Notebook: Löwen, USOC, Training Notes and Damet's Media Scrum

0:00Welcome, everyone, to Flyver Foodie. My name is Matt Baker. There's no easy way to start an episode like this, so we're just going to get into it. CitySC released a statement on Monday afternoon saying after a two-year battle with cancer, Alona Louven passed away this morning, March 9th, 2026. They say, quote, we grieve alongside Edu and all those impacted by this loss and ask the city community to keep them in your prayers during this difficult time. Alona was a beautiful example of love, humility, and kindness, and will be deeply missed. A message from the Louven's pastor, Mark Sikma was then posted saying, Edu and Alona built their life on faith in Christ, and we find comfort in knowing Alona's suffering is over and that she is now in the eternal presence of her Savior. When City released this and upon Alona's passing, it had been 662 days since May 16th, 2024, when Edu first revealed to us what Alona was battling. Our thoughts and prayers are with Edu and his family during this unimaginable tragedy and the pain that they're dealing with.

1:00There's no right way to mourn other than to just be there for loved ones, be there for the players, the staff, the coaches, the people behind the crest. We at Flyover Fuddy are thinking of Edu, the Louven family, Alona, and keeping everyone in our thoughts and prayers through this absolutely devastating time. Soccer is second, soccer is a distant second to everything that's going on in this moment. So, Edu, we're thinking of you and we hope to be able to cheer you on whenever that time comes and just know that the entire city community is with you and supporting you, the entire soccer community. I have seen a tremendous outpouring of support from everyone associated with Major League Soccer, clubs, analysts, broadcasters, everyone associated

2:02with global soccer. Other clubs, folks that Louven has played for and known throughout his career, the outpouring has been wonderful to see knowing that Edu has a support system, both personally and professionally. That is a heartwarming piece to this. So, again, the Louven families and our thoughts and prayers, just like they are to everyone listening. There's no easy way to shift into a soccer conversation knowing that this is going on, but the world continues turning. And before that, devastating bit of news was released by the club on Monday. The US Open Cup details were made available by St. Louis as far as tickets go. The club sent out an email posted on their social media that tickets are now on sale for their first match, a round of 32 at Energizer Park. They didn't quite say when the matches

3:05would be in their email, but Tuesday, April 14th or Wednesday, April 15th, I believe Seat Geek is saying Tuesday, April 14th, but the live draw will be held on Tuesday, April 2nd or the round of 32 when 16 Major League Soccer teams enter that tournament. The pairings will be determined matchups and all of that. The only other thing that we have on this episode are training notes and hearing from Yoantame at Media Scrum on Monday, kind of the reason that we're doing this part. I otherwise wouldn't have probably put something out in this medium other than training and hearing from Yoantame. That was the purpose. All of that was recorded and prepped. And then and then we found out this devastating news that is just obviously permeating through everything at this point. But again, looking at the soccer for St. Louis City, Fallou Fall was back in training with the team on Monday. It was his first time training with the team in 2026 since recovering from

4:06his the leg injury. He sustained in preseason first time during the regular season that he's been with the team training. No details on availability yet for Saturday against LAFC, but it's good news to have him back. Thomas Alstrock was at training running around outside on the fields, guessing on this one because there's no return to play date that they've listed. But per typical return to play protocols, I would estimate that Alstrock would be back ready to rejoin the team maybe next week, couple weeks at the latest. But usually this kind of running around and individual training is the prelude to joining the team. That's what happened with Fallou Fall and has happened with Alstrock in the past and others who have had issues and injuries of this nature. Monday was a deal of day for those who participated in the City 2, 3 nothing win over Minnesota United 2 on Sunday. That includes Kyle Hebert, Mbache and Mbache Joyner. Good news this weekend on Sunday when City 2 played, Mbache started and went 45 minutes at right center back next to Kyle Hebert at central center back and Zach Lillington over at left center

5:09back. Notable here because Mbache took the right center back role moving Lillington over to left and Lillington is primarily a right center back when he played on the back line there for City during preseason and during the City 2 matches so far that he's played in. This is something I'm taking note of preparing, you know, for death charts projected lineup. So keep that in mind that Mbache was playing at right center back. You have to figure that that's going to put him in contention to start next weekend. So Arosco, Mbache, that's going to be the conversation. Mbache Joyner also started and played 63 minutes. He scored two goals both in the run of play. Typical Mbache Joyner MLS next pro stuff. He picked up where he left off in the golden boot contention last season and after three matches for St. Louis City zero minutes from Mbache Joyner, it was great to see him on the field first professional minutes of 2026 going 63 minutes and scoring two goals. Also a stark juxtaposition. We commented about Klaus having four goals in three games this past weekend on fallout. Mbache Joyner two goals in 63 minutes in next pro versus City three

6:14games zero minutes from Mbache Joyner one goal. Obviously MLS is two levels above MLS next pro, but it's it's noteworthy and the the transition from that into the media screen with you in De May is that De May spoke on a variety of topics. Changes. They're working on circumstances from the Seattle game. How they saw a low block for the first time. What that meant for the performance, but also what they were able to learn from that. And he also talked on Mbache Joyner. Details on his thought thought process regarding players breaking through into the starting 11, seeing time. And I promise you whether you're a salio truth or or a Mbache Joyner fan or you're just curious on why we didn't see all five subs used. You're going to want to listen to what Yo and De May says in his media scrum that we're going to offer here just a few minutes after training on Monday. So we've got full comments from Yo and De May on that in the other side of this in just a moment. I'm going to step away so you'll be able to hear from him directly

7:15city head coach Yo and De May. This was after training on Monday. Thank you for joining us on this episode of Flyer Footy. My name is Matt Baker. Hug your loved ones close everybody. Thanks for listening and go city. Any more thoughts on Saturday's game and looking at the yeah of course like feeling is the same like for shading by the results. Quite a few of the performance like can we be better in the final third of course we can. But overall the effort like the where we play the game again is very aligned with what we've been building those past eight nine weeks so no like I said mixed emotion but again like good way to reflect and to build on that for the for the four-week. You can follow back today. How do you work and how do you play? Yeah he's like in return to play protocol so he's like finalizing like that's the last step so it's totally reintegrating the team. He's not going to be on the same pace than us so it's going to take a couple of weeks again but very happy to have him back in the group it's good giving

8:19like a fresh vibe and and bringing his mindset as well so it was good to see him this morning but hopefully we'll see him more and more like after the coming weeks. Did you want Makai to go down and play city too? Did you ask him to do that? Of course yeah I think it's good for him. Get some minutes. Play the form. Try to show what you can do as well so it's good like with those guys like especially like that are a little bit like post development you know like face like that are coming from from the second team or the academy like that they still get some minutes to develop because at the end of the day it comes down to to playing games so yeah I was happy to see him yesterday on the pitch. Did you encourage you or change your mind about anything? Again it's longer than that the work is every day you know so no I was happy that he went he performed well yesterday again do I expect more of course like we try to push the group back to raise the standards and the expectation but but it's good he went it's good that he was efficient as well like in the

9:23final third and again it's an everyday process. We don't see practice every day how have those practices been? No it's been great guys are pushing themselves of course like it's about consistency so like that's what I'm telling like the younger players like not like having one or two great sessions is like training every day like at that level you know so I think everybody's been putting in like the work like the mindset is great the guys are pushing each other they're pushing themselves that's exactly the environment we wanted to create like two months ago coach you've made a big point about you know game-to-game it's about the team what the team needs whether it's a lineup changes in a second half three games in McCoy hasn't seen a minute yet does there come up point where you start to say I need to see this this player whether it's McCoy or somebody else in the first team and start to think about it from that perspective? Like I said like you've got to earn those those minutes like there is no there is no gift given to anybody guys have to earn it and it's harder like opportunities at the end of the day you know like I'm not into the

10:26charity business where we're just giving minutes every game we're putting a lineup to compete every game we're assessing the players and where they're at and like their performances the same in training so at the end of the day like to challenge the guys that are playing you need to show up every day and at some point like I'm hoping like that competition will raise the level of everybody you know so right now that's part of the conversation of like where our roster is at like where are the guys are at like in terms of their performances and how we're looking at the the next few games but yes there is no cases that are made like of a second team game off of one training like we're looking at the past eight to nine weeks and how the guys have been so far and and we'll keep doing the same moving forward. What have you seen from your nine position? Striker Simon only had two shots both from our block this this week obviously changes in the second half after what Seattle was giving you but what have you seen overall from that striker position this first three days? Yeah I think a lot of hard work I think we get into great

11:26position you mentioned the shots there is also the shots that we don't take there is a very big in the first half where we're receiving side of the box could be a 1v1 with the keeper and defender like makes a good tackle I've been I've been happy with the work the guys are putting in you know like on both side of the ball now of course like we're speaking about efficiency you know it got to be more clinical in those areas so like it comes with confidence comes with belief as well in themselves and in their abilities so we're hoping we can improve that but in terms of the work in terms of the understanding of the position like I think we're in a good place like the spaces were occupying the spaces we're attacking as well like it's definitely some areas that we we focused on in preseason and in the previous week and I know fully now it comes down to being more efficient and we can do that to talk a little bit more about breaking the press you've talked a little bit it seemed like you were talking about sometimes guys just want to everybody wants to go forward all the time it's sometimes there are times to stop and rebuild how do you get everybody on the same page in those quick seconds of break in the press I think it's it's it comes down to two things it comes down to like awareness in those situations like do we have numbers to attack

12:31do we have the spaces to attack could we take advantage of those moments and if we don't it comes down to communication so having guys communicating with each other and understanding like hey let's keep the ball now okay we can breathe we can reset and then that's gonna help us also prevent counterattack I was quite pleased in the second half we didn't we didn't concede like too many counterattack because of that of course they were a lower block of course like they were a lot behind the ball but also like that gives us the opportunity to set up the rest defense to also organize in case we lose the ball and I felt the center backs did a great job like winning those balls back you know now that being said again like it's fine line between like do we attack too often too quick or not enough too quick so I felt in the last game rewatching like I felt we didn't like we didn't look like we missed some opportunities to go on the break I felt we were quite balanced but again each game is different it's more like what do we do when we go on the break you know like we had like two or three very good counterattack cello shot like with his left foot was a big one

13:31can we do better in those moments and if we can like I think we we we could like see more goals and we could be more more efficient as well what is it gonna take to pick up three points this again like a 90 plus minute performance with with more efficiency I would say like on both side like whether it's as controlling what we can defensively and and containing the attack of of LFC which is as everybody knows like one of the best in the league and on the other end like being clinical and being able to finish our chances if we do those things and we control everything between the two boxes which is which comes down to our performance like I think we would be in a good place to to complete and to to grab some points so again we're controlling what we can which is the collective performances and and and the individual within that and then and we'll see what we can do coach and bank they also appears for say to you yesterday was that just about seeing where he's at fitness wise and giving him some gaming yes mostly it was because of that like having an understanding of where he is like how can he play like how can he show up in 45 minutes the

14:34visa took a bit of time so put him like back on track of like fitness so where is he at again like the level of of of the game like doesn't allow to like really like assess fully like how he would look like in an an MLS fixture but at the same time give us a good understanding of where he was at what he can do which we know and give him some minutes he needs to get the feeling of like playing as well so it was good to see him there as as well as a Makai and and Kai how do you take advantage of Santos in in Varma on the wide especially in the final three talk about how do you take advantage maybe of is it the service in the box that needs to not in the service too but is it is it the players who are receiving in the box and he to clean it up a little bit better how do you get better especially from the service out wide in the box there is a couple of things I think I think like we can be a little bit more unpredictable in terms of like our delivery I think sometimes we take a little too long to deliver which allow position to get set in the box to defend I think we need to do a better job as well at occupying the box like in terms of the spots we occupy like when we when we attack on those crosses and again I think we also need to

15:41have like our wing backs like on the weak side more involved in like closing the box you know like I think we're quite disconnected at the moment like we have our three fours in there but we're lacking a little bit like the weak side guy coming in and closing the back post so it's everything together that we need to look at and keep working on you know like again it's week nine in the season only week four like in in in the regular season so those details needs to be addressed again and depending the profile depending the person or as well understanding preferences of the players you know Sergio like getting his first minutes understanding what kind of delivery what area he's feeling most comfortable in is definitely important in that set of let me talk about efficiency as well obviously just you know hit the bunch of crosses is an inefficient way to score in soccer anymore so how do you how do you balance you know wanting to put pressure on the defense from the wide areas but not you know wasting possessions with crosses that are just there that's a very fair point that's why there is some areas with targeting in terms of like areas that we want to cross from that are quite clear for

16:46the for the players again when you play against a low block like there is some differences there where like you might use the crosses more to put some pressure on the opposition box and on the keeper and on their defender hoping that something can happen again it's understanding the balance between those things you know and understanding that sometimes like getting into those crossing position will shift the back line and that's the moment maybe where we need to recycle a ball and go quickly on the other side to create like overload so all that balance gonna come like through training through communication and making sure that the guys are on the same page with that the most scenarios we see the better we're gonna get if we reflect and we learn from those moments on the profiles and the wing position in three three games you've started with a similar look with Santos and bottom later on in the game it was mostly a tactical change I think to what Seattle was giving you is there any thought to what you saw after 88 minutes maybe taking that to the start of the game or do you like how your team is coming out again we're trying to balance everything we're trying to understand the profile and what I mean by profile is also like the physicality of those

17:50position is quite specific you know and having players that can repeat high intensity action in those position is also very specific so there is what I would like to do but there is also what the the physical limitation of some players in those areas would expose them to you know so I'm trying to balance those those things having an understanding that maybe we could have a different look like at the end of the game or maybe at the start of the game depending the profile we want to see but also understanding that some of those guys like you put Sangbin in that position which is something we did in preseason would not be like a 90 minutes fit you know like with his high intensity action with his pace like you like we are mindful of that as well so there is an understanding of what each player can give us but at the same time there is also an understanding that on the physical side or when it comes to defending that comes with some compromises so are we willing to make those compromises depending the scenarios we are but again those are things that we are assessing you mentioned some of the positioning in the box this match obviously in the second half

18:52Seattle had that specific look in the low block and so it was difficult to get to those entries in the box what are you working to improve on in overall just entrances into the box with the ball opportunities because obviously the passing threats and circuitry look at the data it all showed a pretty pretty big arc around the box so I mean I felt I would say that's what you would see against every team in a low block you know it's it's the first time we we really have to to deal with that I felt the first game against again Charlotte we didn't really get into those moments like the second game in San Diego Niver so those are scenarios that will present themselves in the season it's the first time we had to deal with that even in preseason we didn't see him too much can we find some like consistent threats like playing against those low block in our animation we've got a couple of ideas there that we need to implement right now that was on at the top of our priority to get there and to focus on like playing against low block after free game is the first time like I said but but yeah of course we need to give more ideas to the

19:53players in terms of overload in terms of how we can still making runs in behind because it's not like there is no more space it's just the spaces are like a little bit shorter so we need to be more details into finding those moments so there it is part of the reflection process that we need to have of like understanding with different scenarios come different ideas that we need to implement and we need to get better at you look frustrated in the stoppage time the second half about I guess probably too much working around the perimeter there on the back of the ball end it is like of course like the game comes with some emotions our thought we inverted the the wingback to get a little bit more crosses our thought at times like we move the ball around too much and the end take those chances of like cross and deliver and when we did our thought the execution was was not at the level that could have allowed us to create like some big opportunities so again that was more my frustration at the end again it's part of the game so like overall like it goes back with

20:53the what I said previously which is like the performance our thought we did the other things again we spoke about a low block were they in a low block because we really took control of the second half were they in a low block because they were happy to I didn't think they were that happy to defend in a low block but at the end of the day they were efficient doing it and we need to find answers to those problems when they present themselves. Fandool is dropping bonus bets into everyone's account for the tournament all you have to do is opt in to claim your bonus but don't wait these bonus bets are only available for a limited time fandool play your game 21 plus and present in select states bonus issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets which expire seven days after receipt max bonus five hundred dollars unless otherwise specified restrictions apply see terms at sportsbook.fandool.com gambling problem called 1-800 gambler the day begins at the chase that fire lounge by the club at Boston Logan Airport you get

21:53the clam chowder in San Diego it's tostatus new york espresso martini it's 10 am why not it's the quiet before your next flight the shower the resets your day the menu that lets you know where you are this is access to over 1300 airport lounges and every sapphire lounge by the club and one card that gets you in chase sapphire reserve now even more rewarding learn more at chase.com slash sapphire reserve cards issued by jp morgan chase bank and a member fd ic subject to credit approval life's busy don't let banking slow you down whether you're paying bills setting savings goals or just splitting the check Atlantic Union Bank makes managing your money easier with helpful people and user friendly tools we make sure banking with us fits you call visit us online or drop into an Atlantic Union bank branch today Atlantic Union Bank anyway you bank few things are as uplifting as the greatest moments in sports and nothing brings us together

22:55quite like team USA at the Olympic winter games from NBC Universal's iconic storytelling to the innovative technology across Xfinity and peacock Comcast brings the Olympic Games home to America sharing every moment with millions when team USA steps onto the world stage we're not just watching we're cheering together this winter we're all on the same team Comcast proud partner of team USA ever walked past a place for rent and wish you could just take a peek inside maybe even explore the layout envision the natural light streaming through the windows or plan where your vinyl record collection would go at apartments.com you can with tools like their 3d virtual tours you can see the exact unit you could be living in really envision yourself in your new home with apartments.com the place to find a place