Men In Blazers Wondery

Club Pachuca and Columbus Crew are two undefeated offensive juggernauts meeting this weekend in the CONCACAF Champions Cup Final.

Herc prepared a complete preview for this exciting final. First, he sat down with Wilfried Nancy, the manager of the Columbus Crew. Wilfried shared memories from his early days as a center back in France, delved into his strategies and experience as a manager, and how the Crew prepares for the most important match in Concacaf. Also, Herc talked to Pachuca's winger, Osama Idrissi, and his first impressions as a European player in Liga MX. Concluding the episode with a preview of the final with Eric Gomez, a journalist for ESPN Mexico and a good friend of the podcast.

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Rog is joined by Nedum Onuoha LIVE to react to Olympiacos' 1-0 victory of Fiorentina in the Conference League Final.

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THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL: KROOS VS. REUS. This Saturday, two German legends play their final games for their respective clubs on the biggest stage in European football...the Champions League Final. And on the season finale of European Nights, Rog and Rory preview that epic clash by deep diving into the respective careers of Real Madrid's Toni Kroos and Dortmund's Marco Reus. The narratives surrounding these two gents could hardly be more different: Kroos, the ageless, effortless maestro with a cabinet full of trophies looking for one more taste of glory with Los Blancos. And Reus, the electric former wunderkind, hoping to enact revenge for a career snakebitten by injuries and BVB second-place finishes. Two men enter, but only one can leave victorious. All this and more on the latest European Nights...

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UNITED HAND CITY AN L IN FA CUP FINAL. Rog and Rory break down what the victory means for Erik ten Hag's future at United. Plus, they drop a shilling in the Premier League manager carousel and talk about two of the hottest young bosses in British football. And Southampton are back in the Premier League.

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We've made it to another weekend, and what a feast of finals we have in store!

WGFOP is back next Friday but in the meantime, we wanted to treat you today's episode of Early Kick Off, the daily news bulletin show from the Men in Blazers media network presented by our great friends of the pod at PrizePicks.

Early Kick off brings you all your global football stories straight from the back pages of Europe's newspapers in around 10 minutes. We hope you enjoy!

On today's episode: West Ham confirm Julen Lopetegui as their new head coach, Manchester United join the race to appoint Ipswich Town's Kieran McKenna, we preview a big weekend of cup finals across Europe and Emma Hayes does her first US TV interview as she speaks to the Today programme.

Football don't sleep, and neither do we. 

This episode was made in the UK for Men In Blazers by…  

Host: Betty Glover

Producers: Sammy James, George Cooper

Researcher: Jack Collins

You can find the main Early Kick Off feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/men-in-blazers-early-kick-off/id1704738560

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“When I arrived in Venezia I learned a lot, especially playing against the best midfielders in Italy at the highest level. So, it took a little while to get my feet on the ground and be the player I wanted to be.”

Gianluca Buzio joined Herc from Italy. The young American born in Greensboro, NC is playing for Venezia and currently, they are in the playoffs for promotion to Italy's top flight. They talked about Gianluca's life in Italy, the difference between facing promotion and relegation in European football, how his teammate Tanner Tesmann has helped him since he arrived in Venice, and what excites him about the upcoming Olympics.

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