I feel really bummed for Pepe that he's not going to get this move.

I don't know how you feel about that, but this feels a little vindictive in a way from PSV.

On PSV, and there's an American angle there too because of Ernie Stewart.

Yeah. This is baffling to me. Hello, Sunshine. I'm not. Alexi Lalas. I'm Stu Holden and welcome to the State of the Union podcast where we

look at the beautiful game on and off the field through the lens of red, white, and blue colored

glasses. Today we'll be covering Miracle on Ice. Ricardo Pepe and his deal to Fulham falling

through. A peek behind the curtain on the transfer window.

Weston McKinney continuing his hot streak.

My U.S. starting 11 for opening day of the World Cup and Noa Kai Banks. A lock on the World Cup roster?

Oh, and so much more.

But joining me, as always, my colleague, my guiding light, David Mossie, a Fox Soccer

researcher writer, extraordinaire. What's up, Massey? How you doing, my friend? I'm doing well.

Stu, it's your first appearance of 2026. I actually haven't seen in a while. What have you been up to?

Well, I'm currently watching Majorca in a relegation six-pointer versus Sevia, so I'm nervously watching the second half, and I'll be talking about that throughout. I have enjoyed the Christmas holidays. I haven't spoken to you since. My daughter and your good friend, Kenna, she turned 10 yesterday, so it's kind of hard for me to grasp that I have a 10-year-olds. I've been a lot of you soccer fields. I've been traveling a little bit, and I'm here, man. I was chomping at the bit, as they say, when I got the call to be a part of the podcast this year. There was a famous clip in that show, America's Funniest Home Videos that my dad and I still laugh about. We watched years ago. It's a wedding in Spain and some guy had like an earpiece and was following a soccer match. And right as the bride was coming down the aisle, his team scored. And there's a sea of people. You just see one guy just pop up and go, go in the middle of the wedding. That might be you in the middle of this podcast. Well, that was actually me in the middle of the rundown meeting before the show.

We just scored to go ahead 2-1 and I kind of, yes. And there was an offside check. It's good, but there's 30 minutes left. And if you've seen any of Majorca this season, this game is far from over. And I will be hoping desperately for three points. We're going to talk a little La Liga because Alex Freeman just made a move to Villarreal.

The table is crazy right now.

By the way, we're in the relegation. desperately for three points. We're going to talk a little La Liga because Alex Freeman just made

move to Villarreal. The table is crazy right now. By the way, we're in the relegation zone in 18th,

but if we win, we could jump up to 14th. So outside of, you know, the top four for Champions

League, there's like three points separating places seven to 15, 16, and it's super tight just across the board, which makes it fun

for the casual observer, but for anybody involved in the relegation potential part, it's

not fun at all and it's more stressful.

...