Jonathan Tannenwald has just returned to Philadelphia— fresh from a tour of Florida, Tennessee, and Texas, where he infiltrated Philly Union’s preseason and then trailed USWNT through the SheBelieves Cup.
In his one free afternoon before the Philadelphia Union embark on their new season, I cornered him, and made him come on The Swan Dive.
We discuss:
Philly Union, USMNT
* So, the Union are really good
* New MLS playoff format, can we blame FC Cincinnati?
* Jim Curtin’s scorched earth season
* Jesse and Jim to USMNT?
* Ernst Tanner approached by Sportsology
* Wherein we didn’t mean to, but end up talking about the Reyna thing
* Advocating for soccer coverage in a big sports town
* Do USWNT get enough coverage?/the state of journalism
* “Jack McGlynn is outrageously talented”
* Will Jim play the kids this year?
* Wherein I read JT a spicy quote, and he responds
* …. the way the Union play, and what is says about America
* AppleTV+, the state of sports on tv, subscribing to 30 streaming services instead
USWNT
* Reflecting on SheBelieves Cup
* Victory celebration as therapy exercise
* Megan Rapinoe’s role
* USWNT against top 10 teams
* What is reasonable to expect of USWNT this summer?
* The World Cup roster
* Does Cat Macario displace Morgan?
* Does Trinity Rodman make the World Cup roster?
* Carli Lloyd, locker room issues?
* Vlatko
* The mentality and identity of this team
* Manifesting USA v England in the final
And, finally…
* Did Leeds supporters make fun of Brenden Aaronson after he scored on Chelsea?
* JT endorses Jesse for USMNT manager
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Jonathan and I both read a few quotes pertaining to the Union in this episode, all of which are pulled from the following articles in The Athletic:
* MLS executives make picks for MLS Cup winner and offer Leagues Cup, playoff format thoughts(Sam Stejskal and Paul Tenorio)
* Philadelphia Union’s Jim Curtin on MLS Cup loss, playoffs and future of USMNT (Felipe Cardenas and Pablo Maurer)
