Episode 7: John and Daniel's Hierarchy of Loyalties, a USMNT Deep Dive, and the Allure of Purple Sneakers

About this episode

John and Daniel discuss their World Cup loyalties, dive into the USMNT, and share a story about purple sneakers.

John's back! We're less than 100 days out from kick off in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and on today's episode, John and Daniel start things off by breaking down their hierarchy of loyalties with the teams in this year's World Cup. Then, John leads the way on a deep dive of the USMNT. Could this finally be their year? And Daniel tells a story about how he ended up with some sweet purple sneakers with a questionable team's name on them. Got a question? Email us at  awayendpod@gmail.com . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People in this episode

Hosts: John, Daniel

Topics covered

• World Cup
• USMNT
• hierarchy of loyalties
• soccer
• purple sneakers

Keywords

• World Cup
• USMNT
• soccer
• loyalties
• purple sneakers

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: USMNT

Products: purple sneakers

Places: United States, Canada, Mexico

More episodes of The Away End with Daniel Alarcón and John Green

• Episode 21: World Cup Brackets, Predictions, and an Enigmatic, Beautiful Man · June 10, 2026 · 44 min
• Episode 20: Pochettino's Folly, Spain Deep Dive and Sweet Sweet Music · June 3, 2026 · 48 min
• Episode 19: Super-Sized Listener Mailbag Edition · May 27, 2026 · 54 min
• Episode 18: The Sadness of A One-Sided Rivalry, Brazil Deep Dive and Becoming a Football Legend in Just Three Months · May 20, 2026 · 43 min
• Episode 17: Seeking Beauty with Author Simon Kuper · May 13, 2026 · 49 min
• Episode 16: TV for Chickens for Humans, Haiti Deep Dive, and Daniel's Honduran Fixer · May 6, 2026 · 40 min