Welcome to the scuff podcast where we talk about U.S. soccer.

Hey everybody, it's the Monday Review. We've got a special guest today. Longtime reporter covering the U.S. men's national team and American soccer in general.

He was at ESPN as a full-time staff writer from 2011 to 2017 and then Yahoo Sports.

And now he's at Fox Sports.

He's a fixture in the USMNT Press Corps, Douglas McIntyre.

Thanks for coming in.

You got it, Adam.

You can go by Doug.

Only my mother calls me Douglas, but good to be on. Good to see you guys. I thought it would be fun. I thought it would be fun to see Douglas. Yeah, all right. Fair enough. But don't do it again. Okay, I won't. I promise. How much do you miss World Cup qualifying this cycle? I do. I do miss it a lot. There's nothing like World Cup qualifying, especially in Concacaf. It's crazy to go to places like San Pedro Sula, the Azteca. I mean, one of the true cathedrals of the sport. You know, goosebumps the first time I walked into that place. Just an incredible, like, bucketless thing. If you guys, I don't know if you guys been to Azteca, but phenomenal. I mean, you have to do it, even if it's the next qualifying cycle where, you know, we know that it's going to be a lot, there's going to be a lot more places for Kalky Gaff teams. I still think it's worth it to get down there. So I miss it. I think the U.S. team misses it as well. Those games are always a test, and they've missed that a bit this cycle, for sure. How are they going to overcome that, you know, not having to go through that crucible, you know? Yeah, I think it's hard. I mean, the one good thing is that they did have to do it in 22, and the core of the team

is the same. So I think it was really important for that. Like, I had my doubts that that team would qualify. I really did. I was worried because, you know, as talented as they were, it's hard. And that team had, they had no one that had gone through it before, with the exception of Christian and DeAndre Edlin, really.

So, you know, they got through, they qualified.

That was obviously, had gone through it before with the exception of Christian and D'Andre Edlin, really.

So, you know, they got through, they qualified. That was obviously incredibly important that they did that. So I think that experience will help them. But yeah, like these upcoming friendlies

that we're going to see, and I think we're going to see some big name friendlies between now

and the World Cup, they're going to have to do.

And they're a different test, right?

Like if you go and play in El Salvador, the challenges you're facing regarding, you know, the field, the fans, the conditions, all that is different than if you're, you know, you're playing

a top European team on a pristine field.

You know, it's just a different kind of preparation, a different kind of challenge. And frankly, one of the U.S. team needs. I mean, they haven't played because of COVID last time out. They didn't play a ton of good opponents before the last World Cup. They will get that chance this year. So that's going to have to serve as preparation. and I think it's good preparation, given what, you know, they're going to face

on home so next summer.

Doug, what do you think is the difference between like fan opinion on Conca Calfe qualifying

and how we should perform in it and the realities that, you know, of the results that we see.

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