Welcome to the total soccer show and a very special edition of USMNT Weekly.

It is the inaugural Total Soccer Show USMNT Draft.

Yes, my trusty co-hosts are going to pick from the full US talent pool to build their best 11-man lineups.

Who's going to end up with the best team? And could any of them beat Panama or Canada?

Let's find out. My name's Ryan Bailey joining me today, my first drop. D. It's Taylor.

It's a perfect introduction. It is also too soon. But it is also kind of specifically

how I've built my theoretical

team. So yes, that is the goal. And then also maybe beating Joe and Graham at the same time.

That's secondary goal. So we have a competitive element to this episode and we have something where you

could get lost down a rabbit hole researching it. Have you checked both boxes, Taylor?

You know that I have. You know that I spent way too long doing this. Did I have like maybe some, uh, some anxiety attacks trying to figure out who could fit where and why there aren't more players that can do this and why don't we have attackers? Yeah, no, I went down that rabbit hole. There you go. Strap in, listener. Joe Lowry's here. Hello, Joe. Hey, Ryan, Guy. I also went down a pretty big

rabbit hole. Taylor was talking pregame about how he's got some if-then sequences in his notes. I also kind of have that and maybe had an existential crisis while doing this. But I'm ready, I'm not here to beat Panama. I'm not here to beat Canada. I'm here to beat Taylor Rockwell, and I'm here to beat Grand Ruffman.

That is my singular goal.

The Discord will decide.

Let's do this thing.

And speaking of Graham Ruffin, Joe, I think my favorite thing about that pre-show chat was you and me talking about how we have our if-thens. And I believe Graham's question was, is it five aside or is this 11 aside? So an equal level of preparation and thought, I think. Correct. Yeah, I'm just going to channel whatever comes to me during this show.

The European mind cannot comprehend the draft. And so the thought of your preparation being like a choose-your-own-adventure research is just, it's beyond me. So I'm just going to see what comes out in this episode. So, Graham, to clarify, no rabbit holes were damaged in the preparation for this episode from your part. I'm going to leave that for the episode itself. Very good. Beware, rabbits. I'm looking forward to it. Very good. All right. Patreon.com slash total soccer show is where you'll find our bonus content. And as clarified, we're going to have the people of the Discord pick the winning, drafted team from this here episode. You can do that once more at patreon.com slash total soccer show to sign up. Best way to support this here endeavor. And you get bonus episodes and bonus video. It's wonderful. I do recommend it. We're also on YouTube if you want to watch us live, not live, pre-recorded. But you'll see your faces. On YouTube, link in show notes.

Close enough, but not quite close enough is what I would say. There, all right, let's get a draft

in, shall we, to get the rules out the way. I'm just looking at the rules that Taylor sent over,

so it's a snake draft. We assume the full health of everybody with active eligible

players and Taylor gets first pick. Is that everyone agreed? Are we good? I mean, see, Taylor can

have the first pick because really where you want to be is you want to be around the turn. You

...