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Welcome to The Inter Miami Show, which is dedicated to unraveling the exciting journey of Inter Miami CF. Join us as we explore the team's rise, challenges, and triumphs on and off the field. From in-depth team discussions to tactical analyses, we aim to bring you the pulse of Inter Miami CF, offering passionate fans a front-row seat to the dynamic world of Major League Soccer in the vibrant city of Miami.
Branton (00:42.824)
Hello and welcome to the first ever episode of the Inter Miami show. My name is Brandon Griffin and I'll be one of your hosts along on this journey. And I'll be joined with my boy, Mike. Say what's up to the audience, man.
Mike (00:58.83)
What's up everybody? Yeah, well first show I'm going to cut you off a few times until we figure this out. But what's up everybody, I'm Mike. I am super excited to be joining you tonight. Yeah, let's light some fires, kick some tires, let's get this on the road.
Branton (01:14.76)
Hell yeah. For those of you listening on audio, you can find us wherever you find your normal podcast, Spotify, Apple Music, whatever it may be. Also know we post in video. This will be live on YouTube. Because most of you don't know, follow us on socials at Inner Miami Show, on Twitter, on Instagram, and on YouTube. So you never miss an episode. Subscribe, hit the bell, and you know.
We're going to aim to be bringing you coverage of all the big news, all the games, things like that, and try and bring our own unique perspective, uh, to, to the, uh, inner Miami podcasting universe. So, um, you know, yeah.
Mike (01:59.03)
Yeah, we're soup.
Yeah, super excited to get this going. I'm super excited to bring this to all of our listeners. This one we're recording on our own. We're gonna record a couple of these on our own, figure out exactly how to do this. And then we'll put these live. And we're really looking forward to getting some fan interaction as part of this, taking Q&A on live, bring people on live as we can too. So one of our big spin is we really want the fan interaction and we really wanna do this from a fan's perspective.
I'm following the team since before there was a team and we're just super excited to do this from fans Looking we're definitely not trained as professional sportscasters, but we really want to say like, okay, we're fans as team What do we want to see? What don't we want to see where we're gonna go with this?
Branton (02:49.032)
Yeah. So you're, you're here for episode one. You're, you're buckled in and hopefully you'll be here at episode a thousand as we keep this train moving. But you know, the first headline we're going to hop right into, uh, and I'll let Mike take the lead on this is the biggest news this week is, uh, our boy Kamal Miller has been traded from inner Miami. Mike, what are the details?
Mike (03:12.566)
Well, first let me just say this hit me out of the blue. I did not see this coming. If you had asked me, you know, a week ago, who do I guarantee is on the team next year? Kamau Miller is anchoring our defense, but he's going over to Portland. He's reuniting with Phil Neville. We got 625K in GAM for him, or Garber Bucks as they're sometimes known. I kind of want to roll back the clock a little bit too. So he actually came to us less than a year ago. April 12th of 2023 it was announced.
Duke and Ariel Lasseter. We received in return 1.3 million in GAM and now we're getting another 625k in GAM. So that total deal now comes out to about 2 million dollars in GAM. Also included as part of this trade from last week was an international roster slot and just kind of looking at kind of what they've gone for recently. So Columbus crew acquired two international roster slots from
Mike (04:12.08)
So figure it's about a buck 50 175 per international roster spots brings us this trade up to about 800 K and gam for Camal Miller.
I'm going to start with, I don't really know how to take this. So Kamal really was our, the most solid person on defense in our back line. He made 35 appearances in all competitions. Uh, he's, he was a rock. I mean, he wasn't perfect, but this was the, I believe the 2022 MLS defender of the year. You weren't going to find much better than this in MLS today. That being said, uh, let's get right into tactics. We know that Tata wants to run a high line.
He really wants to press, press. I think we all expecting some version of a three five two next year. Uh, and these guys in our center backs when we playing well beyond midfield. So Kamal was not the fastest guy in the field. Uh, I think looking at this now, it kind of starts to make sense, but I don't know, Brandon, what do you think? Like it just, it just doesn't seem like what we were expecting.
Branton (05:15.024)
No, you know, right off the bat, I was shocked when it happened. I was pretty upset because I, you know, come all Miller, you know, for anybody who's been around the team in Bennett games, like he's always really engaged with the fans, taking pictures, signing stuff, like really good dude. And so seeing him go is sad. I'm glad to see him reunite with Phil. I think.
He played, I think he was better under in Phil's system than he was with Tata. I think a lot of his job when Tata came in was cleaning up because we did not have the center backs with pace that we needed to run Tata's system. And I think a lot of people took him covering for others as he was not good and I don't think that was fair. I think he was probably our best center back last year.
You know, he covered a lot of space. He was quick on his feet. But, you know, when you sit back and you analyze the trade, like you can't build a contender without giving away pieces. And Kamal Miller was a piece we could get some money for within the league. We could get that much needed international roster spot. And if anything's been proven by this team is we're really not building with MLS experience. They're trying to go outside the league and find younger guys and, and guys that are proven in other leagues who maybe could contribute a little bit more.
and maybe be sold on in the future. And right now, you know, we're also looking at guys who are willing to take a discount to play with Messi and we'll see what we turn that 620K in gam into. I mean, you know, rumor is it's going to be for Suarez's contract, which is fine, because you're definitely upgrading there. But it's a big hole and I don't know how we fill it right now. You know, I haven't heard very many rumors about guys that we're linked to.
And, you know, we'll get into the LGP news in a little bit, but, um, yeah, uh, it all depends on how, on what we do with it and what we do to, to improve that position, because now it was an area where I didn't think we really needed to add pieces and now I think we definitely need, um, at least one, if not two center backs.
Mike (07:32.222)
Yeah, I mean, a lot to unpack there. And don't forget before we get off Kamal, I got a great story about Kamal just being an awesome fan guy. But a couple of things to start out with is absolutely agree that he was that rock. He was the one that was cleaning up the mess. Obviously Tata wants pace. I think one thing you really are gonna see about this is Sergey Kristof has to be being shot. Sergey was slower than Kamal. Sergey is another international spot.
I forgot if I saw on Twitter where I saw it, but I did see some rumors that, you know, Kamal's international slot, that's going straight to Suarez, was my understanding. Like that's where they wanted that, that extra one form, the extra one that they got for Suarez.
Branton (08:13.348)
Yeah, I think it was either the roster spot or the game or both going to his acquisition
Mike (08:19.006)
Yeah. But I gotta imagine Sergey's next. He has to be, you know, I had, I had a, it's funny, I had a pretty good list of people I was expecting to see shot. And I don't know if we'll get a chance to cover that this year or the show too, but I didn't have Kamal on there. I didn't have Sergey on there, but now that Kamal's gone, I think Sergey's gone next.
Um, I, you know, I've seen a lot of people now linking us to miles Robinson. Uh, I, I can see this because he's a very pacey center back. Um, the other one up name up throughout here is a no Allen. Uh, no Allen did play center back occasionally last season. I think he's very pacey. Very much seen him play. He's a very fast guy. Now that we have both Negri and Alba on the roster that we don't really need a third center back, a third left back. I could honestly see Noah becoming a permanent
Branton (08:56.681)
Yeah.
Mike (09:07.192)
left center back. I would be very surprised if we don't see that in some of the preseason games unless there's more roster moves though I do think Noah is pretty safe on our roster.
Branton (09:16.988)
Yeah, I don't think Noah goes anywhere. And I would love to see him slot into a position like that because I want to see him get more playing time this year. With Alba coming in, we were all concerned about what his role with the team would look like. So anything that gets Noah Allen on the field, in my opinion, is a great move. We've also got centerbacks like, we've got like McVeigh, who unfortunately,
We never really saw with Tata, so I don't think he fits the mold. But he's another center back who's Pacey, who when he was our left back, not last season, season before, was cleaning up a lot of messes. So maybe he slots in there. But it'll be interesting to see how that builds out.
Mike (10:03.266)
The other name not to forget. No name, Ian Frey. We got Ian Frey back obviously, season-ending injury last year. He was playing center back and I think he was playing a CDM at some points in center midfield I believe if I remember going up.
Branton (10:08.456)
That's true.
Branton (10:15.684)
Yeah, he was in I think it was preseason he was playing CDM.
Mike (10:20.234)
So I could see him getting a lot more playing, Thomas. Like this could be good for the new guys. I think it's honestly, we're speculating. That's kind of what we do, but there's a lot of speculation here because we just don't know what the next roster move is. But I kind of go circle back is like Sergey to me. Yeah, he's, he was a great, another great, great fan favorite really, you know, when we were playing a lower line with, with Neville, I think Sergey played great as we started requiring him to make these huge runs, he just couldn't do it.
Branton (10:33.297)
Right.
Branton (10:44.465)
Mm-hmm.
Mike (10:50.148)
I think again, kind of to what you're saying earlier, he looks like he was making mistakes because he was being put in a place where he had to make mistakes. He just wasn't capable of not doing it. But I think he can't be long for this team, which is too bad, very nice guy.
Branton (10:50.442)
Yeah.
Branton (10:57.981)
Yeah.
Branton (11:04.152)
No, really nice guy. Honestly, um, before Tata came, he was the rock. Like he's a solid defender. He's no nonsense. Like he, he saved us in a lot of situations. So, you know, I just want to see him go someplace where he can succeed. Really is what it's all about because he was a great servant for this team. Uh, great with the fans and you know, uh, I just don't think.
Mike (11:32.118)
Yeah, I have a magic circuit.
Branton (11:33.616)
in Tata system he looks good or handles it well.
Mike (11:37.902)
No, and I can definitely see him staying in MLS. I know there was a lot of talk that he came here to be in America. You know, honestly, if the Timbers have the money, you know, going to Portland could make sense because again, reunited with Neville. I think it is interesting, you know, we picked up, going back to Kamau, picked him up on April 12th. Neville was only coach for two more months. And if you look at the time when we picked him up, if you kind of cross-link it with where the Ross,
Branton (11:52.788)
Yeah.
Mike (12:08.036)
that was in the middle of our first big losing streak. So clearly it was, this was when Phil wasn't quite on the exit yet. There wasn't, we didn't have the SG's kind calling for his exit. So clearly he was brought in to be that rock Neville had a probably a say in that pickup. And it's interesting to bring it with him. So at the end of the day, I'm okay with this, you know, kind of finishing the thought from the beginning. I'm okay with this trade. I would have liked to have seen, I think a little more money. If you look at, you know, we got 625 plus 1.3.
Branton (12:11.311)
Mm-hmm.
Branton (12:18.388)
Yeah.
Mike (12:37.696)
It just feels like Kamal being MLS Defender of the Year should have had some more money. I think Lewis Morgan correctly following through got one point.
Branton (12:42.9)
Well, the problem though is he wasn't an MLS defender the year with us.
Mike (12:47.638)
It's one year removed under a bad system. Like, I don't know, it feels like we could have gotten at least a little more out of it.
Branton (12:53.277)
You know.
Well, I think that international spot is, is decent pickup and maybe we could have gotten a little more, especially because he, he did just sign a contract extension. So you're probably right. There probably should have been a little more value there, but could also be a situation where we just needed to guarantee that we'd have the money in the international spot for, for Suarez. And we just, that's what we had to do.
Mike (13:05.751)
Yeah.
Mike (13:20.094)
And you have to recognize also MLS defenders are historically undervalued. You know, a good example is looking, I mentioned Miles Robinson earlier, he's leaving Atlanta because they won't make him a DP, you know, historically you have no goalie DPs, very few defender DPs. It's all in the attacking just because of the salary cap and the restrictions. Um, so I think that that's probably a little bit as well. And I think you called it too. The teams know we need international Ross response. They know we need GAM. They know like they were, it's not our market. Like.
Branton (13:25.533)
Yeah.
Branton (13:46.217)
Yeah.
Mike (13:49.968)
everyone else's market when competing with us in most cases. So.
Branton (13:54.928)
Yeah, and you know when you know somebody needs something you're gonna you're gonna be the one who gets the best deal and that's what happened So all the best to come all at uh at timbers. Um You know, I hope that fan base embraces him because he's a good dude and deserves support
Mike (14:12.334)
And speaking of that, it's what I just had to tell a story. So last game of the season, all the players are walking around doing autographs and I was dying for a Yedlin autograph. Like I just wanted, I'm a huge, well, kind of eventually I have a huge Yedlin guy. I think he's brought so much culture to this team and I really wanted the autograph and Yedlin, which was his family. They weren't really dealing with the autograph stuff, but Kamal Miller was doing all that stuff. And I yelled to Kamal, I'm like, Hey, Kamal, can you bring Yedlin my jersey? Get signed. Kamal took a random fans off Jersey, brought it to Yedlin, had him
Yellen signed on Kamal's chest and then brought it back to me. It was just like that's the kind of guy Kamal was so Beyond being I think just an important part of our defense last year and a huge part of our least cup run He was a good guy too. So I do wish him all the best at Portland I hope I that's a Portland's a place where the fans can really embrace you and I think he's gonna be really embraced over there You know, we didn't mention that he's actually had three stops. He's only been in the league since 2019 He's actually had three stops already Montreal
Branton (14:49.268)
Yeah.
Branton (15:03.134)
Yeah.
Mike (15:11.988)
to Montreal to Miami, I hope that Portland is the place he finds home and that he's there for multiple seasons and he really gets the place to embrace it. And I think Portland is on an upswing. I think they will do well under Phil. They're going to make some runs in the playoffs and it's hopefully a place where Kamau can really succeed.
Branton (15:28.264)
Yeah, that would be great. Man, I forgot he was with Orlando City. Now I like him a little bit less. Yeah. Yeah, but, you know, kind of talking about center backs, I mean, we have to talk about the LGP news that broke today. LGP will be staying at River Plate. So I think they made the transfer payment of 300K today.
Mike (15:35.734)
Yeah, we left there quickly, so he was smart. He got out.
Branton (15:57.724)
And, you know, we also got one point, I think it was 1.8 million in the, as the loan fee for his loan to have him over there. So, good business there. If you guys don't know who LGP is, he led the team in red cards and yellow cards his first time here. You know, he was no nonsense center back who, you know,
He just was aggressive and, you know, seems to have found his place at River Plate. I don't think he's had the same problems that he had here, but, um, yeah. Um, wish him well as well. Um, but yeah.
Mike (16:38.07)
I gotta say after the Kamal news, this was another surprise for me. Only because LGP played under Tata at Atlanta. He was there in 2018 when they won the championship. Tata won the championship.
Branton (16:47.676)
That's true, I didn't think about that.
Mike (16:49.566)
He's a Pacey defender. He is a red card magnet. He was guaranteed a card a game, whether it was yellows or reds, he was guaranteed it. But I could have seen him playing on this team. Like it felt like he was gonna get to come back. You know, remember we saw him play in the preseason last year when River came. It just felt like he wasn't gone forever. 300K is good money, so just so everyone knows, I had to look this up earlier. You can spend up a sign up to $750,000
Branton (16:53.869)
Yeah.
Branton (17:09.973)
Yeah.
Mike (17:18.undefined)
transfer fees to make use as GAM. So this is more GAM for us.
Branton (17:22.72)
Mm-hmm.
Mike (17:23.678)
are now to think about we're probably gonna spend more game on a new defender than, you know, what we're spending in LGP. So like, it doesn't feel like the trade-offs there, but I definitely did think that especially losing Kamal, there's not a lot of their names there. Here's, here's a guy that we know and Tata knows, and we've seen Tata go back to the players he knows regularly. I really thought he was coming back. Like again, just another surprise. There's a lot cooking back there and I don't, I don't personally see what's going on yet, but it's clearly they're, they're aiming towards things.
Branton (17:54.568)
that. And so like, I don't think we really had any control in this situation at this point anyway, because that option was already built into his loan. So the only way he was coming back was if River Plate said, no, we don't want him at this price. And if they've already paid $1.8 million for the loan fee, they were probably going to pick up that option. So had we known or had Tata been the coach at the time LGP was here, maybe that clause doesn't get put in, and maybe he stays here. But I don't think there was any
I don't think we had any choice in that other than to say, well, you know.
Mike (18:27.178)
Oh, come on. We have the best way to break these rules. It's not a rule to force the contracts in our favor as you want. Cause all we have to say is, hey, River, do you want to play messy in 2025 on a international friendly type game or not, I'm sorry, like a club friendly type game? You know, you come play us and let us keep LGP and it'll work. Like there is, if we wanted him, we could get him.
Branton (18:43.581)
Yeah.
Branton (18:53.29)
I honestly don't think River fans want to see Messi. Maybe some of them, but I'm pretty sure that they're not flocking to come and see him, but I could be wrong.
Mike (19:08.302)
I mean, as far as I can tell, everyone wants to see Messi no matter, even if you hate him, you still want to see him.
Branton (19:13.384)
Yeah, oh maybe they want to see us be or see them, you know, see lgp take him out or something in the friendly But you know, um I guess we'll move right into our next big topic, which is louis suarez is on the team Um, you know, he's expected to take up a tam deal
As you guys will know and you can probably see by the wall behind me I am a massive Liverpool fan and as well as an inner Miami fan. So I was split on the Luis Suarez news I don't love the person but I love the player he brought me a lot of great memories while playing for Liverpool and So getting to see him in person is gonna be Incredible I can check that off my list. I never thought I'd see him play live
And now I get to, and if you know me and we're around when I was, you know, covering the messy, uh, announcement stuff, uh, you know, I am probably, I am a lot more excited about Suarez than I was messy just because of that personal connection, but, um, you know, he, in, uh, at Grameo, he was, he had 27 goals, 17 assists, uh, 54 appearances in all competitions last, uh, last year. And.
You know, he played almost 4,700 minutes in the Brazilian League, which is great, especially when you consider a lot of people are knocking in because of his knee issues and knee injuries and that are pretty well documented. I'm not saying they don't exist, but I think they've been exaggerated trying to get him here earlier to play with Messi. But.
I love the move. I think Suarez comes in and he's a top five striker in the league right away. He's a guy that I hope can teach Campana can work with him and help him develop even further as a striker because again, you can tell I love Campana one of my favorite players on the team and I'd love nothing more for him to just develop that killer instinct that Suarez has. Mike, what are your thoughts on Suarez? I know you kind of like me varied.
Mike (21:34.734)
So, so let's start with, if you had asked me before last week, my number one issue was our attacking. I actually didn't think we had any help in defense. Let's put all our money on attacking. I was initially hesitant as far as deal I can bought into the knee injuries quite a bit. Once I kind of got back to the data of 54 appearances, 27 goals, I started getting pretty excited. You know, we need a strong attacking, you know, presence. I do not think we have it right now. If anyone knows me, follows my Twitter.
not sold on Kampana. I think he went, he regressed again this year. I don't think we have any type of real attack upfront. In fact, current before Suarez, I'd make a strong argument or best attacker is Robbie Robinson when he was healthy. And I know that probably makes you a little nauseous for me to say, Brand, but I really didn't think Robbie was better. I think Suarez changes it. I think Suarez is going to come in and make a difference. I have a hope that Suarez is going to act like these other messy friends who have come
Branton (22:22.266)
Ugh.
Mike (22:34.788)
and not only brought themselves but actually have taught.
If you talk to any of the players, I'll tell you that when Alba, Biscuetz and Messi came, they've spent more time teaching than they have playing. I'm hoping Suarez is the same. I think as Suarez comes in, does start helping Campana out, does start helping Rabi out. We're going to see real impressive results. I'm not expecting Suarez to play every game. We're expecting next year between 60 and 70 games. I think, kind of just jumping in, I think we're expecting the Champions Cup to be
be our priority leagues come to be priorities and must probably be secondary. Like these guys are going to be resting some games. If Suarez can be teaching if he can get Kampana to be even half of his expected as we were hoping, I think it's gonna make a real difference. So I am excited for Suarez. I do get nervous when he's telling me starts putting out articles or comments that says he takes a shot in the knee and three pills before every game. Like at some point you do break down. If he can get us through, get us through CCC though.
Branton (23:16.309)
Yeah.
Mike (23:37.624)
the first half of the season, I'm gonna be pretty excited. I do agree with you, he has the capability to be a top five striker. Like he can score goals and I think, see us kind of like, I kind of want to play Nashville again because Hanny's gonna be looking at Suarez more than he's gonna be looking at Messi. And I think that's gonna be a lot of fun. And I think we're gonna be a fun team. He's gonna make us a fun team. We weren't there yet at the end of last season, but Suarez coming in, like, he's gonna be worth the price of admission. Like really.
Branton (23:54.888)
Yeah.
Branton (23:59.248)
Mm-hmm.
Branton (24:04.156)
Oh yeah. And like, you know, the athletic put out a really great article where they interviewed like a lot of the coaches and the players who played within Brazil and they kind of talked about how his mentality has changed from when he was at Liverpool or Barcelona, where he was just as pure, like out pace you out duel you striker to being more about positioning and being in the right spot to expect the right pass to just one touch it right into the net.
And I think if we've seen anything from Campana, it's that he struggles with his positioning and he struggles with that one touch into the net action. I think Campana does a great job muscling people out of his way. He's got the big frame. He's pretty good in the air, but I think, um, I think Suarez can teach him that. And I'm, I'm really excited to see his impact on this team, uh, see what he can bring, um, and I can't wait to see that first goal go in the back of the net. I'm going to lose my mind.
in the North Stand.
Mike (25:03.475)
Well, what's gonna be really another exciting thing is gonna be, you know, when you look at, when you watch the big three, Messi, Bousquet, and Alba play, they know where they're gonna, each other are gonna be. And you saw a lot of times Messi or Bousquet's putting balls that the majority of our players couldn't find. Kermashchi seemed to be the one of the few guys, just when he was younger, that was on the same page. Suarez is immediately on that page. And I think that, that is going to be...
Branton (25:15.177)
Yeah.
Branton (25:21.845)
Yeah.
Branton (25:26.597)
Oh yeah.
Mike (25:30.354)
a game changer. I know it's an overused term, but you know, all of a sudden Messi is just placing balls and he's sitting there. And you know, a great example of that and probably the best of worst is Campana missing the Nashville goal at the end of the game. You know, Biscuit puts that ball up perfectly, gets a Campana. Campana didn't have the right first touch to make that a goal. Suarez would have made that a first touch. Like that's, that is the difference. So I think that's gonna be really good. And on the training pitch, I'm hoping these guys are going to be screaming out, the Suarez will be screaming at Campana.
Branton (25:36.927)
Yeah.
Branton (25:49.385)
Right?
Mike (26:00.308)
screaming at Robbie to do it. Now, if I remember correctly, Robbie's Spanish wasn't that good, so he's definitely going to have to start brushing up on Spanish to learn from him. But I am excited. I think it's going to make a huge difference.
Branton (26:10.496)
Please.
Branton (26:13.98)
Yeah, and I think, you know, I think one thing we haven't touched on, I don't think we're going to this episode, maybe next, next week. Um, I think one thing the fan base probably needs to start readying themselves for is that we are a tournament team. I don't think this team is set up for, for a, you know, supporter shield run. I think this team is set up for CCC. I think it's set up for leagues cup.
And I think it's set up for if we sneak into the playoffs to make a deep run. And I'm okay with that. Um, I think this team's going to lift trophies and I think, uh, worrying about the age and the mileage some of these guys have on them is, is it's a valid concern, but I don't know that, uh, a tournament team really cares, um, because the expectation is they'll be there for the big games.
Mike (27:08.762)
I 100% agree with that. And I also think, and kind of touching on it, is that the season ticket holders are not ready for this. And, you know, thinking about this as, yeah, you're not, right, because every, we paid, kind of, this is what, and kind of talking about why you're gonna listen to this show, like one of the reasons we're gonna talk about as a season ticket holder. I really think that when a season ticket holder spends a lot of money, and for our existing season ticket holders, it was two times what they paid the year before, for our brand new ones, it would have been four times what was paid
Branton (27:16.805)
I'm not.
Mike (27:38.296)
before four to five times for them to start realizing that there's a good chance, especially towards the middle and end of the season, you're not going to see these big people playing. What you're going to be getting is emails saying, Hey, to see that person play, you need to buy leagues, cup tickets. You need to buy champions, cup tickets. You need to buy you sock tickets. If it were in the mid, the finals. Like, so here are people who spent.
Branton (27:56.412)
Yeah, I can't wait.
Mike (28:03.742)
at a minimum probably close to a thousand dollars and possibly many thousands of dollars for games and then they're being asked to basically spend another two times that.
like that time again to buy all these, these tournament tickets. And I think that was for anyone who was here last season, that was a big surprise. I think it's going to be a bigger surprise because some of that, no, I was talking, I met some people at a restaurant and I had an inter Miami thing on and I was, Oh, you're a fan. We just became fans. We just, Oh, great. Where are you sitting? Oh, cool. How much did you pay for your tickets? 4,000 for the season. And then you go, you know, you're not going to see messy more than like half that time. What do you mean? He doesn't play every game. Oh boy.
Branton (28:19.444)
Yeah.
Mike (28:41.686)
And I think we're gonna see a lot of that. And I think throughout the season, we'll get more into this. And I know you and I both want to do almost entire episode on the season ticket holder experience. I really want to do that when we have live participation, because I really think we can get some people involved. I know IMCF Travelers is a huge, has a lot to say on that topic. So maybe we can get him on that show, but or Chris or Bader Herons, but.
Branton (28:42.409)
Yeah.
Branton (28:53.492)
Yeah.
Branton (29:01.276)
Yeah, there's a lot of people we could get in.
Mike (29:05.854)
I think it'd be a fun roundtable. Maybe we'll do a roundtable kind of conversation, but let's not go that much far down the path, but to your point.
Branton (29:09.728)
Yeah, that'd be cool. Yeah.
Mike (29:13.93)
everything we're saying kind of goes back to that we're a cup team. We're going to go after CCC. For those who don't know, you know, we got into concaved champions cup. We got a buy in the first round. What's so important about the winner of that tournament gets a spot in club world cup next year club world cup is played in the United States. So we're going to have a chance. Whoever wins that the CCC tournament is going to have a chance to be playing
Branton (29:17.834)
Ciao.
Mike (29:40.87)
It's, when I just say like, if you look at the 2025 expanded club world cup, there's like six premier league teams in it. There's three La Liga teams in it. Like you're Barcelona and Real Madrid will be here. I think it's Chelsea, Man City, Man U. It's incredible list of teams, not the menu because it was like, it wasn't like six years back. It was weird.
Branton (29:48.477)
Yeah.
Branton (29:53.128)
I think it's possible. Yeah. Man U? I don't think Man U's in it.
Branton (30:03.42)
think yeah oh well maybe if no I don't think I know I think Liverpool just made it with the six-year look back so if we get to see Liverpool play in or Miami I'm I take my money I don't care how much I have to pay or where I have to go take it
Mike (30:23.702)
It's insane. So, let's see, here, I got the list right. So, let's see, UEFA is Chelsea, Real Madrid, Man City, Bayern Munich, PSG, Inter Milan, Porto, Benfica. So no Liverpool, no Man Utd, I was wrong. But still kind of a who's who. You're really gonna have some great teams playing on the US soil. Now, what is interesting.
Branton (30:25.823)
Yeah.
Branton (30:38.436)
Oh, forget it. I'm out.
Branton (30:46.16)
that and you have to assume that's probably the closing of the messy window too. So we're going for it. We're going to go for that tournament.
Mike (30:52.73)
You... Oh, big. And what is interesting, by the way, so there's two chances we can get into it. We can get it to winning CCC, and then CONCACF has this host nation has one slot that they get to choose who gets it.
Branton (30:57.17)
Yep.
Branton (31:08.896)
Uhhhh
Mike (31:08.926)
So, fingers crossed, you know, messy. But anyway, so we are gonna go full for that. We're gonna be the defending Leagues Cups champions. We're gonna go full in on that, especially if we lose CCC and we think, hey, if we win Leagues Cup, maybe Khan Kaph will throw us a bone. So I do think we will see a lot of resting. Even Suarez played 54 games last year, he will rest. Yep.
Branton (31:16.05)
Yeah.
Branton (31:30.78)
Well, and don't forget Copa in the middle of the season, which MLS is not pausing for. So that's a month without Messi right there. And probably Suarez. But yeah.
Mike (31:41.878)
So anyway, kind of getting back to... I thought Suarez was hired from International, didn't he? Or was I...
No, not yet.
Branton (31:51.664)
I don't know, maybe. Who knows? Maybe he wants to play in Copa so he could go against Messi and help my boy Darwin find the back of the net. But you know, it's just it's exciting to see players of this caliber get added to the team. But you know, I know Mike wanted to touch on some of the rumors that are swirling and what we might see coming up. So take us away, my man.
Mike (32:17.534)
Yeah. I'm not, I'm just going to stick for the most part with kind of what's going out. I think if there's any, any person who has an open contract is, is room coming in. I'll cover a couple of those ones, but, uh, well, first of all, we'll start with, was our boy, Chris Henderson. So, uh,
kind of assuming everyone knows but not, he is our chief soccer officer. His contract, I don't think they've even acknowledged this. His contract was up end of last year. There was never an acknowledgement of extension, but he's still here. So we're assuming he was extended at some point. And frankly, the Kamau Miller trade reeks of a Chris Henderson move. So I do think he's heavily involved. I think that was a big deal. Obviously the time is a little bit passed because he's still here, but I just think we have to kind of take a moment and hope like.
Branton (32:47.261)
Yeah.
Branton (32:52.386)
Mm-hmm.
Mike (33:02.422)
First, I can kind of two questions that we all have. What was the contract extension? Last year, he only got one year extension. Two, what's his role in the organization now?
We know that Messi and Tata have a much higher say on the team's makeup than kind of Phil did. We know Messi's bringing his friends. You know, my inclination would not be that ownership would have just gone after Suarez if Messi wasn't here. They obviously, Messi helped make that along. We see guys like Alba going from $30 million in the 2022 season to, I think, $250, I heard a rumor for Alba for last season. So these guys taking massive pay cuts to come. That's not really the seat.
Branton (33:11.593)
Yeah.
Branton (33:35.529)
Yeah.
Mike (33:41.412)
is going to be making happen. So I think it is an open question what his role is on this team going forward. Though clearly again, the Kamau Miller trade tells me he is much more actively involved than I realized he was still.
Branton (33:55.208)
Yeah, and I think what we'll start seeing is his role is really to put the most competitive team around these guys and to put players and find those gems like he did before, like the Robbie Taylors and the, you know, Chris McVeigh's and those type of guys that can come in and contribute when these guys aren't with us. Because, you know, we all know as people watching MLS, like not breaking for Copa, where it's going to hurt us.
Especially if some of these younger guys start balling out and maybe get call-ups to their national teams that could hurt so I think his job is really just to build that out to collect the garber bucks and then distribute those how he sees fit and you know, and I'm so glad that he is here still
Mike (34:41.698)
Yeah, I'm really, really glad. Again, we talked about a guy that the fans loved. If you ever had a chance to introduce yourself to him, he was a nice guy. He really, you know, we go back all the way to, after our first season, we got the sanctions. He really stepped in and made such a fundamental difference that I didn't want to lose him. I also think, and I think it's worth being said, I think without him, I'd be much more scared of sanctions again. You know, I do believe that he knows
Branton (35:00.539)
Mm-hmm.
Mike (35:11.632)
rules probably better than everyone including Garbert. And that he's gonna keep us out, he's gonna find every little way to make sure that we maximize value. I'm not concerned about us going into sanctions again. I do think he's the kind of guy, and I might be kind of giving too much faith, but I think he's the kind of guy that if we were like gonna do something wrong, he quit before he let it happen. And we go from there. So I'm super, yeah.
Branton (35:15.017)
Yeah.
Branton (35:33.788)
Yeah, he's definitely a big integrity guy.
Mike (35:38.078)
So I'm super excited that he's sticking around. I just really wish we had a press release that told me for how long. I'm gonna guess it was another one year contract kind of to make sure both sides were happy with the new arrangement, but I would love to, I want him to have that lifetime contract because I think he'll just keep on keeping us safe and make the deals that matter.
Branton (36:01.724)
Yeah, and you know, I think at this point, like he gets messy and friends and then he also gets to build a team without the sanctions like that's like selling four players right there and just getting that game back. And so, you know, we've had to sacrifice some fan favorites just to make it through sanctions and now not having that is great. And so, yeah, I look forward to seeing what he's going to do and I'm
hoping it's more than a one year extension because I can't do this again next year watching the super draft just to see if he's there pulling the card.
Mike (36:38.882)
Well, the funny one was I think a lot of people weren't expecting to see the CSOs the Supergraf, but they did instead of doing like the NFL style this year, they did the, like you actually, the home base, um, that was, I don't know how many of you will watch most places, most people's like most teams home bases were board rooms through that Inter Miami was sitting on top of the Northwest club. No sitting in the nice sunny Florida weather. Uh, but it was great to see Chris there. Um, yeah, I think that's, I think that's a huge, a huge pickup.
Branton (36:50.004)
Yeah.
Branton (36:58.373)
Yeah.
Branton (37:03.006)
Mm-hmm.
Mike (37:08.222)
Now, kind of going back to what do we think we're losing. So let's start out with the number one guy that's on number one on my list of guys I'm thinking to lose, which is, I think Gregory's gone. I think there's a lot of smoke on this. I think there's a lot of fire to the concept that Gregory's out the door. He's being shopped, I believe, in Brazil. I've heard there's some tentative deals made. Again, if you had asked me three months ago, I'm like, oh, Gregory's a solid CDM. It was kind of weird to have two CDMs with biscuits, but no, we could have made it work. But...
Branton (37:17.481)
Yeah.
Mike (37:37.054)
Again, we need money and Gregory's worth some money.
Branton (37:41.416)
Well that and I think we saw the progression of David Ruiz last year. Um, and he proved that he can be a backup to Suarez if that's what's needed. And you know, he can be, or not Suarez, I'm sorry, Busquets and he can be on the field, they can be on the field together at times. And so I think Gregory is a guy that came in and did what we asked him to. Unfortunately, he was out for most of last season, so we didn't really get to see the impact he would have with.
with a guy like Messi or, or Busquets or Alba, but, uh, yeah, I, I don't anticipate him being on the opening day roster. I think he he'll be back in Brazil. And to be fair, Brazilian clubs have been after him. I've we've heard rumors since we signed him that teams were trying to get him to go back. So, um, you know, hopefully we can, we can get quite a bit of money there and, and then use that to just build out the team and more, hopefully find a center back now that we need one.
Mike (38:37.342)
Yeah. I also think six and Arroyo played well. So it's interesting kind of jumping into Arroyo. No one knows what's going on with Arroyo. I you search the news, there's nothing talking about it. He's still kind of with us but not
trying to find out information is really hard on him. I think Dixon Arroyo is gonna end up getting resigned. That is my speculation. I was saying it earlier today to some friends. I really think he's around for a while, at least in our year. I think especially if Gregory's gone, he's gonna stick. My biggest suspicion is the reason we haven't heard anything is everyone's waiting on the Gregory deal. The club's waiting on the Gregory deal. When Gregory's gone, they'll resign Arroyo. If for some reason they can't sell Gregory, then Arroyo's gonna be gone. But I think Arroyo's sitting there
waiting in the wind. But as soon as Gregory is gone, I do think Arroyo will stick around and he becomes another tried and true CDM, which I think he played more than well enough to earn a spot to stay. I think when, when he left or sorry, when Gregory left, he stepped in. I'm not going to say he's necessarily going to be a starter. He was kind of become more sub towards the end of the year, but he was a relatively inexpensive sub, if I remember correctly, kind of trying to find the numbers right now. But I think he's around for next season, assuming Gregory's out.
Branton (39:38.154)
Yep.
Branton (39:53.072)
Yeah, I kind of disagree with you on that because I don't think in a role that you're going to be expecting him to play. I don't think he used an international spot on him. I don't think it's worth it for a role player or a backup player. Um, because then you're taking his contract and essentially I think what's the going rate for international spots, 130 K in gam. So you're adding that onto it, which makes it basically you're spending starter money on a bag.
And I just don't think that makes a lot of sense. And I don't think that's a move Henderson would make. Even though, unless he has a green card or they're working on that, but.
Mike (40:27.35)
Yeah, but he was a free transfer.
Mike (40:33.198)
Remember, Roy came as a free transfer, you know, he's, yeah, he's that extra 150 K of that money.
Branton (40:38.876)
Yeah, but he came when we didn't have Bousquet's. We just had Gregory and Gregory went down. So it's not, that was a desperation move. That wasn't like a, we, we wanted this guy all along.
Mike (40:45.066)
But again, 60 games.
Mike (40:51.722)
But so, so getting in here, man, it hurts. We're on our first episode. We're disagreeing like this, this is going to require some therapy afterwards. Um, yeah, Gregory, I'm sorry, boost skets.
Branton (40:58.74)
This is natural for us.
Mike (41:04.054)
Busquets the second half of the year wasn't the same Busquets to the first half the year And I think the difference tends to be who's on the field alongside him if there's guys that can play at his level Busquets looks like the greatest player on the field even when Messi's there if Busquets does not have those players around him He it kind of breaks down a little bit and I think towards the end of games and towards games towards the end of season When there's no Messi Messi's on the international break these Suarez isn't playing I do think a guy like Arroyo and a different lineup
is gonna work. And so I think that's where Tata is almost gonna have to have two full lineups. Obviously, they'll be mixed between the players, but you're gonna have lineups where you're not as dependent on Bousquet's, a guy like Arroyo can make a difference. So I do think he's around. I get your point. It's a fair point. Like, I don't want to take off that point, that he's a very expensive guy.
Branton (41:49.336)
Oh, and so.
My point is not that a Royal can't make it right. My point is not that a Royal can't make an impact, but my point is, is with an off season of preparation, Chris Henderson can go out and get an Arroyo and pay less for him and probably not take up an international roster spot. It was just my thought. Like I have nothing against a Royal. I think he did phenomenal with what, what we expected.
Mike (42:14.158)
You have a... It's a...
Branton (42:21.193)
I didn't expect much from him. I didn't know anything about him when he got here. And I'd love to have him back, but I just don't know that it's worth the price.
Mike (42:31.358)
I think, listen, everything you're saying is fair. And it is sticking with me that it's very expensive at that role, but you also, as we've seen a lot in, and not just MLS, but any professional soccer league, there's a lot of guys who look great on one team that don't look good on the next. Anthony kind of is my first, like considered, considered to be the greatest transfer flop ever. A guy like Arroyo, who you know, who's still relatively inexpensive versus going out and trying to grab a new CDM, it's, I think it's a risk.
Branton (42:47.816)
Yeah.
Mike (43:01.292)
Um, but I think you make some really bad points that given time, it might be a risk worth taking.
Branton (43:04.452)
Yeah. I mean, listen, Will Trapp is still a free agent.
that he could come in and do it, do the same role, cost less and not take up an international spot. Maybe he's not as athletic, but he could do the same thing.
Mike (43:21.63)
Now remember, athletic is what we want now. That's how it's I know I'm going to American football.
Branton (43:25.864)
Well, we only want it if you're not one of Messi's friends. So.
Mike (43:30.062)
I was just saying, there's an adage, basically, if you think about American football, the Los Angeles Raiders, not the Las Vegas Raiders, only use the draft based on your 40 times. If you had the fastest 40 times in the draft, you're guaranteed to go to the Raiders no matter what. I think Tata is a little bit like that when it comes to defenders. I think he's looking at your pace more than anything else, and Arroyo was a pacey guy. Will Trapp ain't quite as pacey as Arroyo.
Branton (43:40.948)
Oh God, yeah.
Branton (43:49.009)
Yeah.
Branton (43:55.928)
No, but it is what it is.
Mike (43:59.682)
So I'll throw out a few other names I think are definitely at risk. I think you're gonna be pained when I say these names. I think Kampana is hugely at risk of getting moved. I don't think he's lived up to our expectations.
There was a lot of talk last year how important he was to our roster building for the U22 DP slot, though that's actually not how we use them for. But I think there's a lot of MLS teams who would like him to bring him out and try him out with their team. So I think my number one guy, another top guy is Kampana. I'll throw out two other names there and give you a whole bunch of names to come back at me at. Yedlin is a very expensive right back, especially we're being very tied to Gressil.
more time now or maybe next episode, but I think Gatlin's number two and then calendar is being, there's a lot of talk is being chopped around because we're being linked to international keepers. And I don't know if you saw what LAFC just did. They just dropped, uh, really the keeper that got on to last year's finals and was integral in the game this year's files and they're dropping him and making him back up, um, for a new keeper. Uh,
Branton (44:52.157)
Yeah.
Mike (45:10.01)
So a new international keeper. So I think those are my top three of these guys are probably, I don't think we see all, I guarantee you we won't see all three starting for this team next year. I don't know how many will be there.
Branton (45:22.undefined)
Yeah, I think I think Kampana would be if the right deal comes along. I don't know that he's like a guy that we're like out there like, oh yeah, we want to get rid of him. But I think he had Lenin calendar, I can see both of them moving on. I think calendar probably brings us a lot of value as a goalkeeper. And if Henderson can play with that and get the right dollar value and then replace them with a bigger name. You know, we've been linked with
I don't know, De Gea and guys like that, which I don't, I don't see how a guy like that wants to take a pay cut to come play here. But if he did love calendar, but that's an upgrade. So that could be a good move. Yedlin, I love Yedlin. I am wearing a Yedlin heartbeat kit right now, but at the end of the day, Gressil is a better right back.
He's more complete more well-rounded and had some of the best he became a household name in MLS under Tata in Atlanta And so I would rather have Gressel on the right side than Yedlin But you know, we'll see what the rest of the offseason has And then what unfolds but yeah, I kind of agree with you those would be my three names
Mike (46:41.406)
Yeah. And I, I think, you know, just to kind of double down on my side, but I agree. I also agree with you, which is there's a, we're seeing LAFC kind of now do the same thing we're doing, which is you're trading their known talent for super high end talent. And you saw them do with Hugo Larris, um, on the goalkeeper. And, and we're to, Hey, we're doing the same thing for, right? We're considering it at least, uh,
Branton (47:05.404)
Yeah, if that is true, I don't know.
Mike (47:08.535)
Man, we don't know if it's true or not. It's fair. But you know, clearly I think there's smoke to some of these fires
Branton (47:14.197)
Yeah.
Mike (47:15.314)
And so I do think we're considering doing it. You know, you said earlier, we're a tournament team. I think the other piece to put it is, we're a win right now team. We're expecting, like every fan of this team should be expecting a minimum of one to two trophies next year. That's what the team is being built for. It's, we got 24 and 25 to win, and then 26 and 27 is probably gonna be painful because we're gonna have to reload. And so I do really think these guys we have on team that aren't necessarily starters, or who are starters,
Branton (47:23.06)
Yeah.
Branton (47:30.836)
has to be.
Branton (47:36.306)
Mm-hmm.
Mike (47:45.168)
but are worth a lot of money in MLS, because we got to play in the salary caps, are going to get traded away. And I think it's really, you know, something I want to kind of call out is, we're much more concerned, I think, selling inside MLS than selling outside MLS, because we want Gam and Tam to afford Messy and Friends.
Branton (48:05.916)
Well, and don't forget, I mean, like you said, we can convert up to $750,000 of a transfer fee into GAM. So, you know, that opens the door of selling a guy like Kalander overseas and converting some of that to GAM if there's offers. But, you know, time will tell and we'll see, right? Like, it's still early-ish in the offseason, so we don't have a complete roster and we don't have a complete list of outgoing. So, we shall see.
Mike (48:32.37)
One more thing on that, which is, I think you have a good point. We make money selling overseas, but you're topped at 750 and you know, we sold, sold Lewis Morgan two years ago for 1.2 million. So if we sold, you know, a calendar internally, we possibly are going to make more money, so that's what I think we'll see. Unfortunately, we're going to see a lot of our ex players playing against us.
Branton (48:42.471)
Yeah.
Branton (48:51.356)
And that's fine. I mean, you know, most of the league at this point has been on Inter Miami at some point. I feel like I feel like every team has at least one of them and they got better when they left us. So we'll see. Hopefully we have sell on clauses when we sell them on
Mike (48:58.07)
Yeah.
Mike (49:04.342)
Did you see McCarthy, by the way?
Did you see John McCarthy's moving teams again? So he was on LAFC, now Kroposy the backup. So, no, he's going to LA Galaxy.
Branton (49:12.136)
Yeah, is he at the revs?
Branton (49:16.636)
Oh, that's right. Galaxy. I knew it was one of the old teams.
Mike (49:20.522)
McCarthy's been on, man, he's been on, he was on us, Philadelphia, both LA teams. Now I think he's got another one or two teams as well. Like he is, there's a, there's a great podcast, like there's called major league journeyman that Dex McCarty has. And like, they're going to have to get John McCarthy on there. Cause I think John McCarthy has become like the journeyman of MLS at this point.
Branton (49:41.424)
Yeah, I mean, well, you know, they're yeah, I mean, I guess he's probably the journeyman goalkeeper, but You know killed me to see him win a ring before us but is what it is Yeah, he was the hero of the game he deserved it
Mike (49:54.342)
happy for the guy. He was a good guy. He promised my son gloves at one point. Yeah, he was a good guy. Like, I was happy. I think, I think... Yes.
Branton (50:01.744)
I wanted the hat that he wore that one game. I want him to sign one of those hats for me.
Mike (50:08.022)
He's played on the, okay, I'm looking at something else. He's played for the Ocean City Nor'easters, Reading United, Rochester Rhinos, Philadelphia Union, Bethlehem Steel, Tampa Bay Routies, Inter Miami, LAFC, and now LA Galaxy. He's been all over.
Mike (50:26.486)
Bethlehem Steel. I think Bethlehem Steel won USOC many years ago. Okay, I'm going way off course now.
Branton (50:26.601)
It's been around.
Branton (50:33.3)
Maybe.
Now, you know, moving into to the last subject of today's show, probably the most exciting outside of the trades that happened this week, but Jersey leaks.
We got a lot of them and we got a lot of different feelings about them. So let me.
Mike (50:55.626)
I love it. I'm throwing this out there. Before you put it up there, I love this jersey and I'm excited to have a place to say it. No, I do. I love it. Not. Wait, hold on. Let's see which one you show first. Okay. This one, this color I was not a fan of. I'm not a fan of this shade. And I'm red green color blind. So let's sing it.
Branton (51:00.168)
No you don't.
Branton (51:07.272)
The footy headlines one. No. So.
And I'm going to throw it out there. Well, yeah. So we know, you know, no comment there, but, um, you know, I, I'll just say it. Like, I hate the center badge. The badge of your kit should be as close to, should be over your heart. And I know some people have already thrown at me the anatomically correct human body has the heart in the middle, but it's slightly off center to the left and that's where the badge should be.
not in the center, like not over your esophagus, like it should be over here. And so I don't like the stacked logo. You know, I don't, I don't like this pink.
Mike (51:58.57)
Yeah, this isn't we've seen what we think is the so this was the original image. If you click forward, we see this pink is better. This thinks a lot better. We think so. We think is this is the replica. Yeah, we think this is the replica.
Branton (52:02.792)
Yeah, so then.
Yeah.
Branton (52:09.372)
So to me, this is the replica. Yeah. I think this is the replica and we got this off of eBay.
Mike (52:16.362)
Yeah, so someone is selling. So it's very funny. If you look at the background, there's more jerseys. There's both the pink and the black back there. I think there are two things. One is these are either really good knockoffs and he's got a lot of knockoffs or this fell off the back of a truck, maybe in Hialeah if I had to guess. Though I do appreciate that it's on fake turf. Yeah, so, but no, I...
Branton (52:23.476)
There's the black up here.
Branton (52:37.359)
Name checking.
I felt like somebody stole these from the Inter Miami CF facility and went to that turf field where they have the football goalpost set up and took the pictures. That's what I pictured when I saw this.
Mike (52:48.086)
Hehehehehehehehe
Mike (52:54.114)
So.
So I've seen the eBay listing. They do not have one in my size. I am going to be honest, if they had one in my size, I was gonna get it just so I could show up on the first show rocking the new jersey. But I will say this, I completely disagree with you on the vertical logo. So I have all the appreciation in the world for the jerseys that we've had to date, but the jerseys have been very well called classical. I think they're kind of reserved. They look, the heartbeat is a gorgeous kit, but it was never,
Branton (53:04.34)
Yeah.
Branton (53:07.712)
That would have been cool.
Mike (53:26.38)
I'd call like a modern futuristic exciting Jersey. I think this is our first one. I think it's
Branton (53:30.56)
I think that was linoche, man.
Mike (53:33.618)
But the problem is it's on the black. It's very reserved and I'm wearing linoche. Like I'm a fan but it's still I mean, it's if there's no pop of color. There's nothing like exciting. I think going vertical is gonna look great I'm excited for this. Do you have the next picture that we think is now the authentic like this looks great. This looks amazing I'm excited for it It is a big logo
Branton (53:52.345)
I do.
Branton (53:56.452)
It I will say this it looks better in this pink and with that Pattern in the background because I don't know but it kind of looks like a heartbeat pattern again in the background a little bit Which I'm cool with but You know, I hate the center badge
Mike (54:11.654)
So I know a lot of our fans are listening. Sorry, man, I was interrupting you, but I know a lot of our fans are listening. Like we'll start throwing some of these up on Twitter and Instagram over the next few days. But again, we got another one came out today that looks like we think is the authentic. It was pushed around quite a bit. It kind of hits all the marks of what we're expecting. I don't know if anyone's noticed it, by the way. If you go back an image to show that the neck, there's an interesting neckline on these kits that actually makes me think it's real.
Branton (54:23.913)
Yeah.
Mike (54:41.428)
So this, the kit kind of the front of the neck has a very thin, but on the back of the neck has a much thicker band. And I happen to have pretty good feeling that the guy who makes our jerseys a big fan of collared kits. And it's interesting because it's like a modern interpretation of a collar, which again, makes me start thinking like these are real kits, like we're looking at the real thing. And if you look at the picture of the authentic you have doesn't show it, but I've seen there's another picture floating around that shows the neck a little better. That also.
Branton (54:51.441)
Yeah.
Branton (55:05.512)
Yeah.
Branton (55:10.462)
Yeah.
Mike (55:11.728)
really has that emphasized kind of faux collar which makes you think this is real. It's like it was one of those little kind of things I noticed like that looks like what I would expect the kit people to do and again I love it on this kit though the we kind of just brushed over it everyone believes I don't think there's an official announcement I think everyone believes Royal Caribbean is our New Jersey sponsor which I'm super okay with out with XBTO I never actually knew what they did in with Royal Caribbean
Branton (55:34.269)
Yeah.
Mike (55:39.41)
I know we have we have we have a friend we have some friends that are anti cruising I am hugely for cruising Royal Caribbean not my brand I'm more of a Mickey Mouse supporter but that's going to be our new that's what we think.
Branton (55:49.844)
Listen, I prefer it to be a local company like Royal Caribbean. That's a Miami company. Like I'm cool with it. And then, well.
Mike (55:54.302)
Yeah. It's just a big logo. Like if you're looking at this image, it is like, it's the biggest logo I've ever seen on a kit.
Branton (56:04.2)
Well, and we had a friend fix this and change this to what it should be. So shout out Joe Kerr on Twitter. If you're not following him, you should. He's got some good stuff. He fixed it. And that is how the kid should look. He did.
Mike (56:17.602)
Okay, he didn't fix it.
No, okay, I don't agree. By the way, I just have to call out, Joker's image got shared a lot today without Joker's recognition. So we will definitely show this out later with like his name and title tagged. We also told him going forward, he has to watermark everything. I don't like this. This to me is just another kit. Yeah, the wavy, heartbeatish pattern that's embossed on it's fine, but this is just another kit. I like where we're going with the vertical. So I am actually a big fan of the vertical. Yes.
Branton (56:27.534)
Yeah.
Branton (56:32.389)
and his watermark.
Yeah.
Branton (56:49.254)
Bad. Good.
Mike (56:50.424)
I will have say one concern. So I know you're a Liverpool fan Sorry, I am a proud Chelsea fan. I don't know if you remember the Chelsea kids with the giant three on the front So the first season three was fully the whole thing was vinyl and it was super uncomfortable when you were wearing it Like the vinyl stuck through the jersey
Branton (57:04.364)
Yup.
Mike (57:11.714)
They later the next season they went to like just the outline of the three, which was a lot more comfortable. I am a little concerned this Royal Caribbean logo is gonna be that same very sticky like a hot humid day It's gonna stick through the jersey a little bit. So Just just an experience I had with prior jerseys
Branton (57:24.736)
Uh, maybe. I would say Inter Miami is probably a bigger club than Chelsea. So I don't think I'd worry about that.
Mike (57:37.038)
We are massive. I mean, messy, messy. You can't spell massive without messy, I guess. But I am concerned about just the size of that logo just based on the issues that the Chelsea three had. But yeah, I don't I don't like this. This whole this Joker version, I appreciate that he did the changes. I know everyone really wants to see the logo over your not a heart area. But I like the vertical. I'm first in line to buy it. I've already.
Branton (57:49.096)
Yeah, we'll see. I mean, that's a valid concern.
Mike (58:06.782)
I'm counting down days until I can get to the shop and get two. I want to get one for myself and I want to get a Suarez jersey because I need to add to my collection of inner Miami superheroes.
Branton (58:18.672)
Yeah, well, I think I think you also committed to buying me a personalized one
Mike (58:24.726)
Did I do that? That sounds like me. I probably had New Year's Eve, but my wife would believe that.
Branton (58:26.672)
I feel like you did so, you know, I might wear it then but I'll buy it just because I have to I have to own all the kits but If I don't know we'll see at least I like the pattern on this one And maybe the center logo will grow on me, but initial thoughts is I don't like it
Mike (58:49.57)
So we have to, we can't leave jerseys without mentioning the third kit. So, so super excited for this one. So if you haven't heard, there's no images yet for the record. So if anyone shows you an image on the internet as of what's today's date, January 2nd, nine 20 at night, as far as I know, there's not been a single leaked image of this kit. What we know is it's footy footy. What is it called? Footy footy leaks or something.
Branton (58:52.936)
No, this is the one I'm most excited about.
Branton (59:06.868)
They're a liar.
Branton (59:15.432)
Headlines? Oh yeah.
Mike (59:19.59)
They came out and definitively said it is a Miami Dolphins retro throwback kit of some kind. I've heard it from other people that I know that have seen this kit. They won't tell me anything about it, but they've confirmed that comment.
I know the club is very proud of this third kit that they've put a lot of effort This kit was not just started when messy got here. It's a kit. They've been working on for a very long time Messy gave us the numbers to get the third kit, but it's not like a messy inspired kit So I am super excited for this one. I I'll be honest. I own six heartbeat kits. I think I might end up with more of this of this Dolphins kit I'm not even a dolphin sand, but I'm just that excited for this kit I
Branton (59:40.711)
No.
Branton (59:55.68)
..
Branton (01:00:01.328)
Yeah. I mean, how can you not be excited? Like, I feel like the third kits is where Adidas like lets you kind of play more and do, do some cool things. Um, you know, like we saw Atlanta's third kit. Um, I wasn't a huge fan of that, but, um, I know a lot of people who are connected with Atlanta loved it and thought it represented the city and I hope that's what they do with ours and, um.
Mike (01:00:02.352)
first leaks hit.
Branton (01:00:26.528)
I hope it's awesome and I hope it comes out soon so I can go and buy it and I don't have to wear the pink monstrosity.
Mike (01:00:35.455)
I agreed with 80% of that. I'm gonna rock my pink monstrosity, you know, as much as I can. What I'm excited for is going to Dolphins games and seeing messy kits that actually are in Dolphins colors. Cause they're already seeing it. Like you see the messy kits everywhere you go now. But to go to like a Dolphins game and go to, you know, our Marlins game and to see that kind of combination of the colors, I just think that's gonna bring the whole city together. I love the idea of it and I think it's super cool.
Branton (01:00:40.241)
I know you will.
Branton (01:00:47.78)
And yeah.
Branton (01:00:55.482)
Ugh.
Branton (01:00:59.576)
I hate the thought that Messi's gonna bring the whole city together. I hate it. I just, I do.
Mike (01:01:05.314)
But I'm not wrong. You're gonna see it, you see it everywhere.
Branton (01:01:08.336)
Everybody was together except for... Yeah, you're right. I can't argue that.
Mike (01:01:14.146)
Do you know where I bought my first Inter Miami messy kit? My first one? Barcelona. No, I was in my first one. I was in Barcelona like the day he got announced I was in Barcelona and got a kit. So I mean, Messy's, Inter Miami and Messy's everywhere. But I just, I just go to think having this kit is gonna be great. My only concern real quick is that
Branton (01:01:20.004)
I think I was there when you bought it. Oh yeah, no. I thought the leagues cup one. Yeah.
Branton (01:01:32.681)
Yeah.
Mike (01:01:39.37)
La Noche was last year's kit and we never actually wore it. I think we wore it three games. Messi's been in it like twice. I am concerned that next year we are gonna have these two amazing kits and we're only gonna wear La Noche. Just to sell, like to sell kits at once, but I really wanna see our players in these new kits.
Branton (01:01:46.036)
Yeah.
Branton (01:01:52.192)
I don't.
I think so. Yeah, I would think that. We probably don't see that. I think we see a good mix of the kids, especially because we're playing in so many different competitions, and there's going to be so many teams that have similar color schemes. A lot of teams use black. So I think we'll I think we'll be safe to see other jerseys this year. And if they put all this effort into a third kit to not wear it, like I just don't see that happening.
Mike (01:02:25.482)
I'm hoping that third kit makes like a league's cup. Yeah, I can see that being like it was a tournament kit, like a league's cup kit will be the third kit.
Branton (01:02:25.924)
I do think that we only see it in a handful of games.
Branton (01:02:32.572)
Yeah.
Or they might save it for like marquee matchups or something. Like if it really screams Miami, like when we play Galaxy or somebody like that in a big venue.
Mike (01:02:44.174)
Speaking of which, that's gotta be one of our next show, like our next show, like today, we did not get into the schedule at all. We haven't gotten into the pre-season, I know.
Branton (01:02:52.328)
Yeah, we'll talk about that next week.
Mike (01:02:54.738)
Yeah, Don Cavasito already is asking us to cover that topic. So we'll definitely cover that in the next episode. But this week, especially with the, the A just introduce ourselves. B I think the two top topics on the interwebs right now is the Jersey and Suarez and Miller. So we're going to do our best for those listening and those watching to kind of stay topical. Our goal is that we're going to get these out at least weekly. Uh, we'll do our best to do something quicker if we have to.
Branton (01:02:58.426)
Yeah.
Branton (01:03:21.192)
Yeah.
Mike (01:03:23.682)
but we're excited just to stay current, stay relevant.
Branton (01:03:24.188)
Yeah, I mean, you know, during the tournaments and stuff like that, you might be hearing from us a couple of times a week. And like Mike said at the beginning of the show, our goal is to eventually take this live. We want to get the Kings out in the recorded version once or twice. And our hope is, is once the season comes around, we're doing these live with you guys and getting your interactions. But, you know, just thank you guys for making it this far into the end episode one.
Again, follow us on Twitter, on Instagram, on YouTube. We're at Inter Miami Show. If you're listening on audio and wanna see the video versions, we're on YouTube. Get on there. Look at us. Look at our beautiful faces. And, you know, hopefully we'll be going live with our show soon and we can get some interaction and we can get you guys on and listening live with us.
Mike (01:04:21.034)
Yeah. And to come take that level to the next level, I have a dream that we do post game shows in the green lot that we're recording live on YouTube from the green lot post game with some measure of sobriety and talking about win lose, even if it's only a 15 minute show, just talk about what we thought, how it went. Uh, I think that'd be really cool. I don't think, you know, anyone else is really doing that yet. And I just think that's something I'd love to see. So that's on my wish list. Uh, hopefully we'll get there. Uh, but yeah,
Hopefully you enjoyed this first show. Once you listen to it, please share on all of our socials what you think. Good, bad, ugly. And then let everyone know that a proper kit is a vertical kit and you're going to love it. And we don't need to make any changes to it.
Branton (01:05:04.128)
Oh.
Ah, well, on that disappointing note, thanks everybody, and we'll be back next week.