward relationship. Austin, if they can compete in a final for a trophy, I think, and maybe like, you now the people here, again, because unlike Phil in his quietest moment, I try to really not position myself as an Austin FC fan. So I actually am curious how big a deal that kind of accomplishment would be among this fan base. And especially in a season that. Has gone elsewhere, but assuming that they are able to bring it home, which is taking a leap, considering the injury situation, I think it could be the kind of thing that colors a season, makes it look a lot sexier than it otherwise looked if you just lose and potentially in a play-in game. Yeah. And MLS is kind of like that, that friend that you have, that you’ve had a crush on forever that like You just, you’re never quite sure that you’re totally in the friend zone. They give you that like warm hug and you’re like, maybe, maybe I do have a chance. But at the end of the day, the door is going to shut in your face and you are not a contender for MLSCub.
Juan [00:29:00] Sounds like you’re speaking from experience there, Eric.
Eric [00:29:02] There may be some of that.
Jimmy [00:29:05] Uh, Juan, did you have the… I do, yes. Okay, all right. We’ve reached a special point in the program.
Juan [00:29:10] We’ve got a little game for y’all, and we need you guys to agree.
Phil [00:29:14] We don’t have to say which player we hate, right? No, no, no. Okay.
Juan [00:29:18] That’s later. Okay. I’m just gonna ask you guys, I’m basically gonna make a statement, or two statements really, and then you guys are gonna choose which one is more likely to happen. That one moves on to the next round, and then we put it against another statement. We’re just gonna make prediction here.
Eric [00:29:33] Phil and I have to agree.
Juan [00:29:35] We’ll discuss it until we come to some.
Eric [00:29:36] Is there a tie, is there some kind of like physical altercation tiebreaker that might
Phil [00:29:41] Do we have to wrestle? I mean, Ruben… Do we need to wrestle for a decent one? Absolutely, yeah. And we both have to wrestlerize.
Juan [00:29:45] Ruben will commentate, Verdisimo will come and throw you guys off stage. It’ll be great.
Phil [00:29:50] I did not sign up for that.
Juan [00:29:53] What’s more likely? That Austin finishes the year with the fewest goals scored in Major League Soccer, or they finish the year with the fewer goals conceded in Major league Soccer.
Phil [00:30:06] Billy had a pretty good year a few years ago. I think it’s more likely that it would be fewest goals scored. I don’t think it is going to happen, but I think that’s the more likely of the two scenarios.
Eric [00:30:17] Your team just lost its top goal scorer and that was, you know, and I don’t think anybody is above two maybe?
Phil [00:30:23] Yeah, Biru leads among healthy, up-and-right strikers right now, too. Not strikers, but you know.
Eric [00:30:31] That is the reality. I think that’s a pretty clear.
Phil [00:30:33] Well, Bureau’s sort of a striker, right? It’s kind of a strike.
Eric [00:30:37] He’s really whatever you want him to be.
Juan [00:30:40] All right, so is it more likely that they end the year having scored the fewest goals, or that Roto signs a designated player to fill Vasquez’s slot for the rest of the year in the upcoming window?
Phil [00:30:56] It’s kind of tough to pull off bringing a player in for 10 games to fill that spot, but it is a World Cup year, so. I mean, I still think fewest goals is likelier, but I could see the second scenario happening, but I’m not as bought in.
Eric [00:31:13] It would probably take a decision, having already been made, that one of the other two DPs, whether it’s Osman Bukhari or Mirto Uzuni, and it would be very, very quick, as rough as the season’s been for this to have targeted on Uzuni. But it would probably a decision having already made that one one of those two players is going to be elsewhere. And if that’s the case, and maybe a move comes as quickly as the summer,
Phil [00:31:37] But I think they’re going to give Zuni time to do his thing. And Bookery is coming on. You’re beginning to see Bookery’s potential now. No, no, but hang on. If we.
Eric [00:31:43] No, no, but hang on. If we choose score the fewest goals again, does that mean score the fewest matches up against score the fewer goals in the next round?
Phil [00:31:50] No, he’ll bring it.
Eric [00:31:52] There’s another one. I’ve got a few. All right. Yeah, I think we’ll ride with Squares of U.S. Schools.
Phil [00:31:57] Was that who? I think we’ll ride with Skorthus.
Juan [00:31:59] Fewest goals, still the winner. Fewest Goals. All right. Rodo seems to really like defensive midfielders. He signed a bunch in the summer and there’s another one coming in the winter. Is it more likely that they finished the year having scored the fewest goals or that he brings in another six? I’m not going to fall up on sexes.
Eric [00:32:20] Do it. Do it here. Score the fewest goals.
Juan [00:32:23] I thought they were full up on sixes and then the Nikki Beloko news started coming through, so…
Phil [00:32:28] Yeah, I mean, well, does Blokko count as that sixth that’s already been since that’s the start of the summer transfer window?
Juan [00:32:34] On top of the look. He’s, he’s pointing them like they’re infinity stone.
Phil [00:32:37] Yeah, but Loco is kind of like a 6-8 mix. 6-Ish.
Eric [00:32:41] I mean, Austin could score 100 goals and that might probably still more likely, so.
Juan [00:32:45] Fair enough, fair enough. Fewest goals. We’re going to ride on that. All right. Do they score the fewest goals or does Mirto Uzuni finish the year having scored more than five goals? This is a good one.
Phil [00:32:58] What do we think? We think he’s going to get his head straight?
Juan [00:33:00] I wanna, I wanna. He’s got, he’s got give or take 12 games to go.
Phil [00:33:06] Games to score five goals.
Juan [00:33:07] Score five goals and currently so his XG right now over the year has been five point two he’s on track to score another four with the one that he already has he’d be right at five so does he score those five goals or do they finish the year having scored the fewest
Phil [00:33:22] He came real close on two chances on Saturday.
Juan [00:33:24] I’m giving it to Mirto. He’s been coming real close all year, though. We’re going to believe. All right. It’s more likely that Mirto scores at least five goals this year. Don’t let us down. All right, so we mentioned Gier and Biru just now. Does Uzuni score at least 5 goals this year or does Biru finish the year with more goals to his name than Uzuni?
Phil [00:33:45] Dang.
Juan [00:33:47] Dang!
Eric [00:33:48] That’s a good question. I’m still going Albanian Eagle.
Phil [00:33:51] Yeah, I think in this scenario, if we’re saying that Izuni is going to score goals, yeah, I don’t think I don’t think Bera is going outpace him. He might try, but I don’t think he’s going to. I mean, we did establish that he is sometimes a striker. If it’s if it’s more like yellow and red cards.
Eric [00:34:06] By the way, you could have called this game Jimmy Maas or Jimmy Menos.
Juan [00:34:12] But that’s for the next one. Thank you. We’ll keep that one in mind. Sorry, Jimmy. Sorry to fail you once again. So does the Albanian Eagle score at least five goals this year, or is it more likely that Austin makes the playoffs?
Phil [00:34:27] I think it’s more likely that Austin makes the playoffs. Again, you got to get ninth or better. And we’re talking, we’re not doing the fussy, oh, the play-in game isn’t really playoffs, right? Ninth place is playoffs spots. No, that counts, that count, ninth place. Okay, yeah, I think they get at least ninth. This is the first summer. I don’t think it is easy, but again, in Verde all day, a couple of weeks ago, I did a story about their kind of really difficult strength of schedule the first half of the season and this relatively light schedule now. Of course, they’re playing the Galaxy tonight, Who? Is one of those weaker teams, quote unquote. They’ve only lost one in their last six, so Austin could be hitting them at a really bad time. But I’m gonna say that Austin makes the playoffs.
Eric [00:35:05] This is the first time where Phil and I definitely disagree because I don’t see… Oh, he’s ever… Well, first time ever. This is very strange, Phil. I don’t know why. We’re going to have to talk this out later. This was very strange. But I don t think Austin FC makes the playoffs unless Mirtuo is… You can’t make the playoffs without scoring goals and somebody has to score goals in this team. If it’s not Mirtua Zuni, I don’t think there’s enough gear, maybe your own headers.
Juan [00:35:30] Okay. Yeah. Okay. So we’re, we agree that Austin’s likely to make the playoffs.
Phil [00:35:36] Is that the one, or do we agree that Zuni? I think we’re going to pick Zuni because one is dependent on the other. Eric’s making that point, so I’ll grant that. We’ll still go with Zuni getting more than five, because they could still finish 10th or 11th. They could still miss out. 100%.
Juan [00:35:51] With a Zuni scoring five. With a zuni scoring.
Phil [00:35:53] With nobody scoring, with anybody scoring, yeah. Still have some defensive lapses and draw and lose some crucial games and we’ll all be sad.
Juan [00:36:02] Does Zuzuni score at least five goals, or does Austin win the US Open Cup this year?
Phil [00:36:08] Ooh. Ooh. Are you an open-cut believer? Say that? Are you and open-cup believer?
Jimmy [00:36:16] And is this the team of destiny? Look, the ghost of Lamar hunts already claimed Vasquez.
Juan [00:36:23] The fire turned blue. Yeah.
Eric [00:36:24] Forgive me, I should know this, but who’s on the other side of the bracket? They have to be…
Phil [00:36:29] Right.
Eric [00:36:30] Red Bull Nashville
Juan [00:36:32] and Philly.
Phil [00:36:32] Yeah, because Red Bull’s Philly got rained out last week, so winner of that plays Nashville, who’s on a little bit of a terror right now. Nashville and Philly are scary.
Juan [00:36:41] But the West West teams host.
Phil [00:36:43] But Philly also chokes in open cup finals. That’s been the reputation.
Eric [00:36:48] And we haven’t talked about this guy enough, but the way that Brad Stover has been playing lately, he carried Austin FC into the semifinals. Absolutely. And as long as he’s healthy and right there in between the posts, I think, especially in a cup competition, that’s exactly who you would want. And I would, even, even against somebody like Dane Sinclair, who you could say is potentially the only person. Those two guys are almost in a league of their own, but I still love what Austin can do. They’re both all stars. They’re all stars and we’re good to see them in just a few short days.
Phil [00:37:14] Yeah, so we’ll say US Open Cup. You think they’ll let us hold the trophy?
Eric [00:37:19] Us as in you and I? Yeah. I think, Phil, you wrote the book on this league. They can’t deny you anything.
Juan [00:37:25] If Austin wins the U.S. Open Cup, anything is possible at this point. So, do they win the U S Open Cup this year, or is it more likely that Jimmy and I finally convince Matthew McConaughey to be a guest on Vamos Verdes?
Phil [00:37:39] Ha ha ha ha. Yeah, it’s been a while since he did the shirtless Zoom call of fame, back in the start when he was first having the MOC mantle. Yeah, I think open comes more likely.
Eric [00:37:58] Yeah, and only because I feel good about Austin FC in the open cup, not because I don’t feel like you guys have the stroke to get Matthew.
Phil [00:38:07] I think Matthew would be game at some point.
Juan [00:38:10] We’ve been helping for two years now, y’all. If I were y’al, I would vote for US Open Cup, but this isn’t my game, this is y’alls.
Phil [00:38:17] No, no, this is your game. We’re just, we’re just playing it. Yeah, I think open cup.
Juan [00:38:20] Open Cup. All right. You’re going to go first. The most likely outcome out of the ones that I’ve said is Austin FC winning the U.S. Open Cup. Yeah, we have some silver to look forward to. We did it, Joe. Matthew, please, if you’re listening, we want you on the podcast so bad.
Jimmy [00:38:40] Yeah, and fans want you at the game. I don’t know if that mic picked them up. So now, I told you I would not ask you who you hate most on the team. And yet. Of the people in the press box that are on this dais, who do you hate most among the four of us? Myself? You can’t. Pop out. Struggle with that.
Phil [00:39:08] Every day.
Juan [00:39:10] Cop out, Eric.
Phil [00:39:11] Hate ourselves. I’m going to turn this negative into a positive. I’m gonna say Eric because some of his writing is just so clever and good and it makes me want to just dig deep and do better. You hate how much you love him. Do you sound just like?
Juan [00:39:28] The players we interview.
Eric [00:39:29] And I appreciate that very much, Phil, and will not be as magnanimous because I’m going to, because I remember distinctly in our last media cup when Juan dribbled right past me and sent me sliding. So did I? Yeah. All right. And you think I don’t still think about that. Let’s go. It really has driven a divide between.
Juan [00:39:52] That’s fair. Hey look, I’ll be at Media Cup this year. Eric, you can have your revenge on me if you can manage it. I’m not going to go easy.
Phil [00:40:01] I like the media cup game by the way, it’s my annual, okay, I’m going to get up there on the field and see if my Achilles will not rupture, which is, at my age, kind of a dice roll, but you know.
Juan [00:40:13] Sacrifice it to the ghost of Lamar Hunt and maybe we can, maybe Austin has increased chances of the- Right, so if I-
Phil [00:40:20] if I hurt myself in the media cup game this year, which is usually around December, Austin might make the playoffs in 2026.
Eric [00:40:26] You’re gonna say it’s usually around the 21st minute when that when that hamstring pull goes
Juan [00:40:32] There’s a lot of bold predictions happening on stage right now.
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[Music]
Jimmy [00:41:16] That was a whole lot of fun to do. Big thanks to everybody that came out to watch the show and stayed for some of the game. LA Galaxy, big win for Austin to follow that show at Central Machine Works.
Juan [00:41:30] The vibes were excellent for that match, but you know, Jimmy, I was a little surprised. I hadn’t realized I dribbled past anyone at the Austin FC Media Cup.
Jimmy [00:41:40] Why is that?
Juan [00:41:43] At that point, I hadn’t played soccer in about a decade, and the last time I had played was in middle school.
Jimmy [00:41:49] So, wow, you only were in middle school a decade ago? Yeah. You’re such a young buster.
Juan [00:41:53] Can you believe that?
Jimmy [00:41:54] As if Eric didn’t already feel bad enough about that. You know what I mean? Showing your middle school bona fides here.
Juan [00:42:02] Right, right? But you know, it actually gave me the buck to play more and I’ve been going regularly every weekend to meet up with a group at Zilker. And now everyone, I feel like everyone I know is inviting me to play soccer with them now. So I didn’t realize how big adult rec soccer was until I started picking it up again and I actually found a pretty cool thing.
Jimmy [00:42:22] Your self esteem? No, I’m sorry. What is that?
Juan [00:42:24] No, no, no. That, too. Otherwise, it’s like Bigfoot. You’d never see it. No, no, it is a picture like the Champions League or like the Club World Cup, but it’s for like adult rec soccer teams. It’s called the Icarus Cup. It happens in Austin every year, and the whole point is basically to take your rec soccer team and pit it against others in a tournament to find the best. This one was a little bit bigger than those. It actually brings teams from all over the country to participate. And I spoke to the founder of the tournament, Charlie Shea. Let’s start with the elevator pitch. Tell me what Icarus Cup is, what I would need to know if I’ve never heard of it before.
Charlie [00:43:06] The Icarus Cup is a weekend long festival of soccer.
Juan [00:43:10] Okay, I love that. So what goes on during this festival?
Charlie [00:43:13] Man, we have the tournament itself, 77 small sided soccer, short field, very dynamic and exciting. And then we have social events built around it and we’ve got a great atmosphere at the field itself. So we get, you know, we’ll have 68 teams this year over a thousand players from 12 different states, all coming together to celebrate this big weekend long soccer festival. We’ll have teams traveling this year from. Utah, Colorado, Washington State, Philadelphia, Florida, and then players from all over. And it should be a really fun time.
Juan [00:43:51] Seems like a lot of places where they play soccer, or at least they’re familiar with soccer to some degree, like a lotta professional teams come from there as well, yeah.
Charlie [00:43:59] It’s a beautiful game, you know, it gets it gets to all corners of our of our country. So it’s nice to be able to like engage people and people are really excited about Austin. Austin has proved to be an excellent host and people really want to come visit here and explore here, make memories here. So that’s all super nice.
Juan [00:44:16] Right, but it didn’t start in Austin, it actually started out in Philly, correct?
Charlie [00:44:19] That’s right. We started in Philly. This year will be year five in Phillie. So we’ve we’ve really built it up there and it’s even bigger over there. It’s super great. And then I moved to Austin about three and a half years ago and told all my my co-workers back there. Hey, guys, we got to do this tournament in Austin. The scene here is super perfect for this. I think it would be a great success here. Um, so we expanded over here two years ago, and then, uh, this summer will be our third year here in Austin. And we’re actually starting in Boston, Massachusetts this summer as well in August, so dealing with tournaments in Austin and Boston has proved to be.
Juan [00:45:01] Already. So what was it about Austin’s scene that made you really want to bring the tournament here?
Charlie [00:45:06] I mean, the soccer culture here is, is, um, it’s popping, you know, Austin F.C. Are, I mean they’re the only, um from my perspective, only true professional sports team in town. Everyone else just roots for UT stuff. Um, so I think when, when Austin F C got set up here, um they just put themselves in a great position to, you, know, make a ton of fans and, um and central Texas loves soccer. So then boom, we have a cool professional soccer team. Of course people are gonna like rally behind the team. So yeah, Austin loves soccer and it loves community and there’s lots of different groups that, you know, share interests with each other and who interact. And then the business community here is into soccer as well and they wanna engage people and stuff like that. So it really set up quite a perfect storm for the Austin tournament, in my opinion.
Juan [00:46:00] And how have people responded to the tournament in Philly, here in Austin?
Charlie [00:46:04] It’s like the highlight of their summer sometimes people really look forward to it They have a good they have a great time. I get a lots of emails from them about all sorts of different stuff And I’m happy to answer them because I I understand that people are booking plane tickets. They booked Airbnb’s They’re building a whole basically summertime vacation weekend around coming to Austin to play this tournament traveling to Philly to play that tournament So I feel definitely a I feel it’s some sort of obligation to make sure that they have a good time and that we’ve done everything we can to set them up to enjoy themselves and to make positive memories with their friends that, you know, they’ll have with them for the rest of their lives.
Juan [00:46:47] So give me some of the day-to-day details. So it’s a whole weekend, it starts this Friday as of the time we’re recording it. What can people expect on Friday?
Charlie [00:46:58] Friday, May 30th, we’ll have the opening ceremonies at Sellas Brewing, up north, sort of towards Q2. That’s where all the teams will pick up their custom jerseys. The whole kicker for the tournament is we have a partnership with Icarus Football, who’s like a custom kit maker, and they produce for this tournament 70 different bespoke kit designs built around themes of and, you know, the sunset over Barton Springs, you know, things like that. Exactly. Exactly. That’s great. And then we sponsor them with local businesses, get their logos on them. So the jerseys are a huge part of our tournament appeal. So Friday night, opening ceremonies at Sellas. Teams will come and pick up their jerseyes. They’ll socialize. They’ll see old friends. They’ll check out the competition. And then Sunday, we’re back out at Onion Creek at nine a.m. For the playoffs, which will be, you know, single elimination knockout bracket should be super exciting. And we’ll have games running all day there until about 3.30, trophy presentations, and then we’ll all go home and sleep.
Juan [00:48:03] And even though some folks have some more competitive experience, these are all amateurs, right? These are the folks that go to Zilker on Saturdays to kick around a ball with a tiny golden cone, right.
Charlie [00:48:13] Yeah, lay some flip-flops out, shoot through there. Yeah, there’s plenty of people doing that. But the top division are high-level players that played in college and continue to play competitively. And they really appreciate having an opportunity to compete as well because some of these teams win most of their daily stuff and they look forward to having a special event they can try to go all out for.
Juan [00:48:42] And they really find out how good they are.
Charlie [00:48:44] Yeah, yeah, yeah. They’re good, man. I tell you sometimes we haven’t really had fights, which has been great um We have had some in the past in philly, but um, mostly everyone keeps it keeps it cordial because the soccer community Everyone knows each other So there’s some sort of element. I feel of like everyone’s behavior You can’t get too crazy because you’re going to see that person, you know Next week at your 11th game or you’re you’re gonna see that Person at the austin of c game next weekend stuff like that. So That’s proven to be a nice thing to keep everybody in check. Everybody knows each other, everybody’s friends or everybody knows somebody who then knows somebody else. It’s really a great big community.
Juan [00:49:24] It seemed like a lot of fun and Austin FC’s supporter groups field teams every year.
Jimmy [00:49:30] Do they actually play together, the supporter groups?
Juan [00:49:33] No, actually, there’s a little bit of a friendly competition.
Jimmy [00:49:35] So hence we have groups, like specific, this is where the divisions lie. Exactly. They like the team, but they don’t necessarily play well with each other.
Juan [00:49:44] Pretty much, yeah, and you know, they’re all friends, right? They get along, they cheer on the same professional soccer team, but this year…
Jimmy [00:49:52] I’m trying to build some acrimony here. Right, right.
Juan [00:49:55] But you know what the acrimony was a little bit there, you know this year Los Verdes fielded a team They they do it every year and they were trying to outdo themselves from last year When they made it all the way to the semi-final of their group. Okay, that’s That’s a good achievement. It is no yeah, and they weren’t they were ready They were looking to do one better, but in the group stage They ended up facing a very familiar foe in Pollo FC
Jimmy [00:50:23] Oh, wow. Well, this is serendipitous considering Austin is about to play DC United, the first time back to DC since El Pollo games.
Daniel Palomares [00:50:37] My name is Daniel Palomares and I’m coaching this year’s Icarus Cup.
Juan [00:50:41] Danny has coached the Los Verdes team in the Icarus Cup for the last two years. This year, they had their sights set on improving on their appearance in the semi-final round of their division from the year before. Of the three matches they would play on Saturday, one meant a little bit more than the rest.
Daniel Palomares [00:50:58] It’s Boy UFC, it’s that other supporter group, you know, and a lot of those players we played against.
Juan [00:51:07] But we also played together. The two sides have a history in other soccer competitions. Earlier this year, the two supporter groups faced off in the Liga Verde Rec Soccer Tournament, and the team from Los Verdes came out on top.
Daniel Palomares [00:51:20] We beat them in the finals, we won the cup, but this year is a different team and different dynamics and it’s always a pleasure to play against them. They’re good people.
Juan [00:51:31] The result between two supporter groups won’t change the fact that they all belong to the same community of support for Austin FC. For Los Verdes goalkeeper Marcos Anaya, the match against Pollo FC and the Icarus Cup as a whole meant a little bit more. He’s a regular at Austin FC matches, despite living in Waco, a two-hour drive away from Q2 Stadium.
Marcos [00:51:52] My oldest son, he’s the one that started coming with me to the games, and he actually passed away.
Juan [00:51:58] Way about a month ago.” Marcos Anaya Jr. Was out with friends one night when someone started shooting at them. Anaya jr. And one of his friends that was with him lost their lives. For Anaya Sr., Austin FC and his supporter group family helped him process the sudden loss of his son.
Marcos [00:52:13] It’s really given me like a sense of family, you know, of home. You know, when things like this happen, you know, they’re sudden, you know, no one’s expecting tragedies like that. But you know your mind goes everywhere, you know, your mind is here, there, you’re scattered, you know, can’t really concentrate on stuff. But being a member of Los Verdes has really given me like, a center, you video.
Juan [00:52:42] The tournament didn’t start off well for either team. Los Verdes lost their first match 6-0, Pollo FC lost theirs 5-0 and both teams went into their match against each other, looking to kickstart a little momentum.
Daniel Palomares [00:52:55] It didn’t go our way, but I saw the chemistry of our team just building up to the very end, the second half. I learned a lot about the formation and our players. I learned that this year, every team we play is going to be different. It’s very competitive, but i do think that we have the players to win.
Marcos [00:53:19] Guys, so remember, let’s play compact, all right? Don’t run away from the play. All right, give your teammate an option of somebody to pass the ball to. All right? That’s the only way that we’re gonna be able to have some success, and shoot the ball as much as you can. All right. This is a real important game, man. Let’s all band together for success, allright? Go and bid this one too. One, two, three. Band together!
Juan [00:53:44] Los Verdes looked a lot more confident against Pollo FC than they did in their first match, but mistakes led to two first half goals for the rubber chickens. Los Verde scored their first goal of the tournament to cut the lead heading into halftime.
Speaker 13 [00:53:58] Everybody just stick to your assignments, but we’re doing good. This is a game we could win. Let’s go guys. Let’s all three. One, two, three. Raze!
Juan [00:54:06] That goal would not spark a comeback, and Boyo FC scored once more in the second half to seal the match. 3-1 to the rubber chickens. Now that might have been it for Los Verdes if this was a professional tournament, but the Icarus Cup is more fun than that. And the only thing at stake on Saturday was seeding for Sunday’s playoff, and bragging rights between supporter groups. Los Verde had one more match that day against a team that knocked them out of the tournament the year before, AC Austin. Goalkeeper Marcos, encouraged by the team’s performance against Pollo FC, was hopeful his team could end the day with a win.
Marcos [00:54:45] We really stepped it up in that second game. I really liked how everybody was kind of fighting, fighting for each ball. People were playing closer together. I saw that our confidence level was up. We did really good in the back. Our defense was phenomenal. I mean, we got some unlucky goals and stuff like that. But we had a lot of opportunities to score. That’s promising because that team was actually pretty good. So yeah, I think if we keep that up in this next game, the intensity, the aggression. And there’s just that hunger for a goal. I think we can win. I think come out with a win, at least one win today.
Juan [00:55:19] Coach Danny shared his goalkeeper’s optimism.
Daniel Palomares [00:55:22] I told my players play with intention and effort because we still have a game on Sunday and it’s a playoff game and who knows if we bring the same intensity that we ended with we can actually win that playoff and keep moving forward.
Jimmy [00:55:41] How to go the rest of the way.
Juan [00:55:43] Well, Jimmy? Not very well. Los Verdes went on to lose their next match 11 to two before losing their playoff match the next day, six to one.
Jimmy [00:55:59] Oh no, so that’s pretty rough. What about Pollo?
Juan [00:56:02] Well, they needed a little bit of help from Los Verdes.
Jimmy [00:56:05] Ah, so they came together. They did, yeah. Nice, breaking down those barriers.
Juan [00:56:10] Right, yeah, so with these tournaments, right, you’re playing three matches in one day and nobody’s a professional athlete or you might get some former professional athletes, but few of them are going to be making money off of running around a bunch. So, you know, injuries happen, absences happen. There were some folks that needed some rest and the Los Verdes folks stepped up. They actually helped Pollo get all the way to the final in their division. They lost 4-2 in the final. But they lost to a really good team that had beat pretty much both of these teams earlier in the tournament.
Jimmy [00:56:47] I think most importantly, you’re skipping the highlight. I was looking at the game report from this and there was a certain substitute that… The name looked familiar. Could it be Juan Diego Garcia?
Juan [00:57:03] Oh yeah, so Los Verdes were down 3-0 at halftime of their playoff game and coach Danny had offered their last remaining jersey to me a couple times throughout that tournament and I figured why not. So I ran out there and pretty much the first thing I did was almost get the defender behind me killed with a terrible back pass.
Jimmy [00:57:28] Makes me look forward to the media cup game.
Juan [00:57:30] Yes, sir. This time around, though, I’ve been practicing, so I’m hoping I don’t just dribble past Eric again. I might just dribble you too, Jimmy.
Jimmy [00:57:41] So big thanks to everybody that made this week’s episode possible. Major League Soccer, the All-Star Madness. I did run into Chad Otrosenko-Johnson. He was actually the biggest star that I actually met this week.
Juan Former Patriot.
Jimmy Yeah— Was that how you remember it? Yeah… very famous Patriot
Juan [00:58:00] What else did he play for?
Jimmy [00:58:00] A lot of time with the Bengals, but sure, we’ll call them a Patriot and you know there’s—
Juan Back that truck up!
Jimmy –big events going on all week long starting with the Fan Fest and Group Love singing out on Saturday, our event last week, so that brings us down to the thank yous to Eric Goodman of the Austin Chronicle,
Juan The Phil West from Verde All Day,
Jimmy And let’s thank Verdisimo for making an appearance.
Juan [00:58:30] And saving my life from that madman?
Jimmy [00:58:31] Breeze? Yeah, I do not. I missed this part. I was getting, I was getting food. I don’t know what happened.
Juan Uh huh.
Jimmy And let’s thank Los Verdes and Pollo FC for allowing you to take part or maybe ruin their soccer tournament.
Juan [00:58:46] Who knows, it’s a Schrodinger substitute.
Jimmy [00:58:49] Big thanks to everyone at Austin F.C. Helping us put this together and also big thanks to everyone at KUT that helped guide us through this whole podcast process and also a big thanks to Geron Marshall for the music you are listening to right now.
Juan [00:59:05] I haven’t seen him in a while, we’ve got to catch up, man. Just to chop it up back in the day.
Jimmy [00:59:09] And big thanks to the trucks that were backing up a minute ago and all the security staff staring at us hoping that we will leave very soon as we record this after the 2025 MLS All-Star Game.
Juan [00:59:21] There are many All-Star games like it, but this one is ours.
Austin FC Ad [00:59:35] The Zebra Fire Department, what’s the emergency?
There’s a fire in the kitchen! All I was doing was paying insurance bills! I know that smell. We’re gonna need the big hoes! Ma’am, did you use the zebra.com to compare insurance companies?
Um, no?
Just what I thought. You’ve been burning money. Look, TheZebra.com compares hundreds of insurance companies in one place. It could save you $440 on car insurance.
Wow. But, uh, are you gonna put that out? Stop burning money. Compare and save at thezebra.com slash Austin FC.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
