The 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia (yes, you read that right) delivered exactly the kind of chaos a five-hour, rain-soaked broadcast promises, and Max Verstappen came out the other side with his first win of the season. On this episode of Tackling the Chicane, the guys break down a soaked, safety-car-interrupted race that turned into a proper scrap between Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli, then pivot to what might be the best USMNT international break in recent memory — headlined by a statement 3-0 win over Mexico and two teenage breakout stars you need to know about.
If you're searching for who won the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, how Liam Lawson and Fernando Alonso snuck into the points, or how the USMNT dismantled Mexico at State Farm Stadium, this recap has you covered. We're also getting into the title race implications heading into Singapore, the new CONCACAF Nations League draw against Haiti, and a quick look ahead at Premier League and Scottish football this weekend.
Verstappen Finally Breaks Through at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia
Let's address the naming oddity first: this is the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, run entirely in Malaysia, because F1 contracts are weirder than ever. Oddity aside, this race was a banger. A roughly two-and-a-half-hour rain delay pushed the broadcast past five hours, and once it got going, tire strategy decided everything early. Drivers who gambled on slicks while standing water still covered the circuit got swallowed up instantly, while the intermediate crowd thrived. A Valtteri Bottas off on lap 9 brought out a full safety car, and nearly the entire field converged onto inters — the correct call, in hindsight.
From there, it became a genuine duel. Antonelli built an 8-second lead by lap 27 and looked imperious, but a late mistake opened the door for Verstappen to pounce and take the win. It's Red Bull's only victory of 2026, and while nobody's pretending it changes the championship picture, it matters. Going a full season winless would've been a brutal look for a team that's otherwise been feisty and competitive all year — think back to Yuki-adjacent storylines like Hadjar fighting for a podium the week before. Verstappen hadn't won all season, but he's been lurking near the front consistently; this was the race it finally clicked.
How Did Verstappen Do at the 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix? A Closer Look at the Battle With Antonelli
Beyond the headline result, the Verstappen-Antonelli fight was the story of the race. Antonelli's late slip wasn't the only drama — around lap 44, Verstappen pitted in a move commentators questioned in real time, worried it might backfire if a late safety car appeared. It didn't, Antonelli pitted a lap later, and the order flipped right back in Verstappen's favor. Hadjar, meanwhile, grumbled about his tires all race and still salvaged 5th, while the two Ferraris rounded out 3rd and 4th.
Lewis Hamilton's podium deserves its own mention. He had gremlins at the actual start of the race — stuck on the grid with throttle issues that delayed the opening laps — and still clawed back from deep in the field on slicks to finish 3rd. That's the kind of drive that gets a crowd on its feet, and deservedly so.
Further down, Liam Lawson's 7th place was a highlight, and Alonso grinding out points for Aston Martin continues to be the most Alonso thing imaginable. McLaren were quietly irrelevant in the points, Haas finished 14th and 15th (Bearman and Ocon), and one of the Cadillacs — Perez in 19th — at least saw the checkered flag, which is still an accomplishment for that team this year. Lance Stroll's 12th place was actually notable: it's his first full, finished race of the entire 2026 season. Given Aston Martin is running back this same Alonso-Stroll pairing for 2027, that's a stat worth filing away.
George Russell's Mechanical Woes and the State of the 2026 F1 Championship
Not every Mercedes story was a happy one. George Russell suffered another mechanical DNF, and Toto Wolff was visibly animated and frustrated on the pit wall — about as emotional as he's looked all season. It's a reminder that even the class of the field this year isn't immune to reliability gremlins, and with a title race still technically tenable for Russell on paper, a DNF like this stings.
As for where the championship stands: Mercedes has the Constructors' crown all but wrapped up, with Ferrari a distant second on 378 points, followed by McLaren, Red Bull, and Racing Bulls. In the Drivers' standings, Charles Leclerc sits on 191 points with Lando Norris and Verstappen tied on 188 — meaning the top three look locked in, even if positions 4 through 6 could still shuffle. The crew's prediction: if Antonelli extends his points lead in Singapore this weekend (sprint qualifying and sprint race Friday/Saturday, Grand Prix Sunday at 8:00 AM ET), this title race is effectively over.
USMNT 3-0 Mexico: Breaking Down a Statement International Friendly
Now for the real highlight of the episode. The USMNT closed out their international break with a 3-0 demolition of Mexico at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona — in front of a predictably partisan, pro-Mexico crowd. Despite it being "just" a friendly, this one had real fire from the opening whistle, with Mexico playing their typically fast, physical style and the US matching it defensively while waiting for chances.
The turning point was Mexico goalkeeper Raúl Rangel, normally reliable for Chivas, who was charged with two official errors leading to goals. But let's not undersell the US finishing — these were quality strikes, not gifts. Julian Hall, the 18-year-old New York Red Bulls winger, opened the scoring and finished the camp with three goals in three matches. Then came the moment of the match: 17-year-old Kevin Sullivan, fresh off the Philadelphia Union academy pipeline, punished Rangel for wandering too far from his line with a genuinely excellent strike from distance in the 63rd minute. The hosts weren't shy about invoking the P-word — Pulisic — when describing the hype around Sullivan, and after this performance, it's not hard to see why.
The match boiled over in the 68th minute when Mexico's Mateo Chávez picked up a deserved red card for a swipe at Sebastian Berhalter's face, and Tillman added a third in the 85th. Mexican fans pushed a post-match narrative that this was a weakened "B team" — but five of Mexico's starting XI were at the World Cup, so that storyline doesn't hold up.
A Perfect USMNT Camp: What the Youth Movement Means Going Forward
Zoom out, and this camp was about more than one scoreline. The USMNT debuted 13 new players across this international window and went 4-for-4, outscoring opponents 12-3 across matches against Peru, Colombia-adjacent opposition, Mexico, and a 1-0 closer against Canada where Justin Ellis scored his second goal of the camp. Compare that to Mexico, who went winless across four matches during the same window — a draw with Colombia, a draw with Peru, the loss to the US, and a 2-0 defeat to Chile.
The headline names — Julian Hall, Kevin Sullivan, Alex Freeman (now playing in Spain after an MLS start), Justin Ellis, Brooklyn Raines, Peyton Miller, Matisse Albert — paint a picture of a talent pipeline that's finally producing depth beyond the World Cup roster. With MLS shifting to a fall-to-spring calendar in 2027 via a "sprint season" starting in January, expect several of these young players to stay stateside through the summer before a potential European move.
The next time you'll see the USMNT is November 9th, when they open CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal play against Haiti — a tricky opponent who went winless but competitive at the World Cup. It's a two-legged tie, and while the US gets the "away" leg technically, Haiti don't currently play home matches in their own country, which adds an interesting wrinkle.
Key Takeaways
- Max Verstappen won his first race of the 2026 season at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, snapping Red Bull's winless drought after a late-race mistake from Kimi Antonelli.
- Lewis Hamilton recovered from a stalled start to finish on the podium in 3rd, despite throttle issues that delayed the race in its opening laps.
- George Russell's latest mechanical DNF visibly frustrated Toto Wolff and complicates what was still a tenable title push.
- Lance Stroll finished 12th for his first completed full race of 2026 — a low bar, but notable given Aston Martin's lineup is locked in for 2027.
- The USMNT beat Mexico 3-0 in Glendale behind goals from Julian Hall and a sensational 17-year-old Kevin Sullivan strike, capping a 4-0 international break.
- Mexico went winless across their own four-match window, undercutting the post-match narrative that their Mexico vs USA lineup was weakened or inexperienced.
- The USMNT's next competitive test comes November 9th against Haiti in the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinals.
Want the full blow-by-blow on both the Bahrain Grand Prix chaos and the USMNT's breakout stars? Hit play on Episode 185 of Tackling the Chicane and subscribe so you don't miss the Singapore Grand Prix recap or the next USMNT update.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia 2026?
Max Verstappen won the race for Red Bull, his first victory of the 2026 season, after passing Kimi Antonelli late following a mistake from the Mercedes driver. Lewis Hamilton finished 3rd for Ferrari after recovering from an early-race delay.
Why was the Bahrain Grand Prix held in Malaysia?
Due to contractual and calendar arrangements, the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix branding and sponsorship stayed intact even though the event was physically run on the Malaysian circuit for 2026, creating one of the stranger naming situations on the current F1 calendar.
What was the final score in USMNT vs Mexico?
The United States beat Mexico 3-0 in an international friendly at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, with goals from Julian Hall, Kevin Sullivan, and Tillman, plus a red card shown to Mexico's Mateo Chávez in the 68th minute.
Who is Kevin Sullivan and why is he getting USMNT hype?
Kevin Sullivan is a 17-year-old attacker for the Philadelphia Union who scored a standout long-range goal against Mexico after exploiting a goalkeeping error, with the Tackling the Chicane crew comparing his breakout hype to a young Christian Pulisic.
What's next for the USMNT after this international break?
The USMNT's next matches come November 9th in the CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinals against Haiti, a two-legged tie that kicks off a new, more competitive cycle after a 4-0 international break outscoring opponents 12-3.
How did Red Bull and Max Verstappen fare in the 2026 championship after Bahrain?
Verstappen's Bahrain win was his only victory of the season and doesn't meaningfully change the title picture, with Charles Leclerc on 191 points and Verstappen tied with Lando Norris on 188 — but it ended a long winless streak and reinforced Red Bull's reputation for feisty, entertaining racing in 2026.
A wild, rain-delayed Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia gave Max Verstappen a much-needed win and reminded everyone that even Mercedes isn't immune to mechanical heartbreak, while the USMNT used their international break to answer a lot of questions about the program's next generation. Between Kevin Sullivan's breakout goal and Verstappen finally getting back on the top step, there's a lot to unpack — and the full episode goes deeper on every storyline than this recap can.
Catch the full conversation and subscribe to Tackling the Chicane so you're ready for the Singapore Grand Prix and the next USMNT update.
Listen to the Episode
You can stream the full breakdown of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia and the USMNT's perfect international break on Episode 185 of Tackling the Chicane, and find all the latest motorsport and soccer coverage at tacklingthechicane.com.
Read the full episode transcript machine-generated
This transcript was produced automatically by speech-recognition software (AssemblyAI) and has not been checked by a person, so expect misheard names and words. The recap above is the readable version.
And it's lights out and away we go!
Podcasting from Studio 2520.
Somewhere near Akron, Ohio, bringing you all the latest talk in motorsport and soccer.
This is Tackling the Chicane.
Well, here we go.
As if on cue, George Russell and Kimi Antonelli appear on our television here in studio, ready to roll. I— this appears to be a, uh, I think it is— is this WhatsApp? Is this a WhatsApp commercial? About to find out. Uh, oh, it's just an HPE official team partner of Mercedes Racing.
There you go. Well, there you go. Uh, here we are. It's a Wednesday night as we record. A little earlier this week, got some, uh, activities going on starting tomorrow, I believe, for my co-host.
Um, yes, tomorrow evening headed to Columbus for the Ohio State, uh, meet for, um, USPA powerlifting. Weigh-ins are Friday morning. Uh, should be good there. It was a little up this morning, scared me a bit. My 199 is my cutoff and I was at 196, which that's the most I've weighed probably in 20 years.
Um, so took some action today to try to get that down, and by 4 o'clock this afternoon I was at 193. So I like to be 190 to 192 just to be on the safe side. So no, no issues there. I'm sure everyone's just riveted by that, but that's interesting stuff. Competition is always fun.
Yeah, so 3 lifts, trying to get a combined total of 860 pounds to qualify for Nationals. So that is the goal. And do we know where Nationals is for— this is for '27, right? Correct. It's actually in, um, in Florida.
Oh, in, um, not Kissimmee, but I can't think of where right outside of Disney somewhere. I can't think of the name of the town. Orlando area? Correct. Or is it literally Orlando?
It's either one of those 2 places. I don't really remember, but it's going to be down there in '27. So, um, nice. And I think it's the later half of '27. There might be another qualifier in between there if this one doesn't work out, but, um, I'm pretty close, within 30 pounds.
So, all right, we'll see. Maybe adrenaline will get you across the line. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. The meet days are, are a whole nother game. Yeah.
Yep. All right, well, there we have it there. Uh, this should be a less stressful hour than what we just sat through. Uh, of course, our, our Guardians in the ALDS, and, um, it's still a win-or-go-home situation, but we at least prolonged the going home for another day. Um, and it's, it's been a wild ride thus far, and I'm sure more twists and turns tomorrow.
Yeah, so 9-3 win today and looking like the Guardians of September, which is a good thing. Um, if we play— obviously it goes without saying, but we need to duplicate that effort tomorrow and get back to Cleveland, because I think if we get back to our home field, I know how this team and how this crowd is. It's going to be really tough to beat them at home. So we just need to get back there. So, um, hoping for the best.
Um, feel a lot better now than I did earlier today. Yeah, especially when that game started and you go down 1-0. I was like, well, as we all know, baseball is a game of largely momentum and pitching, so I think we're in good shape in both of those, uh, respects. Um, I don't know about you, but and maybe this is just your, your brain, your brain, your brain playing tricks on you, but you get a feeling fairly early in these games, and, and you could be wrong, but the game, uh, prior to this one just didn't ever feel, didn't ever feel great. And you were there, so I don't know if you had the same feeling or— Yeah, I, I thought it was a little flat, the atmosphere.
I think there was it was more nerves than anything. And even when they go up 2-0 in the first inning, you didn't feel very confident. Just something about your bats being so, so ice cold in that game 1, and it carried over. Um, and, and I, I think I never really believed in my heart of hearts that they were gonna win that game. Um, and I, to be fair, didn't believe it today either until they did.
So Uh, that is just the way it goes. I really hope it gets to a Game 5 because I have a standing room ticket for that. Oh, nice. I— this will be the last thing on baseball before we actually get into the podcast. I bought these tickets right after they clinched, and I was probably not in a state, uh, where I should have been, uh, And I, when I woke up the next morning, I was like, oh my fucking God, I bought a game for— or I bought a ticket to game 5, which isn't even guaranteed to happen.
So I corrected that and I was like, am I gonna try and sell this? You know what, whatever. If it happens, it happens. Yeah, well, sometimes the best experiences are, are due to those types of decisions, right? Because sometimes too much logic gets involved, and it's always better to go.
Yeah. Than to say, I wish I would have. I wish I would have gone. So yeah, there won't be any of that if there's a Game 5. So we'll leave it there.
And if we're still talking about the Guardians next week, I think we're going to be in a pretty good spot about that. Let's, uh, get down to business here on Tackling the Chicane. Of course, we had another round of this Formula 1 season. Taking place in a wet Malaysia and bringing with us a new winner for the 2026 season, that is. So we'll discuss everything that happened there.
And then we're going to put a bow on what has become one of the better international windows I can remember for a United States team, men's national team, in which We debuted 13 new players, a lot of them getting involved on the score sheet, um, and a lot of youngsters to be excited about. So we'll talk all about that on the back half. But for now, let's kick it over to the, and I quote, Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia 2026. Yeah, FIA never ceases to amaze me on how they can turn these things into, um, I don't know, like you said, I think the biggest, the biggest corny part about this was obviously they can't take the Bahrain name out for tons of reasons, but it seems silly to label a race that's, that's being, um, that's the campaign is in a whole different country, but you still have all of the likeness and Bahrain and all that. Uh, kind of strange.
This one didn't disappoint, to be honest. When I started the playback, my— I kind of went, oh my God, what happened? Because it was 5-hour broadcast. Um, so the first, largely the first 2 and a half to, to 2 and 3 quarter hours was rain delay. Ah, uh, plus the normal hour-long, yeah, sort of silliness that happens before these races.
Sure. Once we got underway though, this one was very interesting from the, from the get-go. Number one, it was a bit of a weird start, start out of the pit lane, I think, on a green. Um, tire choice was, was the, the key subject here in the opening salvo of this race. And it turns out that those who, who started on intermediates, um, got an immediate advantage on those tires.
And those who took a chance, it was still extremely wet on the course, which I, I don't know what factors play into you throwing a slick on when there's still massive amounts of water on the track. Those who did got swallowed up right away. Yeah. Um, trying to think. I think there was some kind of— there was an incident that allowed everybody to get back on the inners.
Um, oh, lap 9, Valtteri Bottas off. Uh, full safety car. Everybody figures— most everybody figures now, okay. And I believe like 95% of the field went inter. Which was the right call.
Um, but this was a good race. I, I thought it was a good race. Um, lots of overtaking. Some names that you wouldn't expect to be as high in the field, uh, there. Liam Lawson ends up finishing in 7th position in this race, which is a great day for him.
Alonso Points. Yeah, points. Points for Aston Martin, which is always impressive, at least for this year. Yeah. And, um, you know, a Kimi Antonelli that wasn't as undefeatable as he has been in the past.
He could not— it turns out that he couldn't catch Max on, on in this particular race. Um, He had an 8-second lead at one point in lap 27, so he, he was really cooking on this one. Yeah, he makes a mistake late in the race that allows Verstappen to get into the contest and, and really push for it. Um, to your point, I will say I, I like the feistiness from Red Bull this season despite the fact that they've only won this singular race, but They have made races that probably otherwise wouldn't be very interesting, um, very entertaining. Let's take it back to last week where, uh, Hadjar was fighting for a podium spot.
Um, I, I'm a little shocked. It's almost one of those things where you kind of forget, oh crap, Verstappen hasn't won at all this year until this race. It, it feels like he's been mixed up in the front of the field the whole season. He just hasn't been able to put it together, and now he has. Um, of course, I think you and I both know it's, it's too little too late on any sort of championship front, but it's always nice to see another team be able to hang around with Mercedes.
Well, and I think it was Red Bull's main goal in this when, when they knew that Max had speed, they didn't want to— they don't want to go an entire campaign without a victory. That would be a big headline, right? Uh, it would, it would probably mentally be tough to deal with. So that was a bit— this was a big win regardless of points, just to get something on the board. Um, Hadjar didn't have quite as good a day.
He complained the entire race about the, the tire, and he was just not happy. Ends up in 5th. Um, the 2 Ferraris, uh, 3rd and 4th. And, you know, McLaren doing what McLaren does this year in the points, in the points, barely really all that relevant. And Haas does what Haas does, so Early on to middle of the race, I'm thinking, okay, we have a shot at maybe some points here.
They finished out of the points, 14th and 15th. 14th for Bearman, 15th for Ocon. Let's— I don't even— one of the Cadillacs finished, Perez in 19th. So that's good for them. Hey, finish— honestly, finishing is kind of a big deal for them.
Yeah, they're usually a double DNF. Um, on that topic, Lance Stroll finishes in 12th in, in this race. That is his first full race that he has ran this entire season, uh, for Mr. Stroll. So wow, congrats, I guess. We're 20-something in, uh, not quite.
Maybe this is round 17. Okay, so, but still deep.
Well, yeah, what do you, what do you say? I mean, that's Lance for you, but, uh, good on him, I guess. I'd hate to see— well, I wouldn't hate to see, but I'm sure Aston Martin would hate to see an entire campaign where he doesn't finish a GP. Yeah, and we talked, I think we touched very briefly on it last week, but let's remember, folks, Aston Martin is bringing back that lineup for 2023.
7. Um, so probably the same thing as this year, barring their car getting immensely better. Yeah, I— they're just— I just don't see the talent with Stroll. Alonso is Alonso. I, I think it's to the point where they, they probably don't know who they would bring up.
They must not have somebody who they want to bring up. Apparently not. And Alonso must not want to retire. I can't imagine he's going to run too many more of these campaigns, but who knows. Yeah, the ageless wonder, it seems.
Um, yeah, this is, this is a race defined largely by the battle between Verstappen and Antonelli, which made for some interesting racing, especially at the end. Um, I don't know if I'm happy, but it's— it was cool to see Verstappen get on the top step of the podium. Hamilton had some issues at literally the beginning of this race that caused the race to start, uh, I believe in lap 3, where he was parked up and couldn't get the accelerator working. So had some gremlins but still finished on the podium for Ferrari. Um, and we've talked about everyone else in the points, so Kind of, um, in terms of the championship fight, steady as she goes.
And, you know, one final point I'll make on this race, um, George Russell, another mechanical issue. And we saw Toto Wolff get pretty animated at the end there, as animated as I've seen him at least this season. Well, yeah, and I mean That's F1.
The cars are very complicated, and even though you are as competitive as Mercedes is, no one is— what's the word— no one is safe in this series from some weird thing happening to the car. That's just, yeah, that's just the nature of the series. It's, it's just what happens. Unfortunate for for Russell, especially since, you know, the points race was, was at least tenable. Yeah, but with a DNF, uh, that kind of— I— that kind of hurts.
I think, I think we can put a bow on it. I'm not gonna officially make that judgment call. Um, I will say, if I believe there— and there is, I'm looking now this race this weekend in Singapore. If Antonelli extends his lead, that's, that's game, set, match for the, the title race, which I, I think we all knew was coming. Um, so, so that was sort of the last real big talking point for me out of that race.
Um, just mechanical gremlins and Toto Wolff really becoming quite animated and frustrated with what has been a kind of not very reliable Mercedes in some key moments this season. I think the Hamilton podium is notable. I think he came from pretty far back in this one. He was on slicks, and I don't think he took intermediates. I think he stayed out and somehow carved his way back through the field and ends up with a podium.
Crowd was pretty excited. Yeah, um, deservedly so. He ends up in 3rd place. There was one brief moment around lap 44 where Verstappen pitted, and the commentators made it sound like that might have been not a good call, or that maybe they were just trying to inject something into this race, but had something happened, uh, like some sort of safety car or something, that would have— that wouldn't have fared well for him. Fortunately for him, Antonelli pits just a lap later and they swap places back again with Verstappen in the lead.
But yeah, so a sec— the second GP in a row that was at least, um, Didn't send me to my phone to do something else. Yeah, which is good. Um, so coming up here very soon, uh, Singapore this weekend. Yep. Um, October 9th is— that is Friday.
Okay, why do I have my date? Okay, because— okay, today is Wednesday. I got you. Yeah. I keep thinking of this weekend as the 8th because that's when we travel to Columbus.
So anyhow, practice 1 on Friday, uh, sprint qualifying— this is a sprint race— also on Friday, sprint on Saturday, qualifying Saturday, race on Sunday at 0800 hours. Yeah, that's actually not a horrible start time. Um, looking forward to that one. Mercedes, uh, still going to be your Constructors' Champion. Ferrari second place, 378 points.
McLaren, Red Bull, and Racing Bulls rounding out the top 5. Don't see much room for any changes unless Alpine can mount a little fight against Racing Bulls. Maybe Williams can climb into the lofty heights of 8th before the end of the year. Um, and as we just touched on, don't see much happening in the Drivers Championship. Lando Norris and Max Verstappen are both on 188 points.
Charles Leclerc on 191. So you might see some shifting between 4 through 6, but the top 3 don't look likely to change anytime soon. So I think That shall do it for F1 unless you are— have something else in mind. I do not. All right, well, in that case, we will go ahead and shift gears into the world of soccer.
And my God, the gigantic international break is coming to an end, folks. For some of you like me who Maybe club football is more your speed. Although, of course, I like watching our national team compete. It'll be nice to get back into the swing of things this weekend. But we do have a couple of matches to discuss.
Most importantly, United States of America 3, Mexico 0. This was an international friendly, of course. At State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. So a partisan Mexico crowd, unsurprisingly.
Still a nice kind of fiery atmosphere despite it being a friendly. It sure didn't feel like a friendly match from start to finish. It was very, very engaging to watch the speed and tenacity of both of these teams in this match. I didn't even know what USA team I was watching, to be honest with you. Because Mexico plays with such ferocity.
At least they did in this match. Yeah, well, and that's typical for sure. Their speed is impressive. Their ball handling is, is impressive. Um, I thought— I felt like US was just kind of hanging on in the first opening minutes of this game.
They did defend quite well, uh, throughout. The real Achilles heel in this match, and it was surprising to a lot of people, was Mexico's goalkeeper, who's normally pretty clean sheety. Yeah. Had some trouble in this match, but it wasn't only due to the fact that he had a few hiccups. There were quite good strikes on the ball for the US team.
Yeah, so Raul Rangel for Mexico, their goalkeeper, plays for Chivas, 26 years old. Uh, 2 errors that led to goal, an official stat line there. And, uh, obviously that is never ideal, uh, as a goalkeeper. Um, I will say it probably won't come as a shock to you, but 3-0 for the US. They probably deserved a win.
You probably think 3-0 is a little flattering just because of those pretty critical goalkeeping mistakes from Mexico, um, but I, I don't have any problem saying that the US was still the best team on the night for sure.
Yeah, I mean, Mexico really never hung it up as far as I— and maybe closing minutes when they were just trying to stay alive. But, um, it wasn't a game where you sort of went, okay, this one's in the book. Yeah, yeah. So obviously sort of the, the thread around this entire camp has been the new faces that we've seen. A lot of guys that weren't even there for the World Cup, uh, you know, 3 months ago Um, and these are guys that are contributing, and they're contributing every match for some of these, uh, folks.
Julian Hall, who opened up the scoring, 18 years old, plays for New York Red Bulls. I actually got to see him live last month. Um, he opens up the scoring, 3 goals in 3 matches for Julian Hall in this camp. Yeah, I mean I couldn't help but think, wow, I wish we would have had him this summer. Yeah, I guess, uh, hindsight is 20/20, right?
It's one thing if, if he scores a goal in this window of friendly matches, but to score 3 is pretty impressive. Uh, hopefully management has taken note of such. Yeah, I'd like to see a lot more of of that. And it makes you think, like, you know, when we come back to this team, I believe in November sometime, uh, or early December, there's no way a guy like Julian Hall isn't involved, you would think. No, not the way he played in these friendly matches.
I didn't get to see the first 2. I was watching on the, uh, can't— the Canada match on on FOP Mob, um, because I was at the gym. But, um, yeah, I was like, that's a, that's a pretty good, that's a pretty good USA team to watch. Yeah. And I understand that it's— is it the same in, in a friendly window like this?
No, not really. Yeah. But at the same time, it gives you a little bit of hope for, for the future of this team. Uh, 44th minute, Jimenez gets close. It's really the— from what I can recall, one of the only close calls for, for the US defensively.
Um, but it's, it's no goal. It went wide. Just 2 minutes of stoppage takes us to the half. Mexico led possession in the first half, 60% to 40%, um, and shots 5 to 2.
USA did lead Mexico in fouls, which is fine because you have to foul this team. Absolutely. If you don't, you're going to get trucked. And I want to say that I thought the officiating was correct. And if he would've started throwing cards when he could have, this would've been ugly.
Yeah. It's always a fine line you have to do. I think a lot of people, and if you're not super familiar with watching the US, Um, maybe this is kind of you jumping on board post-World Cup, which welcome to the club. Um, anytime they play Mexico, it does not matter if it's a friendly, if it's a Gold Cup match, if it's in the World Cup, whatever, it's always feisty and the referee always has to kind of toe the line of how involved do I want to be? You know, if you don't blow a foul for everything, eventually the players start to get really, really chippy, and then you kind of lose control.
But there's also, if you blow a foul for everything, then the game is going to be so stop-start. So it's nice to see a ref kind of breathe, let it breathe a little. Yeah, until he couldn't, right? Which was fine because you have to. If you don't control the game, then We all know what happens there.
Um, second half, uh, was pretty quiet up until the 58th minute. There was a really great save by the USA keeper off of a free kick, um, probably one of the better ones I've seen. Um, so again, USA showing a little bit of tenacity in this one. They're not—they weren't going to go down without a fight.
And then probably one of the most fun plays, and I strangely enough, you know as well as I do, I'm getting better, but I'm not the—I can rarely predict what's going to happen on the field. But in this 63rd minute, when the Mex the keeper from Mexico got caught outside. Yeah. And as soon as the US— the, the player for the US approached and he came outside, he was way outside the box, I said, oh, he's— that's not good. You're too— he's too, too far out.
He got beat and then pretty much stroked a pretty sweet ball. Yeah, Kevin Sullivan. Yeah. And it wasn't a It wasn't a gimme. No, he was pretty far out.
Really, really good strike for him. Um, this guy is 17 years old. He just turned 17, right? And, and folks, let's not get carried away, but probably the most hyped USMNT prospect since a guy named Christian Pulisic came around. Um, I'm really looking forward to seeing more of, of Kevin Sullivan.
Um, and I think this was just the beginning of what we'll see him do playing for— he plays currently for the Philadelphia Union. It was Philly. Yeah, in MLS. A lot of these guys are MLS youngsters, which you're starting to slowly, slowly, slowly see some pretty great academy products come out of MLS. I mean, Julian Hall is a— is an MLSer currently.
That won't be long. Sullivan, there's no way he sticks around in MLS much longer. Um, Alex Freeman, who we saw a lot in the World Cup, he scored against Australia, plays in Spain now. He got his start in MLS. So you're kind of starting to see these academies churn out some talent, and you're seeing it on the field for the national team now.
A few minutes later in the 68th, we find this finally boils over a bit after several yellow cards are thrown to each team. Um, Chavez gets a red, uh, deservedly so. Um, a little hand slap, I think, to the face of, uh, was it Sebastian Berhalter that got smacked, who has also had a very nice window, by the way. Saw a little bit of him in the World Cup. Yeah, Mateo Chavez, uh, applies this trade for Azed Alkmaar and the Netherlands, 22-year-old.
And, you know, obviously the game comes unraveled there. Tilman, 85th minute, gets the goal to make it 3-0. Um, I think what is a little funny is you're seeing like Mexico fans are quite the funny bunch. Um, you either love them or you hate them, but it— they would After this game, there was this narrative that they were trying to push, stupid people on social media, but that this was a terrible Mexico lineup and these guys never even played. Most of these guys weren't even at the World Cup, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
I believe 5 of their starting 11 were playing in the World Cup. So the narrative that this was a Mexico B or C team, Yeah, uh, not working. And, and obviously the US, uh, Julian Hall, Kevin Sullivan, you know, and then some subs— Justin Ellis, Brooklyn Raines, Peyton Miller, Matisse Albert— none of these guys were at the World Cup either. So yeah, that narrative doesn't really fly for me. How did Mexico fare in the, in the totality of, of this break?
Um, I will look because I really didn't pay attention to them at all besides this game. It wasn't really commentated on much either. Yeah, it was a lot heavily focused on the US, which I guess makes sense. They played 3 matches, they won 0 of them, uh, from what I can tell, uh, 4 matches and still won 0. They had a 1-1 draw with Colombia, they drew 1-1 with Peru, who the US beat I think 4-2.
Um, obviously this loss here, and then they lost 2-0 to, to, uh, Chile yesterday, who the US also beat. So, um, yeah, not well, I guess, is the answer to that question. Interesting. Well, nonetheless, uh, a nice break for the US team, gave the fans, uh, a little bit of something to talk about. Obviously with those 2 young players, that's going to be interesting to see how they develop and where they end up otherwise.
I'd like to see maybe another season. Do you think they'll play another season in the ML— in the MLS? Probably for the youngsters. Yeah, yeah, I would imagine so. Um, you know, the MLS is weird because next year, and this is I'll spend 1 minute on this because this is like peak offseason talk when we have nothing else to talk about.
The MLS is switching their schedule. So they're like through the summer right now. They are going to switch to align with the European season. So fall to spring, but they have next year starting January, what they're calling a sprint season. So they're packing a regular season and a postseason into January through May.
So then they'll start the next year aligned with the calendar. That point being that these guys will probably stick around until the summer. And then you would imagine a lot of them are headed to Europe. So we have a lot to look forward to from the USMNT. I didn't know how this window would go, but there's Really no way you could say it went bad.
Uh, capped it off with a 1-0 win against Canada last night. Justin Ellis scored for the second time in this camp and they held on to win. Uh, Canada always a feisty opponent, of course, um, but the US really didn't have too much trouble there. So they capped it off with 4 wins out of a possible 4. They outscored their opponents, uh, let's see, 12 to 3, which is impressive, obviously.
Um, so the next time you will see the United States will be a month from now, November 9th, and it is in competitive play. We are in the CONCACAF Nations League and we are in the quarterfinals. We automatically were into the quarterfinals of that competition, which weirdly has become kind of more important than the Gold Cup for reasons that we don't really need to get into. So it'll be Haiti. Remember Haiti were at the World Cup and were a tough opposition despite the fact that they didn't get any wins.
Um, so they will face off with the US starting Monday, November 9th. That's a 2-leg affair, so away for the US, although Haiti don't play home games in their own country currently. And then we'll go from there. So it's going to become slowly more interesting for the US as we enter a new cycle.
Indeed. So I don't know if you wanted to go to the other 2 leagues just to— for upcoming matches here this weekend. Um, I guess we can start with the Premier League. Sure. Yeah, I haven't even— I'm looking at the schedule for the first time now.
Yeah. Um, so let's see what we've got kicking off Saturday. Arsenal-Leeds. You know, Leeds have been really tough this year so far. Obviously you circle that Man United-Tottenham Uh, fixture Saturday at 12:30.
Let's remember, folks, Tottenham are bottom of the league currently, so— and, and Man United are not much better in 12th. So I don't know, do you tip anyone for a win in that one, or— um, only in the fact that the Spurs have to start doing something, right? Um, so I, if I had to say, I think maybe that doesn't mean that they're going to win, but they have to start doing something. So I, I would give them a little bit of an advantage, but that doesn't really mean anything. Um, my Brentford Bees are taking on Aston Villa.
Yeah, Brentford, tough one. Yeah, currently sits in 4th. Aston's not anything to play around with necessarily. So absolutely, uh, for me, looks like Hull City are taking on Everton, who have been tough. They've been a tough customer, uh, to start the year.
That's 7th versus 8th in that one respectively. Um, and how could you not circle this one? Liverpool-Man City. Let's remember, Man City's got this whole uh, 115 charges thing kind of hanging over them. So I don't know what kind of mentality the players will take into that game.
Liverpool have been up and down at best to start the year, um, but haven't lost in this young season yet. So a lot to look forward to in the Premier League. Um, as for the happenings in Scotland. My second team and of course our flagship club Celtic square off Sunday, October 11th, Motherwell and Celtic. And remember, Celtic have left off with a pretty tough loss to Rangers who sit just 2 points behind Celtic.
And Rangers take on Uh, Kilmarnock, your second team, that's Saturday at 10. Yeah, so, um, well, I'm sorry, your second team in Scottish is Motherwell. Motherwell. That's Motherwell, right? Gotcha.
Okay, so there you go. You, you have a 1-2 match. I do, I do. I'm, I'm looking forward to that, and, uh, we'll see if Celtic have maybe, I don't know, figured something out over the international break. I know Kilmarnock, we, we talked about it at length, uh, earlier in the year, but to kind of refresh memories, really rough start to the season but haven't lost in their last 3 matches, uh, before the international break.
So, um, let's, let's see, maybe they take something off of Rangers, never know. Yeah, they'll have to climb out of the basement to do it. But stranger things have happened. Absolutely. Well, I think that'll do it for the agenda on this episode.
Um, back to club soccer and all the business there next time out. Of course, we'll have another Formula 1 race, this time in Singapore, to discuss. So, uh, be sure to tune in next week for all the goodness there. I would expect probably a Liverpool and Man City Uh, reaction, and then we'll do, of course, our usual roundup in Scotland and the rest of the Premier League as well. Yeah, so an expected, um, sort of shorter episode with the window and not having a ton of action to discuss, but more coming for sure.
And we did eclipse the 42-minute mark, so, um, that's not too bad. Not shabby at all. Um, yeah, I think that'll do it. Like I said, if, if we come on next week and we're still talking about the Guardians somehow, we're in a, a good spot, I think. Yeah, go Guards!
Go Guards indeed. Well, I guess you can hit the outro here.
For executive producer Richard Tanaka, this has been Tackling the Chicane, copyright 2026, Studio 2520. Tackling the Chicane is recorded using Rode microphones. Microphones and a Rode Procaster 2 console. They don't pay us yet, but someday maybe they will. And do not forget, gang, to head to tacklingthechicane.com.
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