Welcome to the total soccer show and our look at the USMNT's 1-1 friendly draw with New Zealand in Cincinnati.

Plus, an important announcement that was made before that game.

Yes, the official unveiling of Maurizio Pochitino as USM&T head coach.

Those words coming through our mouths efficiently.

Ooh, my name's Ryan Bailey joining me today.

Taylor Rockwell, hello Taylor.

Hello, Ryan.

This is an interesting game to talk about because it was not the most fun viewing experience

for the second game in a row and maybe more beyond that.

But the Pochitino announcement makes it incredibly exciting

at the same time. Yes, indeed. We may devote some time to that announcement in this chat. Joining

us to do so, Joe Lowry. Hello, Joe. Hello. I want listeners to know that Taylor did indeed come in

with a giant Maricio-Pocitino tattoo on top of his face. It is a full-on-Potch face tattoo. Taylor, I'm guessing that you spent the last two hours doing that and having that done rather than watching this game. I actually had it done weeks ago when I thought it was originally going to be announced, and then it's been a very painstaking makeup process until it's been made official. Now I don't have to cover it up with the makeup, so I can finally be my true self, which apparently is Mauricio Pocchio's face. Tbilicio Morocchio. Oh, my God. How quickly into that, did you regret that that was the path you went down? I'll go and cut in for Ryan and say I regretted it very early on as he was talking. This whole riff has been a huge success. Patreon.com slash total soccer show for our bonus content, by the way. It is the best way to support this here podcast, bonus episodes, bonus videos. And access to our Discord server where everyone's talking about Marizio Potchiae and also Tayloritio Potcher.cher. No, okay, fine.

Before we get into the game, of course, which we're going to be talking about in this here episode, The One One One Draw in Sinty, the second Queen City, lest we forget. We do need to get to the big piece of news that drop before kickoff. That, of course, is hugely consequential for US soccer. Of course, Joe. I'm talking about Ashley Westwood signing a new contract to Charlotte FC through 2026, an option for 2020. I should say. Huge news for the game. Your 10 to 15 minute reaction, please, Joe.

I could do it, Ryan, but I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to play your game. Maricio Pachitino is the next coach of the U.S. men's national team. He is now officially the current coach of the U.S. men's national team. This has been coming down the pipeline for so long. I didn't know how I would feel when it actually was announced. And it turns out I feel pretty much just as excited as if it would have come directly out of the blue for the USM&T. This is a huge hire. And we will talk so much more about this in-depth when Graham's back on the show tomorrow. It's going to be our show on Wednesday. Like, we're going to spend an hour plus likely digging into every single aspect of Pocitino to the USM&T. But to just do the top line stuff, this is an incredible hire for the USM&T.

It is the most ambitious hire that U.S. soccer has ever performed.

They had to get some financial help as a nonprofit.

They did that.

They had meetings with incredibly ambitious targets, eventually landing on Pachitino,

who seems excited about the job.

This checks so many boxes and really more boxes than I think almost any other manager could have checked for the United States. If you want someone that's had success and coached the best of the best, Pacchino has done that. If you want someone who's had success without coaching the best of the best and has sort of coached teams at the club level in Southampton and Español, who are kind of at the level relative to their competition of where the USM&T are right now, relative to theirs. Like, he's done that. He kind of does everything that you could possibly want. Now, that doesn't mean that it's going to go great and that the U.S. is going to win a World Cup, unfortunately, for them. but it does mean that there are more possible opportunities for the U.S. now than there were 24 hours ago.

Yeah, you know, sorry, Ted. them. But it does mean that there are more possible opportunities for the U.S. now than there were

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