Onside: Major League Soccer (2025) s01e04 Episode Script

And it was Tim Parker.
What a slide off the line!
With a wide open header! At Tim Parker!
…as Tim Parker scores the second goal
for the New York Red Bulls.
I am a journeyman throughout the MLS.
I envy those
that have played in one place.
Just to be embraced by a city
and be there for your entire career
and get to settle down.
I think that's been my goal
for the last five, six years.
In my brief time in St. Louis,
All Star, Best XI.
First goal in different areas
of St. Louis CITY's history.
Here comes Parker. And it's into the net!
Their first goal in Major League Soccer.
- First playoff goal.
- And it's Parker!
It's just really cool
to be in a proper sports town.
We had so much success
as an expansion team.
A future in St. Louis
is almost, like,
written on the wall somewhere.
Vamos, Vamos, Vamos St. Louis!
Vamos, Vamos, Vamos…
St. Louis…
Look at all these people.
Vamos, Vamos, Vamos St. Louis!
Vamos, St. Louis.
The best way you can tell when
you are successful as an ownership group
is when the community feels like
they own the team.
And the fact that we've been able to do
that in second season is truly incredible.
Oh, my gosh. I love this.
- How are you? Nice to meet you.
- Hi! How are ya? Good to see you.
Great to see you.
She wants to meet you
because it's her birthday today.
Oh, my gosh. Happy birthday!
- Hi, I'm Carolyn.
- Hi.
- How old are you?
- Nine.
- Can I get a picture of you guys?
- You're nine?
From day one, the ownership group
has said, yes, it's a sport,
but it has to be bigger than that.
It has to be about
bringing the entire community together.
All right, you have
the best birthday ever.
And we'll have a date next year
and I'll bring you macaroons.
Okay.
It's fun to just
think about it 'cause it's year two.
A couple of years ago there was no team.
S-T-L, S-T-L.
How are you doing St. Louis?
It is with great honor to announce that
St. Louis is officially the 29th MLS team.
Congratulations.
St. Louis, are we ready to do this?
My name is Lutz Pfannenstiel
and I'm the sporting director
of St. Louis CITY SC.
Carolyn literally called me
out of the blue.
You know, I didn't really know
anything about it.
And said, we are the new franchise.
You starting the club.
Do you wanna do that?
I call it the most interesting and sexiest
job, actually, in professional football.
As an expansion team
you have no expectations.
You just try to survive.
It's kind of tradition
in the United States that you say
an expansion team must be bad.
I fucking hate losing.
This is why I came to St. Louis
because I believe
that we will be a winning culture
and we will be a winning team.
I joined in January of 2022.
Looking back now, it's been a dream fit.
Major League Soccer
is underway in St. Louis.
When we commit, believe
and play with confidence,
the next four, five weeks, boys,
you know what's coming here, huh?
Second corner.
Here comes Parker.
Their first goal in Major League Soccer.
Last year was a magical ride.
St. Louis CITY,
unbeaten in their last five…
Winning those games mean
a lot for the city, a lot for the fans.
We were the biggest thing in St. Louis.
They caught the entire league by surprise.
Top of the list and staying there.
So year one,
you win the Western Conference,
you qualify for the playoffs,
you're hosting a playoff match.
It's 40 degrees. It is dumping rain.
And who's your opponent?
A two time MLS Cup winner,
Sporting Kansas City.
Alan Pulido.
Forward to Ndembe. Ndembe!
A sports enterprise is not owed
the attention and the loyalty of fans.
The kick save from Bürki.
Walter! And in!
You know, everybody likes a winner.
But we've got hundreds of thousands
of fans in our region.
When St. Louis joined the league
I called Carolyn
and I indicated to her that
on our database, here in Kansas City
we have a fair number of fans
that have ZIP codes in St. Louis.
And I asked her, "What do you
want me to do with those?"
Oh! What a goal!
It's over. Sporting Kansas City does it!
Looking back at the playoffs,
we were pretty pissed off.
Wasn't the ending that we had hoped for
for our season last year.
You guys can be one team and I'll just…
Sometimes they can use my shot.
Sometimes you're on our team,
sometimes their team.
Look at my partner. Would you look
at my partner. A little cut in there.
- Oh, wow.
- That's good.
Winning on the field is important.
In terms of the family dimension to it
the most important thing in our
organization is winning the people game.
It's about painting the wall in results
and trophies and championships.
We're a founding member of the league.
I sit alongside on the board of governors
with my old man, Cliff.
We've delivered trophies
in many competitions.
We're a World Cup host city which,
I think is a true testament.
You know, Kansas City
is the soccer capital of America.
There's always been a rivalry
between St. Louis and Kansas City
but it was… You know, we never
played the Cardinals until '85.
We beat 'em 11-nothing in game seven.
So fuck those guys.
And then it really became a rivalry.
Now the towns kinda hate each other.
Over the years, George has…
he's become a great friend.
Aspiring soccer fan.
They've only been in the league one year,
but you get fired up to play them
more than anybody else?
- Yeah.
- 'Cause Saturday's game is…
It's got a little more icing on the cake.
- Yeah, definitely.
- Yeah.
St. Louis wants to be, you know,
like a New York or Chicago.
- Yeah.
- And we're proud being Kansas City.
We like being the small town
in the Midwest,
where they wanna be the big city,
you know? Yeah.
Yeah, it's a fucking shithole as well.
Apologies.
We're like 20 minutes away, if that.
There's always traffic in the morning.
On game days I can get to the stadium
in like 15 minutes.
So there's a really cool billboard
up here of me.
It's kind of like, you know,
the city supported me
in the first year and a half
that I've been here.
It's definitely a really cool, welcoming
feeling that I get from being here.
My name is Tim Parker and I am
a center defender for St. Louis CITY.
Coming to St. Louis, it's been
like a revitalization of my career.
I was in Houston for two years.
It gets away from Parker.
Houston wasn't
the best place for me soccer-wise.
I didn't have a lot of success there.
And neither did the team.
5-nothing Union.
I think I fell out of love
with the game of soccer for a little bit.
But then, getting traded here…
I've definitely
fallen back in love with it.
I'm happy that I was able to
give them some memories last year.
The way the city's embraced me
and my family is awesome.
And I just love that.
I'm 31, gonna be 32.
I've been a pretty healthy player
throughout my career.
Contract negotiations started
in the beginning of this year.
I feel pretty confident.
I hope to stay in St. Louis. I do.
Peasants, good morning.
"Tim-oh-thy" Parker, good morning.
Good morning, good morning, good morning.
I definitely pride myself
on communicating to guys
and being a vocal leader out there.
I like to think I'm someone
that guys can rely on.
Morning. Sir, good morning.
Signing Tim Parker from Houston
where was not too happy,
some people saw it as a gamble. I didn't.
- Dude, do it.
- Do it.
You know, a good character. A leader.
Played a massive role
for us being successful in 2023.
I'll play something good.
Yeah, you look sexy, bro. Bow, bow, bow.
We have a lot of guys
that haven't played in this league before.
So there's definitely little things that
I can kind of help to acclimate guys.
- I've never been to Costco.
- Costco?
Yeah. Never been there.
It's the most American… You'd love it.
They have everything.
Think of something that you would need,
and it's all in one place.
Literally.
You need, like, an oil change?
Costco's got you.
You need a vacation? Costco's got it.
There's a lot that I can provide to a team
in terms of leadership,
locker room, mentality
and then of course on the field.
When I was playing,
didn't have none of this.
Now they have it.
- Roger, good to have you, bro.
- Good to finally see you, man.
- Just unretire.
- You must come more often.
- This place better be good.
- Very close where John lives.
- You haven't been?
- No.
- Never been?
- No.
- It's great.
- Right.
My name is Johnny Russell.
I'm a winger at Sporting Kansas City.
I have been here…
This is my seventh season now.
…backtrack, over to Johnny Russell.
First-time shot and Johnny Russell
has a hat trick!
And I came here in '18
just needing a change.
And he tucks it home!
The people have taken to me from day one.
They've made me feel so welcome.
Took me in as one of their own.
Something I'll be forever grateful for.
Loyalty's always been a huge factor.
The fans are the best. You can see it,
the support that they show.
Delivered it to Erik Thommy!
It falls to Russell!
Anything else outta here?
Chocolate chip, please.
- Are you eating the full thing?
- No.
- You wanna share it?
- All right.
If you spend enough time here,
it's actually a really cool place to live.
Somewhere that I'll always see
as a second home for me.
Made my debut in the 2006, 2007 season.
- That's like 18 years. Oh, my God.
- This is my 19th season.
They don't go to school in Scotland,
they just go straight to soccer.
- You'll be 35 this year?
- Just turned 34, bro.
- Oh, yeah. That's true.
- How many years was your career?
Sixteen years.
I look at you guys run, dude.
I watch you guys run.
It's like, all right, I know why I'm done.
I don't wanna do this anymore.
I still feel like I've got so much
left to give, so much left to offer.
It's probably somewhere
that I would like to finish my career.
Hey, make it to playoffs, do well
and there'll be very little changes.
- Sounds great!
- Sounds amazing, doesn't it?
I get up early. I go in
around this time in the morning.
It's my alone time.
It's when I don't have to
be answering anybody's questions.
If I wanna think about soccer, I can.
And if I don't, I don't.
My name is Peter Vermes.
I'm the manager, head coach
and GM of Sporting Kansas City.
It's so different than
being a player, right?
Because when you're a player
you're only worried about yourself.
When you're a coach, you're worried about
everything and everyone.
You're constantly thinking about the team,
you're thinking about situations.
I don't think you ever turn it off.
In 2009 with ten games left,
we had fired a coach.
I was asked to take over
for the last ten games
and I've been doing it ever since.
I think what really shapes a club
is a stable environment.
The four jerseys
represent the four trophies
that we've won
since I've been here as coach.
They're special moments of my time here.
But last year, it was probably
the most difficult season,
I think we have had as a staff
and me personally as the head coach.
For Sporting KC
it has been a horror start to the season.
There was a cloud over the team
and when you're not getting the results,
ownership starts losing confidence.
They have yet
to tally a win all season long.
Peter was under a ton of pressure
last year, no doubt.
Certainly feeling it from fans
and from me in ownership.
It was a difficult situation.
We just suffered a ton of injuries
amongst so many players.
At one point,
I had 15 guys on the injury list.
His night is coming to an end.
Mike called me in that ten-game stretch
when we hadn't gotten a win yet.
He asked me, "Hey, listen,
a bunch of the owners have been
asking me some questions."
It was a point where we were seriously
considering parting ways with Peter.
If you guys wanna fire me, I understand.
I would be nothing but professional.
They're gonna try to up the tempo.
They love going this way.
They love taking shots.
They wanna get the crowd into it.
But I also wanna warn you, if you fire me
and bring somebody else in,
that person is going to have to wait
the same amount of time
till all those players are
back in the team and back from injury.
Give me one second.
Once we understood
what the root cause of the problem was,
the decision was,
"don't be too quick to fire your coaches
because it's not their fault."
You can't let Stephen…
- Get it--
- Get it, like you…
like you should be thinking,
"I can kill this if they play it
in the air 'cause it's me."
When you have hardship, that's
when your coaches earn their stripes.
But oftentimes,
they don't get to see those days
because they're fired too quickly.
Listen, please.
Gotta go forward. You gotta play forward.
I'm giving you ten touches.
And it's a goal.
Ready?
Play, John.
Defend!
He gets fucking pissed when I yell at him.
- Who, John?
- John. He doesn't love it.
Red card, Russell.
I think I've always had
a good relationship
with the majority of our players
and I think I've also had a good
relationship as guys have gotten older.
Yes.
Oh, no, Isaac.
Shit ball.
What I've appreciated about
Johnny is that he is 100% a team guy.
He works like crazy.
But Johnny's gotten older.
He's had injuries and he only
has so much that he can give.
I'm not telling the guy he should retire.
I'm saying, at some point,
you have to be realistic with yourself.
Like, do you want to go out
and just stand around?
The beginning of the season
hasn't went the way I wanted it to.
Tore my hamstring
in the San José game.
So just to get back out there
is something that's…
It means a lot to me.
- You're off, John, right?
- Yeah, so I've been told.
That's right, you're off.
My contract's up
and there's always a worry.
I wanna stay here.
I don't think
there's any question of that.
Hopefully the journey
doesn't end this year.
In year one, St. Louis CITY defy the odds.
Job done. Year one. Year two.
Can this team…
Good morning.
Can Bradley Carnell show us an evolution?
Because that's what
it's gonna take in year two.
You're gonna have to be
more than a one-trick pony.
Welcome back to St. Louis, Missouri.
We're gonna cover
every single blade of grass together.
We believe in us, no one else does.
Season 2024 we open up a new chapter.
And now you have to go again
and prove it all over again.
- One, two, three, City!
- City!
Come on, boys.
Year one exceeded all expectations
for a St. Louis CITY team.
Now it's time for year two,
against Real Salt Lake.
First time finish. Hat trick.
St. Louis will suffer
their first defeat of 2024.
St. Louis CITY
and the Colorado Rapids duking it out.
Year two was not the same sweet song
that we were singing last year.
Another mistake!
It just hasn't been
the same for St. Louis CITY.
When the time gets tough and we're getting
a little gassed, 40th minute,
we can't stop using our heads.
They get leads in games,
but they can't see out victories.
No fucking way!
Fuck's sake!
Last year we were the unknown quantity
and maybe they took us lightly
in the beginning.
And there's the final whistle.
I'm watching very closely, St. Louis.
Bradley Carnell has not been
up to snuff so far.
The expectation must be clear that we
be again very competitive in year two
and making the playoffs.
You know,
we stick together, we stay strong
and we ride waves of adversity,
and we move on.
And for me, it's a matter of time
before you get rewarded.
Come on, show 'em the way.
Go ahead.
We play against Kansas City this week.
It's a huge rivalry in between the clubs
that's kind of just obviously
formed quickly over the last year.
Hey, Rors.
Did you see the bunnies this morning, Tim?
Yeah, yeah. We have some fat bunnies.
They also know that
they're safe in our backyard
- 'cause he can never catch them.
- No.
He's so tired. Come here, boy. Come here.
My wife's name is Kelsey.
I met her when
I got traded from Vancouver to New York.
Come here, boy. Is that your brother?
- Love at first sight…
- Is that your brother?
…and that's the only date
I've been on since.
Hey.
So this is where I come…
After games I like to come down here
just 'cause when the baby's sleeping
I don't want to make
too much noise upstairs.
My debut jersey that I got framed
when I was playing for Vancouver.
So that's almost ten years ago.
I would consider myself a journeyman.
I have played for four teams.
I'd actually played at Red Bull
when Brad was an assistant.
I like playing for Brad and I have
a good relationship with Brad.
Second corner. Here comes Parker!
And it's into the net!
Strike that one up as a slice
of St. Louis soccer history!
I scored the first goal
for the club away against Austin.
And before the game I asked my wife,
"Hey if I score,
should I do the baby celebration?"
First thing I start to do was run one way.
But then I realized I didn't have a ball.
So I ran behind the goal,
grabbed the ball,
and my wife ended up making,
like, a TikTok of it.
And that's how we announced our pregnancy.
It was pretty cool.
And then this, it's the Parker Pilsner
beer that I started here in St. Louis.
A local artist made this
out of the cans for me.
I thought it was really cool
that he did that.
The following weekend, we don't have a
game. But we have a scrimmage on the 27th.
Oh, shoot. Great.
So if we wanna go somewhere,
we can go somewhere, like, Sunday night.
- Yeah and we can hang out by the pool.
- Yeah.
- That would be awesome.
- Yeah.
My wife and I, we are ready for the idea
of settling into St. Louis long-term.
That's the reason,
you know, we bought a house.
Isn't it? Isn't it, honey?
I don't wanna keep
telling my wife we're moving.
Rors, what are you looking at?
I think he's looking at the diffuser.
Unfortunately,
we haven't been winning games.
It's always harder to negotiate a contract
when you're on a losing team,
just because the team is more likely
to make changes
than they are to make extensions.
Fascinating.
If you're able to play good
and the team's able to win,
then you put yourself and the team
in a better position.
Nökkvi, ready to go. Nökkvi, ready to go.
We gotta go on the trigger, Nökkvi.
On the trigger!
When we go, we go!
Fucking hell.
Come on, no delays.
Nonnegotiable when we lose it.
I think Bradley has very high standards.
And when things aren't
necessarily going correctly,
you can see him start
to get a little angry at times.
Why are we just protecting the goals?
It's four versus four.
We have to forward defend
on each other, guys.
How are they getting
so much time and space?
All I ever wanted
in our first year was to be competitive,
to be tough to play against.
This year, we have a bunch of guys
who are incredibly talented.
But they're still rookies
in their development as pros.
From a maturity level, I think
there's a lot of learning to be done.
Come on, Nökkvi.
Come on, Nökkvi. Yes, Nökkvi. You now.
Next one! Next one!
When I can feel that we need a little
bit more intensity, I'll push the buttons.
Tim, you can't play
Kyle Hiebert to Rasmus.
Rasmus to Anthony. You can't do that.
I wouldn't say
everyone is happy with Brad.
Make sure there's a lot
of communication, yeah? All right?
I would say that, in my opinion,
Brad may have lost faith
from a couple of guys.
There are whispers
about Brad being let go.
If we don't end up making the playoffs.
This is a new addition.
She's been a dream so far.
Hopefully that continues.
I'm gonna see these guys.
When I was coming here,
Kansas were the ones who, right
from the get-go, showed their intentions,
and showed, you know,
how much they wanted me to be here.
When a team
makes you feel wanted like that,
you obviously
hope that it's going to be somewhere
that you can stay and be successful.
I hope you score four goals.
We're going to score four goals?
So who's gonna score the four goals
if I don't score them?
Either…
- Who can you…
- Fonty.
Fonty's gonna score
four goals from center-back?
- Daniel…
- Okay.
- …or Messi.
- Possible.
Messi doesn't play.
- He's on the other team.
- Even my own kids.
Messi on the brain.
I'm joking. I'm joking.
I'm giving you luck.
Ah no, you're giving me luck. You do.
You know, I've been here seven years.
But you never know in this sport.
It's such a crazy sport at times,
where you're here one minute and you're
gone the next day without even knowing.
I'm gonna slide tackle.
I don't have as much time left
as I've played up until now.
I wanted my kids to see me play,
and not just play at the end, so they
could not see a washed-up old man.
Is it straight?
Hopefully, the new addition gets to see
me, you know, play a few years as well.
Not too much.
Don't try to strangle me.
You getting your fifteen minutes…
Fifteen seconds or whatever it is?
Julius.
Come on, out the way.
I'm not looking to the end
'cause I still feel like I've got
so much left to give.
Get a goal!
Thank you. Love you.
Okay. Thank you.
I'm excited about today.
A message from The Cauldron.
"Welcome to the blue hell"
is what they always say.
And a little extra one for their rivals,
"Abandon all hope ye who enter here."
Kansas City. St. Louis.
A rivalry that might be
the League's youngest,
but it's already one of its best.
I spoke to the manager and he's
made the decision that I'm not to play
and I get it, you know,
just coming off the back of this injury.
We've got a long season ahead of us.
I'll be ready when called upon.
We're supposed to be out
in six minutes. Six minutes.
Boys, good warm-up. Keep the energy high.
Remember what we want to do
in the first fifteen minutes.
We gotta win every individual duel
on the field.
Make sure we strike first, okay?
Let's go. All right.
The atmosphere is great. It's a derby.
And now, we get our first away win.
One, two, three, City!
One, two, three, team! Let's go.
- Let's go.
- Let's go.
- Johnny's not gonna start?
- No.
- Why?
- Remember he's been injured?
Yeah.
Will the heartland be blue
or will it be red?
Last year,
St. Louis CITY coming into the league.
This rivalry immediately was intense.
I expect the first twenty minutes
to be a thousand miles an hour.
And underway…
It's a fucking yellow card.
It's a yellow card!
Fuck that shit.
Here is Pulido to Agada.
Back to Pulido.
It's in! Alan Pulido!
What a great one-two.
Fucking guy. Calls every foul, every foul.
Fuck St. Louis!
Fuck St. Louis!
It's a foul!
It's a fucking foul.
João Klauss!
What a response from St. Louis CITY!
Honestly, fuck this guy.
Pompeu cutting inside!
Yeah! Fuck!
And St. Louis CITY
take the lead back! It's 2-1!
They can do whatever they want.
All the time.
We've gotta go and fucking match it.
We're playing into their hands.
They're trying to put the ball in the
fucking goal and we're helping them.
Fucking show them, bro. Go and show them.
Everyone keep your fucking head.
The fucking feistiness and tenaciousness.
Keep fucking going.
Stick a little bit more
in every fucking tackle.
This is one of those games where
you've gotta go and run through people.
He's not calling it
when they're doing it to you.
It's a fucking battle.
We gotta start running through them.
Let's go. Come on.
Keep fucking jumping,
keep fucking bodying them. Let's go.
I would have loved
to be a fly on that wall
during that half time talk.
Peter Vermes and Sporting Kansas City
in the first half were outshot
thirteen to three, as a home team.
I think this is all
about veteran leadership.
And they just are not showing it.
They've kind of been punched in the face
since going up 1-nil.
Johnny.
Now the first change of this match,
Johnny Russell will come on.
So, listen. You get Thommy in with you.
Tell him he's gotta make the runs
because we need somebody who can
fucking, like, really hold the ball up.
Truth be told,
this is exactly when you bring in who?
Johnny Russell.
No!
Russell drives this into the box.
Klauss's defensive header.
Goes straight to Sallói, and across.
Bürki, the touch, and it is in!
Fuck yeah!
That's a goal right there.
He tries to deflect it out. If he lets
it go, this ball is out for a goal kick.
That's too fucking easy.
Too easy.
Every single time the teams get after it,
put your seatbelts on.
Flag is down for now.
Some frustration showing
from St. Louis CITY.
Pompeu, Klauss.
Totland might be in to tie the game!
It's happened again to Kansas City!
Could feel it coming.
It's the rivals,
St. Louis CITY, level in the final minute!
St. Louis CITY,
at the very end, stealing a point!
3-3, the final tonight.
- Good game. Nice job.
- Hey, thank you.
Hey.
Good job, man.
- We fight you to the end, you know?
- Always, yeah.
But we're fine, we came back.
Johnny. Thanks, man.
Good job, man. All the best.
Johnny's not done.
He's got a lot left in him.
Everyone knows that I want
to be here, I want to remain here.
The fans, from day one really, have been
behind me, they've had my back.
Still got that fire, when that fire goes,
then I'll know it's time to give it up.
But I can't see that fire
going out anytime soon.
Is everybody in?
So we are better than this, all right?
So we take that on the chin.
But we can't give away
these fucking points.
We can't afford to give them away
time and time again.
These are the things
we need to tighten down.
We somehow let the game slip.
We get a draw.
But you feel like you lost the game.
It's happening through the whole seasons.
We're leading and we're leading.
And in the end, there is something sloppy
and we just drop that two points
and it's painful.
St. Louis, with a sixth draw this season.
Yeah, they got something to figure out.
We had a season last year
where lots of things went our way.
This season, so far,
we struggle with that.
St. Louis CITY
grouped in everything they could
to try to get back into the game,
but another dropped result.
Too many.
Too many corner kicks,
too many set pieces.
Of course I'm frustrated and I'm angry.
So, for me,
I start to think what can be improved,
how can we cover bad performances
and, yeah, make changes.
St. Louis trying to get something going.
This big Colorado Rapids win here tonight.
Since that 3-3 draw, it's been
a downward spiral for St. Louis CITY.
One win in their last ten games,
they're sitting twelfth.
So they're
obviously outside of the playoffs.
The reality is, if Bradley can't
figure this out ASAP, their season's over.
Let's go.
I mean obviously, performance-wise,
we aren't in a good place.
I don't know how good our chances are
still to make playoffs.
Do you think we need to cycle out people?
Do we need to move some out?
Honestly, I think, it's just sort of,
that newness has worn off.
We had to just work through the pressure,
to try to keep up with last year.
How do we navigate all of this?
I will say that Lutz, I think,
did a very good assessment.
And I think the harsh reality is,
on the sporting side, difficult decisions
are gonna have to be made.
I think we have no choice.
And I think we just have
to get some stability in there.
Yeah, what were the factors
in the decision? Just talk about that.
Unfortunately,
that's part of professional sports,
that you have to make these decisions.
It was for me, personally,
a very tough decision as well.
We worked together for a long time.
You get judged on wins and losses,
not what you did for me last season.
You're left with
all these questions, like,
"What did I do wrong?" "How did I fail?"
You're feeling really bitter.
Maybe the club felt that, you know,
I didn't do anything for them lately.
I was in the gym before training.
Lutz came in and was like,
"Hey, I need to talk to you."
I walk into the room
and they tell me that a deal's in place
for me to move to New England.
I was like, "Oh, shit."
What the fuck.
It was yesterday full,
now it's empty. I think…
Last year, it was a great year.
Probably played
the best season of his life.
But then
we also need to look into the 2024 season.
With only six months left on the contract,
if I can get a younger player with
a longer contract, then we have to do it.
I understand
the business side of that stuff.
But you guys don't realize that, like,
you basically just ripped me
away from my family.
Welcome, welcome.
All right.
More stuff.
Look who it is.
Hey, nugget.
Say, "Dada, how's Boston?"
Oh, God.
It is a harsh reality of our business
and I get that.
But when you have a family
and as you get older, it gets harder.
Bah.
Who's that? Is that Dada?
The family is still in St. Louis.
He's trying to kiss you.
Missing this time with him is valuable.
It's awesome to be able to,
like, have him recognize me
and hear him say "Dada" and stuff
but it's not the same as being there
day in, day out.
- Kels, can I see Rory walking again?
- Yeah?
Yeah.
Go, buddy, go. Go, buddy, go.
Great job.
I'll send you pictures. Love you.
Love you. Bye, Rory.
Good evening from
Foxborough, Massachusetts.
The push for the playoffs is on.
St. Louis know they need to win now
if they wanna keep any hope alive.
For the Revolution, we got a club debut
from center back, Tim Parker
against his former team.
So my first game will get
to be against St. Louis.
I definitely think that there's a
statement for me to make in the game.
Just proving that you guys got rid of me
but I can still play in this league.
That's something
that is really important to me.
I'm sure some people
at St. Louis would love to watch me fail
but I don't really wish that upon anyone.
I would just rather go out there
and kind of play well.
Every time you get traded,
you have to prove yourself again.
It's unfortunate, it sucks to kind of be
in the unknown when you're 31 years old.
Tim Parker's still searching for a home.
Maybe MLS Team number six, who knows?
Match underway at Gillette Stadium.
I've endured hardship.
I lost my dad,
I moved to a whole new country.
You don't get through that
just by being mediocre.
Here comes Malachi Jones.
Jones getting the cross in. Good ball!
Hannes Wolf! Oh, cuts it back!
The game's given me so much,
but at the same time, I know
I was given this talent for a reason,
and I think I'm just scratching
the surface of my potential.
Oh, boy.
And we've got a collision
between Stajduhar and Jones,
who are both down.
In that moment,
I just was thinking in my head,
"This could be the last time
I step onto the field."