Top Stories

The SBI Show: Episode 289 (Talking MLS in CCL, Jermaine Jones, and more)

Major League Soccer’s 25th season is around the corner, but before diving into the 2020 campaign, the latest episode of The SBI Show looks at MLS in Concacaf Champions League, and much more.

Host Ives Galarcep takes a look at where the five MLS teams stand in CCL action, while also discussing the current state of affairs with the Chicago Fire and FC Cincinnati.

Episode 289 also dives into Jermaine Jones recent critical comments aimed at the U.S. Men’s National Team, and specifically at former coach Bruce Arena.

Ives wraps up the episode talking Americans Abroad, specifically the recent play of John Brooks, Andrija Novakovich, and Erik Palmer-Brown.

Give Episode 289 of The SBI Show a listen here:

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/766506874″ params=”color=#3a3c7d&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”300″ iframe=”true” /]

Comments

  1. I think it’s really hard to do radio or podcasting solo, but you pull it off well.

    Also, I really enjoyed your Friday MLS weekly preview columns on goal.com. Hope to see them continue on SBI!

    Reply
  2. It looks like there will be changes and Jermain Jones is helping. Slowly they heard us about berhalter and ussoccer and his brother is on the way out and a familiar face of our days of somewhat glory with Brian Mcbride. Although I would like to see Landon Donovan more involved in the future he could teach guys like pulisic and the youth how to play vs mexico and concacaf.

    Reply
  3. IMO, Premier’s greatest beat of all time. Still gives me chills to this day. “When the East is in the house, you should come equipped…”

    As for Jermaine, there is a lot of truth behind what he’s saying and “with all due respect” (haha), there aren’t enough people involved in US Soccer speaking their mind, speaking out, calling people out specifically, etc, regardless of whether you agree with what Jermaine is saying or not. It takes people like him stirring the pot to help bring about more change, which, again, regardless of what you think of his opinion itself, you can’t deny that things don’t need fixing in US Soccer.

    Reply
  4. JERMAINE JONES interview……shots fired, shots fired ? !!!!!!

    Jermaine Jones has never been a man to hold back his opinions, and in a new interview with Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl, he went off on the way U.S. Soccer is currently run.

    Jones often used the phrase “with all due respect” before absolutely annihilating an aspect of the U.S. Soccer system. A brief sampling is below.

    On Bruce Arena:
    “Bruce Arena, with all due respect, is the worst coach I ever had in my whole career. The worst. And he’s like the No. 1 American coach.”

    More on Arena:
    “With all due respect, how can you go from Bob Bradley and Jürgen Klinsmann to Bruce Arena? Like, what are you doing, guys?”

    On long-time U.S. national team player Tim Ream:
    “Tim Ream is not a national team captain, with all due respect. He’s a nice man but not a national team captain.”

    And finally on the way national team players are selected:
    “And with all due respect, there’s some players, they play national team now, they’re not national team players. With all due respect. This is why we struggle. But nobody says that because it will hurt MLS. Because MLS is saying, ‘Wait a minute, if he helps them out and he brings a guy in who’s an MLS player, after a couple times playing national team he’s not a national team player. Now we can sell it better, you know? And it’s just marketing and the business.”

    Honestly, you can’t legitimately argue with any of Jones’ points. U.S. Soccer is so far behind the rest of the world and it isn’t for a lack of raw talent. The development and coaching just lags miles behind the elite soccer powers.

    He lobbed one last shot at Arena and the way U.S. Soccer tends to promote from within and boost the profiles of people within the “family, “rather than finding the best talent in the world:

    “Everything we are doing here is run like a family business. It’s like: Who do I know and who can help me out? Bruce Arena’s son [Kenny]? Come on, he’s not a coach. But then straight away he’s a national team assistant coach. Gets kicked out, and then he gets to LAFC because his dad has a friend, Bob Bradley. He has another job, and you’re like, goddamn, how is that possible?”
    Again, he’s not wrong.

    The entire article is brilliant, as Wahl takes a long look at Jones’ fascinating career, his personal life and looks ahead to what’s next for the 38-year-old. Jones is attempting to get into coaching but has found many doors closed to him despite his outstanding playing career.
    SOCCER OF FIRE – By Ryan Phillips

    Dang ?? lol

    Reply
      • Jesus thank god SilverRey. Jermaine Jones had a legendary 2014 World Cup (certainly by USMNT standards anyway), and I will always love him for those moments. But anybody who has listened to him talk (or tweet… or whatever) since that time will know he’s a bit of a blowhard, at times even a buffoon. He makes good points sometimes, and he makes ridiculous non-points sometimes. Really not surprising to me he is having trouble finding coaching work (though I wouldn’t begrudge him the chance).

      • “Bruce Arena is the worst coach I ever had in my whole career”. How can you go from Bob Bradley and Jürgen Klinsmann to Bruce Arena?
        That’s debatable as (Bruce Arena is my dude) Jones came up through the German Academies…… ⁉️

        Tim Ream is not a national team captain.
        Hmm also Debatable. Yet most people don’t think Tim Ream SHOULD EVEN BE on the national team in the first place… ⁉️

        There are some players that play national team now, that are not national team players. This is why we struggle. FACTS, ABSOLUTELY 100% FACT ✔️
        e.g. Wil Trap: Being “sold” by US Soccer (look at his USMNT profile), yet IMMEDIATELY gets kicked out of Columbus as soon as REAL midfielders arrive

        By bringing in more MLS players to the National team sells the illusion that we are excelling at developing players. FACTS, ABSOLUTELY 100% FACTS ✔️
        Hmmm, even though the top 20 players in MLS are all foreign players and even with that, we are reminded time and time again in CCL that we are not on the same level as even La Liga.

        Everything we are doing here is run like a family business. It’s like: Who do I know and who can help me out? FACTS, ABSOLUTELY 100% FACTS ✔️
        e.g. 1 Berhalter getting the job as USMNT head coach because of his brother
        e.g. 2 Bruce Arena’s son Kenny: National team assistant coach, LAFC assistant coach
        e.g. 3 Berhalter’s son Sebastian: Taking up space at Columbus Crew

        Jermaine Jones, Geoff Cameron, Benny Feilhaber and Darlington Nagbe have all said or showed their distaste for how things are run on the national team and USSoccer. I think I’ll take several USMNT players experience over a fan’s hypothetical any day of the week ?

Leave a Reply to MisterJC Cancel reply