Written Version: Landon, Wahl and Witty on USMNT 1, El Salvador 0
Plus Landon on the Pressures That Christian Pulisic is Dealing With and Looking Ahead to Sunday's Canada-USA Showdown
The boys got back together for our instant reaction podcast that we do after every USMNT World Cup qualifier. There’s some really good stuff in here as always, with the headliner probably being Landon Donovan’s thoughts on Christian Pulisic and dealing with mental health challenges at the highest levels of sports. But it’s all interesting, and I always enjoy our postgame conversations. The written version is below with the entirety available for paid subscribers. As always, the audio version is free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Grant Wahl:
Hey there. Welcome to Landon, Wahl, and Witty on the Road to Qatar. I'm Grant Wahl, thanks so much for joining me. We've got a special episode in partnership with Meadowlark and Le Batard and Friends with reaction from Landon Donovan, Chris Wittyngham and me to the U.S. men's national team's 1-0 win against El Salvador on World Cup qualifying Matchday 9. Landon's in Cabo San Lucas, Witty is in South Florida, I am in frigid Columbus, Ohio, where I'm writing my Substack newsletter, which you should sign up for free or paid at grantwahl.com to get my posts in your inbox. Guys, it's great to see you and get the band back together. We’ve got three points to talk about. How are you?
Landon Donovan:
Good to see you guys.
Chris Wittyngham:
Yeah. I never thought I'd have background envy, but Landon in Cabo San Lucas. My goodness, what an idyllic background that you have. It is just-
Landon Donovan:
Pretty nice.
Chris Wittyngham:
Unbelievable.
“You could see it in [Pulisic’s] face last night. When there were some closeups you could see it just didn't seem like he's really enjoying it. And he has flashes where even on a night where he is a little bit off, he has flashes where he pulls off plays that could have led to goals. But I just, as a human, I want to see him get back to just enjoying [soccer] because when he does that, he's spectacular. We've never had anyone like that.” — Landon Donovan
Grant Wahl:
Before we get going here, by the way, what's it like for you, Landon, when you walk in the streets of Mexico? Do you still get reactions?
Landon Donovan:
Well, Cabo's a bit different than the rest of Mexico, because it's the Baja California peninsula. So it’s got one, a lot more Americans, especially Cabo, and then everyone's just really laid back and chill. But most of the staff people here recognized me, but they're respectful and kind. I watched the game yesterday. I went over to a golf club a few miles down the road with a few Mexican guys that I met here golfing the other day, who are really cool guys, but also half Mexican, half American. So we had the Mexico game up on the top, we had the American game on next to it and got to watch the game, which was really fun with a lot of those guys.
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Grant Wahl:
Were you having some fun with the Mexican fans when 10-man Jamaica went ahead in that game?
Landon Donovan:
Yes. Yes. Yes. And the room went silent. There were about six guys in there, they were like, "Ah, U.S. is tied with El Salvador at home, Jamaica just got a red card." And then the next thing you know Jamaica scores, but then it was a pretty eventful last 10 minutes there and you can imagine that place was rocking [for the 2-1 Mexico win].
Grant Wahl:
Yeah, definitely. Let's talk about the U.S. game, and by the way, another thing to think, Antonee Robinson now prefers to be called, he said in the press conference, Jedi. So Antonee goes away, I just wrote Jedi Robinson in the story I filed. I don't know what your thoughts are on that, but three points for the U.S. in what was kind of a subpar game, but still three huge points.
Chris Wittyngham:
When it comes to Jedi Robinson, I thought it was interesting that after the game, Gregg Berhalter was talking about how much the fullbacks have played a role over the course of this World Cup qualifying cycle. And the idea that those two guys getting forward and providing width, last night it was Robinson and [Sergiño] Dest, have played a massive role. I think Robinson’s service can be better from wide areas, but he's been on those back-post areas to turn in chances. He actually had two more good chances, although on his weaker right foot, to potentially score another goal. So the fact that he played such a role, but I think the overall feeling from the game is even though you mentioned Grant, it wasn't a great performance, but the xG numbers would tell you otherwise. The xG numbers would tell you that the U.S. dominated last night.
That's not really how I felt watching the game. It's one of the few times that my eyes and the stats, where I'm telling the stats, "Settle down. That's not how this game went.” It was a tough one. And I thought the U.S. had to grind away at it. I didn't love the pitch and how it affected the U.S.'s performance. Ultimately it's three points and I saw this morning there's a site that's doing World Cup qualification odds. They have the U.S. right now at 98.8% to go to the World Cup. So the results last night went their way and that's really all that matters, but I really didn't love the performance on the whole.
Landon Donovan:
I wanted to follow up on the outside back. So what happens in the course of a match, when you are able to dominate possession and keep a team pinned in, Antonee and Sergiño can take more and more risk, right? And so you end up on one side of the field you have service, and on the other side you have another guy ending up in the box. And the only way you can do that is because you had [Chris] Richards and Walker Zimmerman were so comfortable and so dominant 2v1 for almost the entire game. El Salvador posed no vertical threat behind the U.S., right? So think about Jamaica, you have Michail Antonio and you're going, "Ah, maybe I'm not going to take that risk." Right? "If he spins me and he is gone, we're in big trouble."
Robinson and Dest were able to bomb forward because they had... And then you have Tyler Adams too, who's just patrolling and putting out fires. They were able to just go and go and go. And it's not surprising to me that it ends up being one of the fullbacks who end up scoring the goal to win the game.
Grant Wahl:
It's really interesting because by the way, Chris, the quote you mentioned from Gregg Berhalter, where he talked about the fullbacks being the U.S.'s superpower was the word he used. That was my question after the game, and in the last game, the U.S. played here in Columbus, the goal was scored or the initial goal, terrific goal, was by another fullback, Sergino Dest. And that's something that Berhalter pointed out, that the fullbacks, Dest and Robinson, have both scored goals in World Cup qualifying. Robinson now more than one, because he had a very similar goal down in Honduras that sparked that comeback. And even DeAndre Yedlin, he pointed out, has had assists in this qualifying campaign.
And so that's a big part of the modern game in what I wrote about in my story off this game that just posted, is just about fullbacks that can get forward in the attack. And Gregg Berhalter's, I would call, a modern coach. That's a big part of what the U.S. is trying to do. And they have the personnel now in Dest, in Antonee Robinson, who's in terrific form for club level with Fulham too, to do that kind of thing. But like Landon said, Berhalter also mentioned how it's easier to do that if you have confidence in your back line and also the midfielders being able to cover for space, which the U.S. does.
Landon Donovan:
Yeah, that's right. Grant, curious, so how was the field in person?
Grant Wahl:
It's interesting because I was having this conversation in the press box with Brian Straus from Sports Illustrated. I was like, "How do I tell even from the press box, if this field is not in good condition?" Because I don't know if that's something that's easy to eyeball, it didn't look chopped up or anything like that. It didn't seem like the ball was skittering around or having bad bumps that were unexpected for the players. And so it made me wonder. Chris, what are you seeing in that regard? I didn't watch the ESPN broadcast, did they bring that up with Sam Borden on the sidelines?
Chris Wittyngham:
No, I was actually watching the game without sound. There was a couple moments where you saw players almost get stuck. I thought Tim Weah was going to tear an ACL at one point when he got stuck in the ground and then came up. He was grabbing his leg as like, "Something should be wrong after that happened." For me, it just looks super dry. There were moments where they're trying to play and the ball is almost being slowed by how dry... And obviously it's freezing cold.
From what little of the broadcast I heard, it was apparently warmer on the Thursday night than it was on the Wednesday night. It's been really cold and it's really hard. I'm not criticizing anyone just because it's really hard to maintain a decent playing surface in those conditions. But it really felt like it affected the U.S.'s performance and ultimately they want to move the ball and move it quickly. I thought it allowed El Salvador at times to recover in defensive moments because it just slowed the game down.
Grant Wahl:
It's one of those issues where I wish we had a mixed zone situation where I had access to more players, like you typically do in a non-virus situation after the game, because players walk by and you can interview five or six different guys and ask them questions, "How was the field?" But in this all virtual post-game interview setting, that's basically impossible and nobody asked just the couple of players, Jedi, and... I'm still struggling to say that.
Landon Donovan:
Yeah, you're going to need some time, I'm going to need some time with that. I will call him Jedi, but I might laugh every time.
Chris Wittyngham:
In due course. In due course.
Grant Wahl:
And Tim Weah was the other interview. So that question didn't get asked, unfortunately. So this is the warmest game the U.S. is going to have of these three, the next one's in Hamilton, Ontario, and St. Paul, Minnesota, by choice by U.S. Soccer. I do want to ask you, Landon, about that decision later on here.
Landon Donovan:
No, I want ask you, you had a very opinionated view, but we'll get to that later.
Grant Wahl:
U.S. Soccer's tired of my view on this, by the way.
Landon Donovan:
Same with mine.
Grant Wahl:
They'd certainly let me know that. But in terms of the game itself, Landon, should fans be concerned that this wasn't a great U.S. performance?
Landon Donovan:
No, no. Again, I'm a broken record and we've been gone for a couple months. Who cares? Who cares, win the game. I can promise you when everyone's turning on the TV in November, December and watching the World Cup. Nobody's going to go, "Oh, but that game against El Salvador was so bad." Nobody cares, Grant. Just get the points and move on. Look, Mexico were bad and put themselves in real risk of trouble, but they won the game and it doesn't matter. You just move on. Costa Rica, I didn't watch the game, but I'm guessing it was a pretty ugly game, but they won 1-0, now they're still alive, right? So you just win the game, move on. Of course, everybody wanted that to be a 3, 4, 5-0 game and everyone's happy, but you got a big one now against Canada. And you win this game, I think, not mathematically, but you're in the World Cup.
Chris Wittyngham:
I think even with a draw in that one, you're probably just about there in the World Cup, and Panama losing last night, all of a sudden you have a four-point buffer. They still have to go to Azteca in this window. So you're in a really good position. I guess the only way that I would counter what you're saying, Landon is, I do think there's a certain amount of winning the hearts and minds of the supporters base that is not necessarily important, because ultimately what's important is getting there. But I think this new U.S. generation, or the U.S. taking the next step forward, is dominating in these games and people still... I heard it last night, I was watching the game with some friends, "Oh, it's only 1-0 against El Salvador." You derisively dismiss El Salvador, which I don't think is true.
I give El Salvador a fair bit of credit for their desire to play in this game. But I think ultimately in terms of you want to take a step of confidence in what the U.S. is going to do at the World Cup. You want to see a couple of performances that back that. I thought their performance against Mexico was the greatest example. They played well from start to finish. I thought they were really good in that game and some ways it's the hallmark of the Berhalter era, but I think you want to see a couple more of those before we get to Qatar, if we get to Qatar, we should say that as a qualifier.
Landon Donovan:
So I agree with that. I would only say that remember that this was El Salvador's basically last chance, right? They played like this was everything for them, and that makes it difficult. They pressed well, they were physical with the U.S. I thought they were very good on the night and they made it hard for the U.S. The other piece of this, we have to talk about too is, and I think we should dig into it a little bit, when Christian [Pulisic] is on his best form, he makes a couple plays in that game that make it 2- or 3-0, I think. And he's the one guy who can, right. And so that was a little piece of it too. And then also if the early goal goes in, maybe the game looks different, right?
If [Jesús] Ferreira scores the early goal, maybe the game looks different. So there are a lot of factors to it, but in the end, winning the game is what matters. And they did that. It wasn't beautiful, but that's okay. The other thing is thinking ahead, they're human beings. Thinking ahead to this huge game in Canada, whether it's huge in the standings, right? If you lose that game, but you win the other two in this window, it's like, "Eh, no big deal." But it is a much-hyped game against a much-hyped opponent. So that's also in the back of their head too, is like, "Just get through El Salvador, and then we got Canada."
Grant Wahl:
I was going to ask you, Landon, about Christian Pulisic's performance, because I was all looking forward ahead of this game to what I think are the three best U.S. players, Pulisic, Tyler Adams, and Weston McKennie being on the field together from the start of a game for the first time in qualifying. I think it was a three-year gap since the last time all three had started a game together for the U.S. The only time that they had been in the field together in qualifying was the last 21 minutes against Mexico, when the U.S. scored two goals and played its best soccer of qualifying. And it was sort of underwhelming last night, I thought, from Christian Pulisic. And I'm wondering, is that a carryover from the up-and-down nature of his club existence in recent months? What did you see?
Landon Donovan:
Yeah, I read the Athletic article about Christian the other day, and it was really interesting. I saw him as more human for the first time. I know that's a weird thing for me to say, but I saw him as more human for the first time in that it seems like he's really struggling there with what's going on. And hearing him, I think the quote was, "I just want to get back to enjoying football." And that really resonated with me because almost exactly at his age, I hit a similar point where it was like, "God, this is becoming such a job. I'm not playing. Things aren't going well." It was after a bad World Cup I had in '06. You just wanted to enjoy the game again, and I feel like there's always an arc in your career where that happens.
And I think he's getting back to that point, and you could see it in his face last night. When there were some closeups you could see it just didn't seem like he's really enjoying it. And he has flashes where even on a night where he is a little bit off, he has flashes where he pulls off plays that could have led to goals. But I just, as a human, I want to see him get back to just enjoying [soccer] because when he does that, he's spectacular. We've never had anyone like that, and he's spectacular. The other thing real quick, and I want to hear your opinion on this Witty too, is it was interesting because he didn't play in the central midfield with those two, with Weston and Tyler. [Yunus] Musah’s deserved to keep playing there.
So I wonder how that whole dynamic played into it too. And you saw him float inside and try to play inside a lot, but then Musah got nullified a little bit. So they'll have to figure out that piece of it because they need all those talented attacking pieces on the field.
Chris Wittyngham:
Yeah. It's sort of... To build on that, a chain effect in a way because I'm not sure if it's tactical or what Christian is trying to do. I've heard Gregg Berhalter talk a lot about, "We think that Christian is best in front of goal. We're trying to get him in those positions." But I also think that when I've seen him at his best for Chelsea, it's playing almost like heels on the chalk of the touchline and running at a fullback and trying to cut inside and make plays and then subsequently making those movements into the area. So I wonder if indeed played that far out wide, if that would impede Antonee Jedi Robinson's ability to get forward. And then are you slowing his game down? He's been so good for the U.S. and the fullbacks having their space has worked for them.
But then as you said, as Pulisic moves more central, I thought Musah didn't have the chance to run the game as he did against Mexico, as he has when he has been at his best for the U.S. So there is that chain effect of at some point someone's going to have to take a step back from their usual role in order to accommodate these skills. I would lean towards, I want ballistic out wide, I don't want Musah to run the game from the middle and then have Robinson join in the attack where he can. But I also understand why, if at the moment your system of pushing fullbacks forward is working, then why would you mess with it?
Grant Wahl:
After the game and Berhalter talked about this, he did say, we need to get Christian in front of goal. But he also said that he was central too much, especially in the first half, and that he wants him to get in front of goal by cutting in from out wide.
Landon Donovan:
Well, when you play a team like that, Grant, too, there's so many numbers centrally for El Salvador, right. It just made it difficult for him to find any space.
Grant Wahl:
Yeah. And before we move into a different direction, Landon, I did want to ask one more question about, when I was listening to Christian talking in the press conference the day before the game about mental health, his mental health. It struck me that there may be a story there. Christian has actually mentioned several months ago that he had seen a therapist, and I'm glad, I like that he's talking about mental health, but having experienced mental health situations in your career and being public about talking about that, would you have any advice, any suggestions, for Christian as he goes through something that you just said, you went through yourself?
Landon Donovan:
Not just Christian, but for all people. I think there’s very few people in the world who can put theirselves in Christian’s shoes right now. Right. And maybe none. Some of us who had I'll say the weight of carrying a portion of soccer in the country for a long time, Clint [Dempsey] certainly comes to mind, it's a really difficult thing as a human being. Of course, there's glory and glamor and money and goals and all that. And that's the side everybody sees, because they don't see when you go home after not playing for three weeks, what it feels like in a gloomy English country sometimes, what that feels like. Right? And so I'm very happy to hear that he is speaking openly about it, because a lot of people respect what he has to say and listen to what he has to say, but it's a very real part of life.
It is not a normal "human thing" to be carrying soccer in this country at his age. That is not a normal feeling to have and nobody can understand what that feels like. So he's dealing with things that are not normal for most human beings, and I'm really happy that he speaks about it. Because a lot of people feel that way at different times in their life. And that's important for him.
Chris Wittyngham:
I'm sure a video of Pawn Stars calling him the LeBron James of soccer is probably not helping there. But-
Landon Donovan:
Exactly.
Chris Wittyngham:
But I wanted to ask you, Landon, since you said that there was a period where you felt some similar things, I would just ask what was that like for you? What, I guess, feelings is it? What are you describing there when it is like there was a period where I wasn't enjoying it anymore. What weren't you enjoying about it?
Landon Donovan:
Well, I want to be careful. I'm not claiming that this is what Christian is feeling, I'll just speak from my own experiences. So the arc I went through, and I'm guessing Christian is similar, and maybe Gio [Reyna] will be there one day, and other young, talented players. Freddy Adu probably felt this. All of a sudden you're on the scene and everybody loves you. And you're great and you're amazing and you're playing and you're scoring and you're in a World Cup in my case. Or Christian scoring a bunch of goals in qualifying and for Chelsea and Champions League, he wins the Champions League. But there are times where no soccer career just goes up and up and up and up unless you're [Lionel] Messi or [Cristiano] Ronaldo. There's always going to be down periods.
Look at Ronaldo now, there's always going to be down periods. And when you hit the down, it can be really challenging because all of a sudden this sort of fake praise that you're getting from people that feels real as a human being, you all of a sudden realize those same people are being like, "Ah, you haven't played for three weeks for Chelsea, and you were bad against El Salvador." So all of a sudden, as a human being you feel that it's not enjoyable anymore because you're going through that. Right. And my experiences were after the World Cup in '06. I had been the best thing since sliced bread up until that point, and I have one bad World Cup, which is a big deal by the way.
And all of a sudden I hear people talking about how terrible I am and I let the country down and I let the team down and all that. And then you have to take a step back and say, "Okay, is this really worth it? Is it worth feeling that way?" And ultimately the answer for me was yes. But that was a challenging time. So again, I'm not comparing it exactly to Christian, but it does make me wonder if those are some of the things he's feeling too.
Grant Wahl:
I am the master of the bad segue. So I'm going to have a transition now into-
Chris Wittyngham:
I might put a commercial break here just so that you're not the one who has to do that.
Grant Wahl:
From deep thoughts about life and Christian Pulisic to: What did you think of Jesús Ferreira in this game?
Landon Donovan:
Well, I want to know what you guys first thought. We were texting last night a little bit. That was the one surprise we all saw.
Chris Wittyngham:
Yeah. For me, I felt he did a lot of the things that he was asked to do, I would imagine, I actually think that probably the greatest skill that he demonstrated last night is the calm and composure to still execute important passes from within the penalty area. That requires a composure that I'm not sure a lot of U.S. centerforwards have, and I think he demonstrated last night, he demonstrated some of those skills. I think what a lot of people will harp on are the two missed chances. One by the way, is created from his own skill. He receives the ball from the left side, has to take first touch around the defender, kind of perfectly dinks it so he can take that left-footed shot.
But that second one, which was the cross that came in, took a flick off of [Tim] Weah and lands to him on the back post, is just a classic centerforward’s can you execute in front of goal in the six-yard area? And he didn't, and those are the moments that he'll be judged upon. But I would say for the whole, I thought he did what he was asked to do. I thought he demonstrated the skills that he probably was picked to demonstrate. And I was not down on his performance at all despite the fact that he didn't score.
Grant Wahl:
I would've liked to see him finish. Right.
Landon Donovan:
Sure.
Chris Wittyngham:
Yeah.
Landon Donovan:
Grant, are you convinced that he played last night because he was what Gregg thought was the best choice for this game? Or was there some thinking ahead to other games?
Grant Wahl:
Yeah, this is where I wish we as journalists, as a body, postgame had asked Gregg Berhalter specifically, not just what did you think of Jesus's performance? Which was asked, but why did you choose to start him over [Ricardo] Pepi? And what was your thinking there? Because I'm curious to see does that mean-
Landon Donovan:
Or Gyasi [Zardes] in Columbus. That's not a bad idea.
Chris Wittyngham:
He also didn't even put Pepi on as the sub. It was a DNP for Pepi. He put Zardes on with 20 minutes to play.
Landon Donovan:
Right.
Grant Wahl:
As I understand it, there's no injury situation with Pepi. And so it makes me think that he's going to start against Canada, which is a high-profile game. But I do kind of wonder what Pepi's own confidence level is right now, because he's gone straight into a Bundesliga relegation battle for a team that is not a lot of fun to watch. Trust me, I've been watching them. And he's getting these really negative ratings from Kicker over in Germany. And here you come back and you train with the U.S. team, and you've been starting games and suddenly in the first game, you don't play a minute. So I do think that's an interesting thing.
Landon Donovan:
No, definitely. I think I've said a few times on here over time. We don't have all the context, so I'm simply asking the questions and throwing out some ideas that a coach might go through, but in the end it could have been a mix of a lot of things, right. Maybe Pepi's not in great form, which I don't think he's in great form at Augsburg. There's another piece of this. This is the first time he's flown across the continents to come into a match. So you don't know how, that is a challenge in and of itself. That's worth a podcast by itself, about how challenging that is. So you don't know how he arrived, what his sleep patterns were like, did he feel comfortable? So it's hard to know. So maybe they just said, listen, I've been with Ferreira for the last, whatever, month in camp and whatever, and he's in good form and we'll just go with it. Right. Or Gregg might have been thinking ahead, you never know.
Chris Wittyngham:
He also described the rise in the intensity, Pepi did, in playing in the Bundesliga as opposed to MLS. He said, "This is a lot more intense." So you wonder if he’s still recovering from that. Yeah. I would just be curious from your perspective, Landon, just as a coach now, as a manager, it feels like his situation is one that you have to manage, right. On-field, off-field mentality. That feels like one where you have to make deliberate decisions over the course of a national team camp with Pepi.
Landon Donovan:
No question. And again, I don't have the context, I'm not there every day. My outside perspective is Pepi is a player who needs to be filled with confidence, like most of us fickle goal scores are, we need to be filled with confidence all the time. But him especially, right. Because he can fill it up, very streaky, and he can score two or three or four in a second. And so getting him going again is probably one of Gregg's big challenges right now is, how do we find his form? Not necessarily through the next five games of qualifying, but he can be lethal in a World Cup, right? If he makes the team and he gets in front of a goal, he is a killer.
So I don't think there's another striker like him on the U.S. roster. So they need to find a way to get his confidence flying. It's going to be hard at Augsburg because they're not a team that creates a lot of chances. He's probably not going to have the opportunity to score a bunch of goals. They're in a relegation battle, so they're not playing pretty soccer, and he's got to find a way to get form back.
Grant Wahl:
Any final thoughts, guys, about the U.S. team as it heads to Canada for this showdown?
Chris Wittyngham:
Well, for me, I was interested in Chris Richards getting the start at centerback over Miles Robinson. That's probably a trio that will probably evolve over the course of the camp. But I would say, if we're talking about things that were positive about this performance, I would definitely say defensively. This is a really strong performance. I thought Matt Turner was hardly involved in the game, there was that one longer distance effort from Alex Roldán. But that's really the only time I felt like the U.S. was under threat. I thought Sergiño Dest in particular, there are times where defensively, he has not been as up to the challenge, particularly against these CONCACAFfy opponents. But he was, I thought there was moments where he read the game really well.
I thought he was sharp defensively. And in terms of from a management standpoint, I'm also curious what's going on in Matt Turner's head at the moment, because I saw after the game, he signed an Arsenal jersey. I guess someone was smart enough to bring one and bring it close to the tunnel. That's probably where he's heading next. And just overall that goalkeeping situation where now you're probably going to have a pair of players that are not playing week in week out, probably come the fall. It seems like Turner is going to stay with the New England Revolution until the summer transfer window. But either way, for me, the idea that you have Matt Turner back there, he's in a meteoric rise in his career, there's a lot of guys whose careers right now are evolving as they move abroad and as their lives change playing with the national team.
Landon Donovan:
This'll be a really interesting game on, I'm getting my days wrong, on Sunday?
Chris Wittyngham:
Sunday. Yeah.
Landon Donovan:
On Sunday. Yes. A good defensive performance, but that's El Salvador, right. Canada have some horses, right? There's some very, very good players, and it's going to be a fascinating game to watch. I can't wait for it. I think on, is it Wednesday, Honduras?
Chris Wittyngham:
Yep.
Grant Wahl:
Yep.
Landon Donovan:
That's where the U.S.'s depth will really shine through, and that should be pretty straightforward, but the game on Sunday it's going to be really fun to watch. So grab your popcorn, looking forward to doing it again on Sunday night, guys, but that's going to be as good a game as we'll see, I think, in this whole qualifying cycle.
Grant Wahl:
All right. Thanks guys. Great talking to you. Looking forward to Sunday.
Chris Wittyngham:
Thanks, Grant.
Landon Donovan:
Good to see you guys.