The World Cup is just what it's less than less than two weeks away.
Feels like it's tomorrow. Grant Wall from grantwall.com. Also one of my absolute favorites must listen. However, many times a week it drops football with Grant Wall. He joins us on the Adam Gold Show. Go to his site. Read all about the the US men's national team and the roster and all the surprises.
So let's start there, I guess. Is it on the squad or Zach Stefan isn't? Zach Stefan isn't because until this week, if I had to choose, I would have predicted that Greg Berhalter would start Zach Stefan at the World Cup in goal ahead of Matt Turner. I didn't agree with that, but that's what I expected because Greg Berhalter has always viewed Stefan as his guy.
He played for him before in MLS. He's chosen Stefan when healthy, overturner and World Cup qualifying. Stefan is healthy now. And so I absolutely stunned that Stefan did not even make the roster, not even in the top three goalkeepers who did. And I still, even after listening to Berhalter and asking about this yesterday, don't have a full understanding of why Zach Stefan was not picked.
Berhalter said it was one of the hardest conversations he's ever had to drop him. So that's the big surprise to me. Tim Ream being on it is only surprising because he hasn't been called into the US team since October 21.
But he's also captaining a Premier League team, is doing quite well now in Fulham and playing well against players like Erling Holland in the Premier League. So I'm glad that Tim Ream is on the team. He deserves to be, but I wasn't sure he was going to get picked.
Yeah, I wasn't either. And because he hadn't been part of this cycle at all, I was surprised that he was eventually put on the team. But again, I watch the Premier League all the time. He has been one of the best central defenders in a difficult spot too, because Fulham is just kind of coming up and they're trying to make their way.
And I think they're actually pretty good. And look, we've got guys on leads, whether it's Brandon Aronson and Tyler Adams, who has been, I think, spectacular. You know, he doesn't put up points, but man, he controls the play and he does everything he does for the men's national team. Alright, what to make of Christian Pulisic? He doesn't play. He's barely a second choice player, I think, right now for Chelsea. He has played a little bit in some of their midweek cup matches.
Europe, not Europa, some Champions League, some EFL cup. But he really isn't part of their featured team. What to make of him going into this World Cup with so little play? And also, what's his future there?
Yeah, I mean, there's so much there, right? I mean, Christian Pulisic is the best known American player. He is the star of the team. You know, he's won the men's Champions League with Chelsea and contributed to that.
But you're right. In recent months, quite a few months now, he has not been a first choice player at Chelsea. In the big picture, it's a victory that Christian Pulisic is healthy, knock on wood, heading into this World Cup because he's had so many injuries over the years. And the U.S. as a team is healthier now than they have been for a while.
So that's a good thing. But in terms of you want players to be in top form of club level like Tyler Adams heading into the World Cup. And you can't say that Christian Pulisic is just because he doesn't play very much for Chelsea.
And when he does play, it's not in their most important games. That said, I do think Christian Pulisic, there's a sense that when he comes into the national team of liberation for him that he really enjoys, really welcomes. And that might get something out of him in this World Cup. And the U.S. is going to need to get something out of Christian Pulisic in this World Cup.
I think he's capable of a performance that would be sort of like, I'm going to show you Chelsea, I'm going to show you what I can do and why I'm still an elite player. But, you know, that's a big challenge for him. Is there a sense that he has to be the guy to get them out of the group?
And I know they open with Wales in a week and a half or so. That he has to be the guy that does it? I don't think Pulisic has to be the guy.
He could be the guy. You know, I mean, you go back to the best game the U.S. has played in the last couple of years was at home against Mexico in World Cup qualifying. And Pulisic did not start that game, if you remember, but he scored the first goal right after he came on as a sub. He ended up being a difference maker. And there were even a couple of other qualifiers where Pulisic was available and did not start, but then ended up coming on and scoring a goal.
That happened in Minnesota in the qualifier as well. So, there may be a game in the group stage that Christian Pulisic doesn't start. I'm expecting he will, but even if he doesn't, he can have an impact. So, right now the U.S. has a lot of healthy wingers, a lot of possibilities. You know, they play a 4-3-3, so there's going to be two wingers up front in each game. And you would think Pulisic would be a lock, but then you've also got Gia Reyna, Brendan Aronson, Tim Weah.
They're all healthy now. And that's good in a sense for Greg Berhalter to have that luxury of selection, but he can mix and match a fair amount there. Final question for Grant Wall, and by the way, I've enjoyed watching Brendan Aronson play so far this year. He is a ball of energy. He does need to finish more. I know you and Chris Winningham have talked about that.
He needs to put the ball in a few more times, but he has been fun to watch. All right, Seth Blatter, former FIFA boss, was critical of the selection. He said it was a mistake to award the World Cup to Qatar. Nobody could see that coming, and we all understand that he was the one who made that decision. What's the biggest reason it's a mistake to have the World Cup in Qatar?
And I know you've reported on the human rights aspect of this story a lot on your site at GrantWall.com, but what's the biggest mistake in giving this World Cup to Qatar? Peloton, let's go! This holiday, with the right music and the right motivation from world-class instructors. We're going to pick it up a notch.
It's the holiday season. You might just surprise yourself with what you're capable of. Work out to thousands of live and on-demand classes, from running to cycling to yoga. Try Peloton risk-free with a 30-day home trial. New members only. Not available in remote locations. See additional terms at 1peloton.com slash home dash trial. Peloton.
Motivation that moves you. You know, I think there's several major, major issues with Qatar hosting this World Cup. You go back to 2010 when they got the hosting rights. The U.S. Department of Justice has produced evidence showing that there were bribes of the thief of voters.
That's obviously against the rules, right? So they got it with corruption. And then there's all the human rights issues in terms of the migrant workers. Migrant workers make up 90, more than 90 percent of the workers in Qatar. And they come from different parts of the world.
The Indian subcontinent, East and West Africa, Southeast Asia. And they have been treated very, very badly over the years. And so a lot of those workers have died, not necessarily explicitly working on FIFA stadiums, but just on infrastructure for the country.
Much of it, which has some tie to preparations for the World Cup, they built an entire metro system, all those things. There are new laws in Qatar to protect migrant workers. But when I went and wrote about it for my site, I talked to workers at 14 FIFA hotels who told me that a lot of these laws are not being followed on the ground. So that's tremendously important in terms of LGBTQ rights. It is illegal to have same sex relationships in Qatar. That sort of speaks for itself. And then women's rights. Women are prevented from doing a lot of things without permission from their male guardian, whether that's their father, their husband, all that sort of thing.
And so you put all that together. There were other issues in terms that they couldn't host it during the summer, like they originally said they would, because it was going to be 120 degrees. That's why they had to move it to November, December, which has totally screwed up the international soccer calendar. There were plenty of reasons not to have this World Cup in Qatar, but I always felt like it was going to happen. And here we are and it's happening. Yeah, and it's happening and it's happening soon.
All right, so go board a plane. No, by the way, very shaky whether or not we're going to see Sadio Mane, who got injured in the last Bayern Munich match, I believe it was a couple of days ago. And for those people who fell in love watching Mane play for Liverpool, like me, last winter, that's a blow, because Senegal would have been dangerous with a player like Sadio Mane. And if they don't have him, it is bad.
And that's why if this was in the summer, most of these guys, if not all of them, would be pretty healthy. Grant Wall, I appreciate your time. The podcast is great, Football with Grant Wall, and of course the website at grantwall.com. I appreciate it. It's great to talk to you. Hopefully we'll do it again.
Have a good time in Qatar. My pleasure. Thanks for having me on. Peloton, let's go. This holiday with the right music and the right motivation from world-class instructors. We're going to pick it up a notch.
It's the holiday season. You might just surprise yourself with what you're capable of. Work out to thousands of live and on-demand classes from running to cycling to yoga. Try Peloton risk-free with a 30-day home trial. New members only. Not available in remote locations. See additional terms at onepeloton.com slash home dash trial. Peloton. Motivation that moves you.
Whisper: medium.en / 2022-11-19 11:00:14 / 2022-11-19 11:04:45 / 5
