FiftyFive.One Podcast

Before we take a break for the Holidays, Wes sat down with the Washington Spirit's Kassey Kallman. Kassey talked about growing up in the Kallman clan of intense athletes as well as her path to becoming a pro with FC Kansas City, then Boston Breakers, and now Washington Spirit.

You should also go check out and buy The Complete Darkness 2017, a book recapping and digging through the 2017 Minnesota United FC season. Go to bylinepress.com.

You get TAM, You get TAM, You get TAM!

It's a TAM frenzy in MLS and Wes and Alex are here to wonder if Minnesota United FC are going to look under their seats. Plus Toronto are the best team in MLS and Tigres are the best team in North America.

Matt Privratsky brings us a special Gophers' recap interview with two of the team's standout players, Emily Heslin and April Bockin.

The Gopher soccer team ended up on the wrong side of the bubble come tournament time. Now, soon-to-be seniors Emily Heslin and April Bockin are focused on making sure that doesn't happen again.

We caught up with the two Gopher soccer stars to learn how they're adjusting to the off-season, how they'll try to lead as seniors, and what they might pursue after graduation. Take a listen.

Domestic and International

Sophomore stand-out Nikki Albrecht has now been called into two youth national team camps. She'll be on the roster for a series of scrimmages December 7-11. Watch Twitter for updates if she gets any minutes.

The Gophers are heading to Italy in the spring to scrimmage youth national teams and try their hand in Italian cooking. Believe it or not, the soccer team is not given the same budget as other male-r sports, so if you'd like to help pay the way for the trip you can donate online.

PERU ARE GOING TO THE WORLD CUP! Rodrigo joins Wes and Eric to relive the beauty of his Peru making the World Cup for the first time in almost four decades. But this episode is catching up on far more than just the World Cup qualifiers as the three discuss the craziness of the Columbus Crew drama, Minnesota United scouting in Colombia, and take twitter questions.

Wes is joined by Steve Lilly and Brian Hanf for a big 2017 review. These two long-time Loons fans come in and the three look back at what went well and what didn't from the last season. How were the acquisitions? Did the team beat out expectations? What should we look forward to next season?

Wes is joined by Jeb Brovsky and North Carolina FC's Austin da Luz to talk about basically everything. The two are the kings of STICKTOSPROTS, so the conversation hits the Catalonian revolution before veering toward the MLS and NASL playoffs and why NCFC plays on a whale graveyard.

As if US Soccer needed any more drama, Anthony Precourt, owner of the Columbus Crew, threw the American soccer world into a tailspin with his announcement that he is pursuing moving the club to Austin. Alex and Wes talk about the craziness surrounding the move. In addition, hey, the MLS regular season is over! They discuss the final match against San Jose and look at the playoffs.

To help us cope with the intense sadness that is the US missing out on the World Cup, we brought in noted Scot and recovering "guy who used to dress up as the Loch Ness Monster to heckle goalkeepers at National Sports Center" David Smith. We talk about the US being terrible and whether we should just burn everything down. Then we talk about Minnesota United, where everything is burned down every week.

Chances are you have no idea who Ben Grossman is, but you should. Ben is a minority owner of Minnesota United FC, but he's also a consultant for Fox Sports and heavily involved in how we consume soccer in the US. He also used to do PR for Crystal Palace and the Colorado Rapids, so the guy has been everywhere in the world of football. And Wes sits down with him for a special interview to talk about Minnesota United's first season and the general landscape of soccer.

Wes is joined by Rodrigo and Eric to recap a crazy-busy week of soccer. Christian Pulisic turned water into wine against Panama, Rodrigo's Peru held off Messi, and so much more happened. Then there are two MN United matches to discuss.