How to Build a World Cup Roster | Unfiltered Soccer
5/8/202612 min
United States Men's National Team legends Landon Donovan and Tim Howard discuss the ins and outs of putting together a roster for the World Cup. Who’s involved in the process? What sort of politicking can go on behind the scenes? What matters more: talent or fit? The guys share their unique insight on all of that and more! New episodes of Unfiltered Soccer with Landon and Tim drop every Tuesday. Subscribe to the show on YouTube and follow on all your favorite podcast platforms. For bonus content, follow on all social media platforms @UnfilteredSoccer. Send your mailbag questions to feedback@unfilteredsoccer.com (https://www.unfilteredsoccer.com). This bonus content is brought to you by Coca-Cola and Carnival Cruise Line. Hot Takes, Cold Coke, Open Seas – your Carnival cruise is waiting! Visit Carnival.com/unfiltered and stay tuned for more information on how you could win a Carnival cruise! This episode of Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard was edited and mastered by Andrew Hartley, with engineering support from Eric Newell. Our producers are Jordan Rizzieri and Andrew Gundling. Our social media lead is Dan Armelli and our social editors are Kyle Curley and Finley Skelton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsTim Howard· Host0:00
[upbeat music] This bonus content was brought to you by Coca-Cola and Carnival Cruise Line. As the tournament draws closer, let's talk about how you and I- Mm-hmm ... would build a World Cup roster- Mm-hmm ... through the eyes of the coach.
Landon Donovan· Host0:15
Managers.
Tim Howard· Host0:16
Yeah.
Landon Donovan· Host0:16
Mm-hmm. Yeah, so this is an interesting discussion because I think fans from the outside go, "Okay, who are the best," in this case, "26 players?" And it just does not work that way. There, there are so many factors of this, and let's start... So from my experience, you tell me if this is dif- different, but who's going into that decision, right? So in this case, of course Poch- Pochettino and his entire technical staff.
Tim Howard· Host0:43
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Landon Donovan· Host0:44
Um, is there anybody else that we're missing that, you know... I, I'm sure the, like, the physical staff too goes into it, right? Where guys are at injury-wise- Yeah, yeah, yeah ... and that kind of stuff.
Tim Howard· Host0:55
Yeah.
Landon Donovan· Host0:55
Can they handle certain things, whatever, but ultimately this is why you hire a manager, right?
Tim Howard· Host1:00
Yeah. I think first and foremost, I think the, the sports science, uh, training medical staff come into it s- uh, secondarily, right?
Landon Donovan· Host1:08
Mm-hmm.
Tim Howard· Host1:08
So I think what happens, LD, is the people who are close to the team, right, start at the head of it. So you got the manager, his first and second assistant, right? Um, goalkeeper coach. Probably your... You know, these guys have... These new managers have, like, fitness coaches, but they're like sort of assistant coaches. So I would say there's probably, aside from the manager, there's probably four people. And I truly believe,