Sam's Army

Sam and EG sit down with CJ Sapong to discuss his James Madison experience and the uncertainty/ecstasy of draft day; winning both ROY and MLS Cup with SKC, highs and lows of Philly, and shouldering the load during a tough season for the Fire. Amidst the soccer talk we dig into the first thing CJ is gonna do when we finally kill The Rona, his search for Xanadu and first pick for starting a new franchise, googling the meaning of life, plus everybody's favorite game: "Did you or an Instagram model post this caption?" (tbf CJ put on a damn clinic).

Sam and EG sit down with good friend of the pod Dax McCarty who joins in a slightly different capacity as we take a deep dive into the career of a living legend. (Call it a mini-roast if you must.) We start by discussing his Florida Man roots, rebellious HS years, IMG experience and tenure at North Carolina. Next we wind through his MLS journey beginning with wild child years in Dallas, a pit stop in DC, his incredible RBNY era, highs and lows of Chicago and finally thoughts on Nashvegas SC so far. In addition to the soccer talk we get to the bottom of his nickname ("Five guys Dax"), discuss Rafa Marquez's drug kingpin allegations, boozy brunches-cum-dance parties at Thierry Henry's favorite NYC spot, life as an honorary Leprechaun, the time someone (literally?) scared the shit out of Bastian Schweinsteiger and finally solve the mystery of which Wood memes -- if you know you know -- is Dax's favorite. Honestly, this is just a small snippet of what is packed into this episode. The smallish ginger man knows everybody, has done everything and has stories about it for days.

Sam and EG sit down for a no-holds-barred discussion with longtime MLS standouts Chad Marshall and Danny O'Rourke. We run through their respective accolade-filled collegiate careers at Stanford and Indiana; a laundry list of Columbus Crew shenanigans, including the rubber-band and chewing gum prop plane that scarred Chad for life and the legend of #suckone through #suckfour; winning MLS Cup together in 2008; culture shock of moving from the midwest to and playing in the Pacific Northwest (Portland/Danny and Seattle/Chad); and a Rapid Fire session in which Chad is forced to choose which of his MLS Cup winning babies he loves more.

Sam sits down with Geoff Cameron and Alejandro Bedoya to discuss life in the Coronaverse; how they first bonded at Camp Cupcake, became besties playing outside the US and the secret for discussing politics from opposing perspectives without getting worked up (politicians in the US could learn something); living with Klinsmann's draconian dietary restrictions and the time Clint Dempsey said "eff that noise"; Ale's fascinating journey through Europe where he played in Old Firm darbies and met his amateur (slash unwitting) IG model wife; a massive low but also plenty of highs from playing with USMNT; what wise words they imparted upon The Babyjesus; and their business partnership that just might revolutionize the art world.

Sam and EG sit down with Wil Trapp to discuss his time dominating soccer and life in and around Columbus, plus what it meant to be the walking/talking face of Ohio soccer for a decade; how Caleb Porter sold him on University of Akron over Harvard; the conflicting emotions of captaining USMNT in the wake of the 2017 WCQ debacle; what the move to Miami (and resulting culture shock) has been like; his first Beckham Experience; how he rebelled against The Man (aka his parents) in HS and the time he got sent to the principal's office in college; plus his unabridged, unvarnished and unsanctioned thought on Anthony Precourt.

Sam and EG sit down with Michael Parkhurst to discuss the glory days with the New England Revolution winning everything except MLS Cup; memories of Clint Dempsey; excelling in the Danish Superliga and facing Chelsea/Juventus/Shakhtar in Champions League; first-hand look at Argentina (f/t Messi) partying at 2008 Summer Olympics; his experience back in MLS with Columbus and finally getting the monkey off his back with Atlanta (while denying culpability for Boom Boom Room trophy celebration).

Sam and Eric Gehrig (aka EG) sit down with Justin Meram to discuss his painful decision between playing soccer and football for the Michigan Wolverines; a bunch of INSANE stories about playing for the Iraqi national team mere months after the Iraq War ended; one of the most courteous Messi vs Ronny debates that has ever taken place; and the gory details of his pre-kickoff conversation with Wayne Rooney about getting hairy plugs in Tijuana -- and there is zero point zero percent (0.0%) chance you could predict how this situation turned out cause I still don't fully believe it

Leagues are suspended all around the world -- but not Australia! -- so Adam Peacock of Fox Sports was kind enough to walk Sam through what the A-League is all about, including a backgrounder on the clubs, players and rivalries with tips for picking a team plus insider picks for this weekend's **LIVE SOCCER GAMES**. INTERVIEW: Sam and Eric Gehrig sat down with Portland Timbers GK Steve Clark to discuss living in a tent in the forest in college (true story), his wild journey from MLS to USL to Norway to MLS to Denmark and finally back to MLS where he is now playing the best "soccer" (keep in mind he's a goalkeeper) of his life in the Pacific Northwest... featuring stories about Wayne Rooney transforming the DC United and the time Roman Torres wanted to fold him into origami.

Sam and Eric Gehrig hit this week's HOT TOPICS, starting with the rapidly evolving situation surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, a big week in Champions League, Ronaldinho being Ronaldinho, and an especially noteworthy few days for both the USMNT and USWNT. INTERVIEW: QPR and long-time USMNT standout Geoff Cameron [[00:25:00]] stops by to discuss life in England, the state of USMNT, whether he or Alexi Lalas antagonizes soccer twitter more and his FIFA rating. WEEKEND PREVIEW [[01:23:36]]: brief look at some big results last week and the games to watch -- assuming some are played -- this coming weekend, starting with Spurs/United and the Merseyside Daerby in EPL, as well as the matches still slated to be played in Bundesliga, La Liga and MLS.

Sam and Eric Gehrig hit this week's HOT TOPICS, starting with thoughts on MLS's opening weekend, Tottenham's PG-rated Malice in the Palace, Bundesliga players protesting butthurt billionaires, and frustrated Dutch fans giving their club an impromptu tactics session. INTERVIEW: sadly things fell through with Arlo White (the voice of the EPL and -- as of this week -- Chicago Fire) but we'll have him on sometime soon. WEEKEND PREVIEW all the games to watch, starting with the Manchester Daerby in EPL and finishing up with Juventus/Inter behind closed doors in Italy.

Sam and exMLS pro Eric Gehrig hit this week's hot topic, which is a crash course on MLS ahead of opening day this weekend. We touch on where experts think teams should finish, our picks to win the Shield and Cup, which teams we see under- and over-performing (including a few dark horses), and finally who we got winning things like the Golden Boot and MVP awards. INTERVIEW: FC Cincinnati GK Spencer Richey [[24:50]] offers an inside look at the turmoil surrounding the recent firing of head coach Ron Jans, I (attempt to) pour gasoline on the Hell Is Real dærby with Columbus Crew by putting words in his mouth, and Spencer answers the all-important question: if Sam took five penalty kicks on him, how many would he score. WEEKEND PREVIEW: brief overview of all the best games in England (including League Cup final), and the rest of Europe with the usual smattering of extremely fade-able predictions

Sam, Mike Magee and Max Bretos hit this week's HOT TOPICS, starting with UEFA dropping the hammer on Man City, Klinsmann quitting Hertha, Jermaine Jones vs Alexi Lalas (re: Timmy Chandler's place on USMNT) and Concacaf Champions League. INTERVIEW: Tommy Smyth [[33:41]] stops by to discuss how he became the voice of ESPN's Champions League coverage, death threats and predictions galore, including Saturday's Tottenham vs Chelsea. WEEKEND PREVIEW [[01:13:18]]: harsh words for La Liga's treatment of Barcelona and Leganes plus the games to watch this weekend in Spain, Germany and Italy.

Sam and Dax McCarty hit this week’s HOT TOPICS, starting with some heavy adulation for The Babyjesus Jr; simple VAR fixes that the Premier League should implement immediately; winners/losers of the January transfer window; and takeaways from recent USMNT/USWNT performances. INTERVIEW: Derby County's Duane Holmes [39:51] stops by to discuss what he's heard from Berhalter about future USMNT call-ups, what playing with Wayne Rooney has been like and what the England legend did for his club initiation, Shirts For Jordan and how Duane plans to celebrate winning WC22 and WC26. WEEKEND PREVIEW [01:05:46]: the games in an abbreviated weekend in the Premier League, plus massive trouble in Barcelona's paradise plus a MASSIVE top of the table tilt in Ze Bundesliga.

Sam and Mikey hit this week’s HOT TOPICS, including Ed Woodward no good very bad decade (but especially week), Klopp pooping on FA Cup, Christine Sinclair breaking records, Lord Bendtner the Danish reality TV star and a few words on Kobe Bryant. INTERVIEW: NYCFC’s Keaton Parks [23:21] stops by to discuss his experience playing in Portugal, what led him to New York, goals for USMNT Olympic qualifying and why he was sad his FIFA rating went up. WEEKEND PREVIEW [46:26]: the big games in Premier League starting with Lester vs Chelsea and Spurs trying not to get kilt by City (plus rapid run through rest of the slate) followed by the highlights elsewhere on the continent, including multiple Ligue 1 games because of Mikey’s fetish for French soccer.

Sam and Mike Magee are joined this week by a true OG of televised soccer in the US in Max Bretos as Mike and Max set their Galaxy/LAFC biases aside (not really) to discuss the impact of Chicharito's signing on the LA rivalry and the MLS more generally, and (of course) some "early retirement" talk. Other HOT TOPICS include Dortmund's big day [21:45], whether London has ever been further from the center of the soccer universe (and how worried should West Ham fans be) [28:55], and if Solskjaer is really the problem at United [32:00]. INTERVIEW: Max reminisces [36:30] about his time calling European games at Fox Soccer, which pulls on Sam's heartstrings. WEEKEND PREVIEW: the big games in FA Cup and the continents [45:07], plus Max's favorites to win Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A.