[Jan 2025 Friendlies] USA v Venezuela / Costa Rica

Welcome back esteemed listeners!!

January friendlies are famous for the US National team, as they represent a chance for MLS-based players to make a statement. This year, friendlies against Venezuela and Costa Rica in Florida created some interesting football moments and reminded us of some historical connections between the three.

 

Rómulo Betancourt was a classic middle of the road liberal leader, opposed to both authoritarian rule as well as communist philosophy, and his tenure as the President of Venezuela overlapped with a period of internal stability but external conflict with...you guessed it, the authoritarian and communist leaders throughout the Americas. An attempt on his life by Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo helped to galvanize public opinion against "El Jefe" and set in motion his downfall. His centrism appealed to the United States at the time, and as we discuss in the episode, Betancourt won praise from two US presidents who agreed on little else - JFK and Reagan.

 

As far as on the pitch, we take a look at some previous exciting January moments, analyze the lineups coming into the match, and Cullen reports on his view from the Barra 76 supporters' section in Ft Lauderdale of debut goals from Jack McGlynn, Matko Miljevic, and Patrick Agyemang.

 

Thanks for listening!!

 

Music - Himno de Acción Democrática