Pablo Bayona Sapag is the founder of Club Eleven, a media company dedicated to telling the stories of American soccer—from grassroots clubs to national team stars.

In 2025, Club Eleven turned a 1998 school bus named Woody into a rolling newsroom and museum and drove it 9,000 miles across the country, chasing the U.S. Open Cup and collecting stories you won’t find in a press release.

Along the way:

• A tire blowout outside a funeral home
• A block party in Brooklyn with Tim Weah and Allen Lazard
• A USL2 final in Vermont with 5,000 fans—half outside the stadium
• A jersey handed over with flare burns still fresh
• A Bayern Munich event at Rockefeller Center
• And a reminder that soccer in the U.S. isn’t a brand—it’s a habit

Christina Unkel and Lori Lindsey dig in with Pablo on what’s growing, and what actually matters heading into World Cup year 2026. It’s grassroots over glossy. It’s the messy, funny, stubborn version of U.S. soccer you won’t get from a press release. Plus how Neil Armstrong took an Argentinean soccer club pennant to the moon.

Watch. Argue. Believe.

Chapters (mm:ss)

00:00 Cold open — rubber, debris, and the birth of a soccer bus

00:40 Welcome — Christina & Lori introduce Pablo and Club Eleven

02:05 What is Club Eleven — from match-day stories to a bus museum

05:10 The Open Cup thread — choosing a roadmap for the year

06:40 Meeting Christina — the print mag interview in Austin

08:20 Background — Peru → U.S., DC United, and starting Club Eleven

12:45 MLS, regional fandom, and missing stories

15:20 On the road — Nashville oil leak at a funeral home

18:50 Tire blowout — New England detour and making Red Bulls on time

21:40 Manhattan stop — Bayern pop-up; Icarus Cup to Vermont in a day

24:50 Vermont final — 2,500 in, 2,500 on the hill; flare-burn jersey

28:40 “America is a soccer country” — Asheville kids and optimism

33:10 The crew — five friends, one bus, 9,000 miles

35:20 Funding & vision — the “blank check” bus ideas

38:40 Naming the bus — why Woody (and the Neil Armstrong pennant)

40:10 Tally — 9,000 miles, 11 Open Cup games, 17–18 total stops

42:10 Tuesdays in the lot — Open Cup community and first-timers

44:10 Best bars — Phoenix Landing and the Premier League list

46:10 Wrap — gratitude, next plans, and sign-off

Watch & follow

• All episodes on YouTube → https://www.youtube.com/@SoccerishPodcast

• Show notes & clips (Substack) → https://www.soccerishpodcast.com/

• Shorts playlist → https://www.youtube.com/@SoccerishPodcast/shorts

• IG/TikTok/YouTube: @SoccerishPodcast

Hosts

Christina Unkel (CBS/ITV rules analyst; FIFA referee) & Lori Lindsey (CBS/Amazon/Apple analyst; former USWNT).

Contact / bookings

[email protected] | Red Card Productions

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.