Do you guys think there’s an MLS equivalent to Tomlin’s minecraft city? “hey guys it’s bruce arena, a lot of you guys have been asking to see my rollercoaster tycoon 2 theme park”

He continues: "Being the son of a former coach, it was difficult for him. I know how difficult it was also for his dad, no? For us when we saw him playing in Vancouver and then when we met I think it was more than we expected. That’s why he’s with us and we hope it continues that way."

Mauricio Pochettino with some high (and deserved, IMO) praise for USMNT & Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Sebastian Berhalter:

I certainly won't get lost in any hype machine nonsense here — what I'll say after watching these USMNT newcomers for 1.5 matches is this: these kids are fun, on energy alone. I've enjoyed myself.

Just passed Iván Zamorano in the hallway here at Energizer Park in St Louis - probably the closest thing to starstruck I've been in years. I idolized the dude when I lived in Madrid in the mid-90s. Absoulte beast of a player back then.

my guy Wee Willie McLean is here at the bar with us!

Five players! Four starters. Crazy.

Up in The Hill, killing a little time before dinner. The neighborhood that produced four players from the 1950 USMNT World Cup squad. No city in the US has the soccer heritage St. Louis does - for my money it isn’t even close. Such a deep, rich history.

Going to state the obvious thing here, which gets said repeatedly about Messi: The frequency with which he makes the absurd look commonplace is like... it's insane, man. It never gets old. He's like a comedian who tells you the same joke 1000x, and you still laugh every time.

Also goes without saying - the all-time US record (which feels likely to never be broken) - Mia Hamm debuted for the US women against China in 1987 at age 15 years, 139 days! Nutso.

Going to get real in the weeds here: if you expand the "youngest-ever USMNT player" to the Olympics, Louis Menges represented the US in 1904 at age 16 years, 17 days - 7 months younger than Freddy Adu, the USMNT's youngest-ever player. I hope they find a cure for what I have someday.

To be clear I’m not saying Pochettino rarely praises MLS - he makes a point of doing so. I’m saying MLS rarely gets this sort of praise, despite the fact that it has begun to produce elite, young talent more regularly.

Speaking to us here in Orlando, USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino has some rare praise for MLS — specifically the MLS coaches who have worked with all of the newcomers in today's match.