New Reader Mailbag!
Answering Your Questions on Champions League, My New Meadowlark Deal, A Biennial World Cup, McKennie, Pepi, Marsch and More
Welcome to Fútbol with Grant Wahl — a newsletter about soccer. You can read what this is about here. If you like what you see, consider forwarding it to some friends. You can also click the button below to subscribe (free or paid). And if you do like it, consider going to the paid version.
I think I’ve finally recovered from the nine-day, three-country road trip to cover the first three USMNT World Cup qualifiers. I’ve recovered from pulling three all-nighters, which I hadn’t done in about 20 years. And I’m back in top form (I think) after consuming a suspicious Honduran energy drink last Wednesday night.
All of which is to say that I’m fired up for the start of the men’s UEFA Champions League group stage this week, and it’s time for the ‘Bag to make its triumphant return. Let’s go!
I want to hear about your new gig!
Thanks so much to everyone who sent well-wishes on Monday’s announcement that I’m partnering with Meadowlark Media, the company started by former ESPN president John Skipper and Dan Le Batard. We’ve already started doing podcasts after every USMNT World Cup qualifier with Landon Donovan and Chris Wittyngham, which have been a blast, and we’ll continue those for all the rest of the qualifiers. Also, my twice-weekly Fútbol with Grant Wahl podcast, including interviews with prominent soccer figures and discussion about the week’s big stories with Chris, will be part of the Meadowlark network as well.
I’ve known Skipper and Le Batard for a long time. I would argue that no media executive has done more to make the World Cup a truly big-time event in the United States than Skipper, who took coverage of the World Cup to a new level with ESPN starting with South Africa 2010. (It also helps that Skipper is a soccer fan, which you can’t say about too many sports media executives at his level.) As for Le Batard, I met him when I was an intern at the Miami Herald in the summer of 1996. Dan was already a whiz kid columnist by then, ridiculously talented, and part of an all-star sports staff the Herald had then. I was lucky to work with a group of writers that included Dan, Linda Robertson, Dave Sheinin, Edwin Pope, Judy Battista, Steve Wyche, Greg Cote, Armando Salguero, Gregg Doyel, Amy Shipley, Susan Miller-Degnan and Kevin Ding, and editors including Ronnie Ramos, Dave Wilson and Hal Habib. So it’s fun to reconnect with my roots, too. Be on the lookout for some more exciting announcements with Meadowlark on the horizon.
If FIFA moves to a [once-every-two-years] World Cup, how would it affect the women's World Cup and Olympics? Does FIFA move the World Cup to not compete with the Olympics? Does FIFA highlight the women's World Cup over regional competitions?
Any traction on a women's Club World Cup? I hope to see it one day. While the ICC and Women's Cup tournaments are nice, a proper FIFA CWC would be much better to highlight some of the top teams and growing teams in other parts of the world.
Lots of questions about FIFA making a big push for a men’s World Cup once every two years when the next FIFA calendar gets made starting in 2024. Let’s be crystal clear about the main reason FIFA is doing this: Money. The men’s World Cup generates enormous amounts of money for FIFA and its member nations, the majority of which will never even make it to the final tournament. So forgive me for thinking that those member nations might not have the best interests of the sport at the heart of what they’re doing—and what they might vote on sooner rather than later.
Look, Arsene Wenger, who is FIFA’s point man on the World Cup push, makes some good points about certain changes he’d like to see in the international calendar that protect players. The best idea is making international windows longer and fewer in number. There’s far too much waste, inefficiency and giant carbon footprints that result from forcing players to travel from Europe to all parts of the globe so often, as is the case now. But you can make those changes without having to go to a World Cup every two years; they’re not connected at all.
A men’s World Cup once every two years dilutes the importance of the event, and it could harm the growth of the women’s game as well. I may write a longer column on this in the future, but for me, FIFA should focus on staging one event in each year of a four-year cycle: The men’s World Cup, the women’s World Cup, the expanded men’s Club World Cup and the inaugural women’s Club World Cup. The women’s Club World Cup should have already started by now, but it hasn’t. Part of the issue is that every confederation needs to establish its own women’s continental club championship. FIFA needs to make that happen ASAP.
Will Juve's troubles trickle down to the U.S. team? In other words, if [Weston] McKennie is still getting starting time, but Juve is playing poorly overall, does he still come in the next window?
Will Weston McKennie play in the October qualifiers? Has he burned his bridges already?
McKennie is still very much in the news after he was sent home from the USMNT World Cup qualifying camp for disciplinary reasons. He played over the weekend in Juventus’s loss to Napoli, and I do think as long as McKennie is getting playing time he’ll be called back into the USMNT next month by coach Gregg Berhalter (who said McKennie wouldn’t be banished for good). I don’t think Juve’s form will have an influence on that decision, but McKennie does need to be playing. Keep in mind, he’s an important part of the national team. I don’t see that changing.
When does [Ricardo] Pepi leave for Europe? What team signs him?
Do you think Pepi is a lock for the USMNT striker position going forward?
I actually did an interview with Pepi on Monday night that will publish later this week. We got into a lot of details about his story and what he’s experiencing right now with the USMNT and FC Dallas (for which his 12 goals are third-highest in MLS). He’s a pretty incredible 18-year-old, mature beyond his years and enthusiastic about what he’s doing. He says all the right things about being focused on Dallas for the rest of this season, but when I asked about his dreams as a player, he said he’d love to play in the Premier League someday. That said, there will be interest in Pepi from all the top leagues in Europe, especially if he continues his precipitous rise.
In terms of the USMNT, as long as he’s healthy, I expect Pepi will continue to get shots as a starter at the center forward position. His performance in Honduras, where he made his debut and scored the game-winner in a huge qualifier, has earned him more starts next month. It’s a position where the U.S. has not been particularly strong, and Josh Sargent and Jordan Pefok haven’t done as much with their opportunities as Pepi has.
You mentioned on a recent podcast that Jesse Marsch isn't going to quit [Leipzig] to come coach the USMNT. That makes sense, but how safe is his job in Germany? Is UCL performance the key for his tenure? Staying top 4 in the Bundesliga?
Marsch’s Leipzig lost to Bayern Munich on Saturday and has now lost three of its first four Bundesliga games (also to Wolfsburg and Mainz) with one win (against Stuttgart). I know U.S. fans have PTSD after Bob Bradley was fired at Swansea after less than three months and didn’t even get a transfer window. But Marsch has more support from his bosses at Leipzig (who’ve said as much in the German media). Leipzig obviously has a big task ahead in its Champions League group, which includes Man City and PSG. But Marsch can avoid being on the hot seat if Leipzig takes care of business in the coming weeks of the Bundesliga against Köln, Hertha Berlin, Bochum, Freiburg and Greuther Fürth.
Who would win in a fight: Alexi Lalas or Gary Lineker? To make this equitable: Alexi would be blindfolded.
What sort of mind comes up with a question like this? Anyway, we’ll entertain it. In one corner, you have the UK’s most prominent former player on TV. In the other corner, the U.S.’s. I’d probably rather see a Lincoln-Douglas-like debate contest if I’m being honest, and judging from Lineker’s Twitter takedowns of Piers Morgan, I suspect Lalas would have his hands full there. But mano a mano? You have to remember that in his playing days Lalas could be quite the hatchet man. Even swinging wildly with his eyes blindfolded, I think Lalas might connect a couple times.
Top-tier clubs this season: Feels like it is Man City, PSG and Chelsea in the first tier with Bayern, Liverpool and Man United in the second tier and Barcelona and Real Madrid in the third tier. Who should or shouldn't be in these tiers?
There isn’t much to quibble with here for me. I would probably include Bayern Munich in the top tier and move Real Madrid to the second tier, since I think it has better chances than Barcelona does. Couple things to point out here: It’s no coincidence that the teams bankrolled by nation-states and oligarchs are in the top tier. And I think we could see an even bigger separation of Premier League teams from the rest of the pack this season in Champions League. The gap between the Premier League and the other top European domestic leagues keeps growing all the time, and it may well cross a threshold soon.
After seeing this year's cauldrons that were San Salvador and San Pedro Sula, what is the most intimidating environment in CONCACAF? Is it still a packed Azteca or one of the smaller, more intimate stadiums?
The most intimidating atmosphere in CONCACAF used to be Saprissa Stadium in Costa Rica, but that changed for good when the Chinese built the new (and antiseptic) national stadium in San Jose. (They’re about to do the same in El Salvador, by the way.) So I’d say the title is now pretty clearly with Estadio Azteca (at least when it has fans in it).
Why does Caleb Porter seem to either make a deep run in the playoffs or completely miss out? In other words, why are his teams too inconsistent?
I wouldn’t count out Columbus from making the MLS playoffs just yet, but you’re still asking a legit question. Porter has won two MLS Cup titles—in 2015 with Portland and in 2020 with Columbus—and has followed both those trophies with underwhelming campaigns the following season. You have to acknowledge the huge injury issues that Columbus has had this time around. But you also do get a sense talking to some people who’ve played and worked for Porter that his engine revs really high, and that can take a toll on teams when things aren’t going well.
Thanks for reading!
If you read this newsletter and value it, consider going to the paid version. Doing quality soccer journalism and becoming sustainable requires people being willing to pay for it. If you’re reading this in your inbox, you can find a shareable version online here. You can follow me on Twitter here and Instagram here. Feel free to comment below, and thanks for reading.
You are definitely right about Saprissa Stadium - I was spit on by a Saprissa fan after an LA Galaxy - Saprissa CCL match years ago there while studying aborad. Costa Ricans are very nice people - but know how to get intense real quick when the ball is rolled out.
The US has violently overthrown a host of Central American governments, yet Grant is perpetually whining about China developing infrastructure in the region. Get some perspective man.