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Clint Mathis: The Goal That Changed 2002 & His Untold Story · Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos

0:00
Speaker 1: He dribbled everyone and then he I think the goalkeepers
0:04
Speaker 1: coming out, but I'm open. I made the run the
0:06
Speaker 1: whole way. I ran my bavy yards with Clint and
0:08
Speaker 1: I'm open in front of goal, and he decided to
0:10
Speaker 1: suit it.
0:11
Speaker 2: But I still it is day. Don't even know that
0:13
Speaker 2: I knew that you were there.
0:17
Speaker 3: Greeting folks, and welcome to Inside America in Soccer. I'm
0:21
Speaker 3: your host, Matt Doyle holding down the fort for Tom Boger.
0:24
Speaker 3: I'm joined by one of the greatest players in US
0:27
Speaker 3: soccer history, a veteran of three World Cups, Tab Ramos,
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Speaker 3: and we are bringing back US soccer legend and Tab's
0:35
Speaker 3: favorite player and also.
0:37
Speaker 4: Mine Clinton mathis Cleaytens. Thank you for joining us by friend.
0:43
Speaker 2: No problem, thanks for having me.
0:46
Speaker 4: So on today's show, we're gonna interview Clint.
0:48
Speaker 3: We're going to talk about his most memorable moments, both
0:50
Speaker 3: for club and country.
0:52
Speaker 4: We're gonna talk about his upbringing a little bit.
0:54
Speaker 3: Came from Conyers, Georgia, outside of Atlanta, not traditionally known
0:58
Speaker 3: as a hotbed, but he may have paid the way
1:00
Speaker 3: a little bit. As we see more Southerners breaking into
1:04
Speaker 3: the top flight, not just in the US but overseas
1:06
Speaker 3: as well, highs and lows. Plus we are going to
1:09
Speaker 3: ask him to name his all time US men's national
1:12
Speaker 3: team starting eleven tab. Did you slip him the envelope
1:16
Speaker 3: to make sure that your name is in that eleven?
1:19
Speaker 1: I tried, but you know, Clint always goes with the heart,
1:23
Speaker 1: so I'm sure he's gonna pick whoever he thinks is right.
1:25
Speaker 1: And by the way, I'm gonna be totally okay with that.
1:29
Speaker 1: It's great. It's just great to have Clint on, you
1:31
Speaker 1: know we I've been fortunate enough to sort of end
1:34
Speaker 1: my career with Clint be in my roommate for the
1:37
Speaker 1: last couple of years, and I truly enjoyed seeing seeing
1:41
Speaker 1: his rise into stardom.
1:44
Speaker 4: You know, not that he.
1:45
Speaker 1: Wasn't already a little bit of a start when he
1:47
Speaker 1: came to the Metro Stars from LA but I think
1:49
Speaker 1: once he joined the New York team and the Metro
1:52
Speaker 1: Stars at the time, that's sort of where he really
1:54
Speaker 1: took off, absolutely for sure.
1:57
Speaker 3: So I was gonna say I was gonna transition back
1:59
Speaker 3: to your up because we'll get into the Metro Stars
2:02
Speaker 3: bit in a minute.
2:04
Speaker 4: I just want to talk.
2:04
Speaker 3: About the fact that you grew up in Conyers, Georgia
2:07
Speaker 3: in the nineteen eighties. It's a college football hopbed right.
2:12
Speaker 3: It's not like it's a great basketball area. It's not
2:15
Speaker 3: a place.
2:16
Speaker 4: It's not Carneie. It's that where Tap grew up. It's
2:18
Speaker 4: not out California.
2:20
Speaker 3: How did you come to the game and how did
2:22
Speaker 3: you end up being such a complete and technical player
2:27
Speaker 3: given the standards.
2:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, I mean, I think it's kind of funny.
2:31
Speaker 2: I have two older brothers and an older sister, so
2:36
Speaker 2: it goes myself and my sisters five years older. And
2:39
Speaker 2: then I have an eight and a half year older
2:40
Speaker 2: brother and a ten year older brother. So I was
2:43
Speaker 2: definitely the mistake that happened. But that's okay, I don't
2:47
Speaker 2: mind that. But yeah, being around my older siblings, I
2:50
Speaker 2: think really just gave me that competitiveness drive and things
2:54
Speaker 2: of that sort. And you know, my brothers, they were
2:58
Speaker 2: big time wrestlers.
3:00
Speaker 1: Uh.
3:00
Speaker 2: They also played football, but they also played soccer. Uh.
3:03
Speaker 2: And then when I would go to their high school games,
3:05
Speaker 2: I would be the ball boy. So I was around soccer,
3:08
Speaker 2: I was around all sports.
3:10
Speaker 1: Uh.
3:11
Speaker 2: So I played literally everything, uh, you know under the sun.
3:15
Speaker 2: Uh as far as kids could play. I mean I
3:19
Speaker 2: did golf, I did bowling, I did wrestling, I did basketball. Uh,
3:24
Speaker 2: they wouldn't let me do soccer, or excuse me, football
3:27
Speaker 2: because one of my brothers got hurt. So that's the
3:29
Speaker 2: one sport I could never be allowed to play. But
3:32
Speaker 2: there was something fascinating that about soccer that granted you
3:37
Speaker 2: don't use your hands and then be able to, you know,
3:40
Speaker 2: do the things that you can do with your feet
3:42
Speaker 2: was pretty foreign. Uh you know, I think to a
3:46
Speaker 2: lot of people, especially in the South, so it was
3:49
Speaker 2: one of those things that you know, I'd like to
3:51
Speaker 2: be indifferent. Uh not many people were doing it. So
3:55
Speaker 2: I just looked at something like that and really enjoyed it.
3:58
Speaker 2: So I just continue to play that, and at a
4:00
Speaker 2: young age, it was something that kind of clicked with me.
4:04
Speaker 2: I still continue to play all the other sports. And
4:07
Speaker 2: then I think it was my after my junior year
4:10
Speaker 2: of high school, I used to play basketball and football,
4:14
Speaker 2: and then I decided to just stick with soccer and
4:17
Speaker 2: focus on that after my junior year of high school
4:20
Speaker 2: and everything else took off and told the story itself there.
4:25
Speaker 1: Well, I have to say, and I'm not sure how
4:28
Speaker 1: you did that, But you just mentioned that you continue
4:30
Speaker 1: to play basketball for a little while. But you know,
4:34
Speaker 1: I'm sure you remember at Keene University we had the
4:37
Speaker 1: basketball court that you know, before the coaches arrived. Everybody
4:42
Speaker 1: used to go in and play. And I want to
4:45
Speaker 1: say that I played, and although I wasn't a terrible
4:47
Speaker 1: basketball player, I could play. But to be able to
4:51
Speaker 1: see how you played basketball and how Tim Howard played
4:54
Speaker 1: basketball was certainly a different level. And I have to say,
4:58
Speaker 1: you know, and sometimes I I say this about Tony
5:01
Speaker 1: Meola sometimes too. There's just certain guys that are just
5:03
Speaker 1: great at every sport, and Clint happens to be one
5:06
Speaker 1: of those.
5:08
Speaker 3: Well, thank you Tap when you when you met Clint
5:12
Speaker 3: right after that trade from the Galaxy to the Metro Stars.
5:16
Speaker 3: And for those who aren't aware, it was a really convoluted,
5:19
Speaker 3: very early MLS trade, one where there were deals made
5:23
Speaker 3: in dark rooms by people nobody knows, and that's how
5:27
Speaker 3: Clint ended up with the Metro Stars and kind of
5:29
Speaker 3: saved helped save a franchise that had been in the
5:32
Speaker 3: doulgrums for a year.
5:33
Speaker 4: But Tab, what was your impression of him?
5:36
Speaker 3: Because you knew he was an attacking player, but then
5:38
Speaker 3: he comes and you see how versatile he is and
5:41
Speaker 3: how skillful he is, and was it just instantly like, oh,
5:44
Speaker 3: I have a kindred spirit now on the field with me.
5:47
Speaker 1: Well, at first, I think I had a little bit
5:50
Speaker 1: of that arrogance that we all seemed to have, you know,
5:54
Speaker 1: in New Jersey as part of everyday life, right, which is, okay,
5:58
Speaker 1: so we're getting some player from la who's from Georgia.
6:01
Speaker 4: Why do I care? Really?
6:03
Speaker 1: You know, like that? And then and then you realize
6:07
Speaker 1: the ability, right, And then you realize why not only
6:11
Speaker 1: the ability, but then you realized his way to connect
6:14
Speaker 1: with people, and you realize the charisma that Clint had
6:18
Speaker 1: immediately when he walked into a room. You know. Not
6:21
Speaker 1: everybody's like this, you know. I think Clint had a
6:24
Speaker 1: lot of special qualities like that were automatically when you
6:27
Speaker 1: walked into locker room. He was just very well liked.
6:31
Speaker 1: And I think that's something that at the time. We
6:33
Speaker 1: were building a nice team at the time, if you
6:36
Speaker 1: know Clint, if you remember the year two thousand, I
6:38
Speaker 1: think we had the best team in the league. We
6:40
Speaker 1: happened not to win that year, but I think we
6:43
Speaker 1: we actually should have won MLS Cup. I think that's
6:45
Speaker 1: the year that Kansas City won and we've got knocked
6:49
Speaker 1: out by Chicago. But my point was we were building
6:52
Speaker 1: something good at the time, and I think Clint, one
6:54
Speaker 1: of was one of those pieces that became the glue
6:58
Speaker 1: between sort of the American and the foreign players. We
7:01
Speaker 1: had Lotha Mittea's, we had, you know, we had some big,
7:04
Speaker 1: superstar guys, but I think Clint's charisma match with its
7:09
Speaker 1: talent was the glue that kind of brought that team together.
7:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was a special team. I mean, like you said,
7:16
Speaker 2: you brought up Lothar, I got to play a little
7:19
Speaker 2: bit closer between Tab and Adolpho Valencia, who was an
7:24
Speaker 2: unbelievable player. So you know that means a lot saying that.
7:29
Speaker 2: You know, I was that glue there. But I mean,
7:31
Speaker 2: I think all these teams have these little pieces that
7:34
Speaker 2: are needed, and Tad was right that that team was
7:38
Speaker 2: being a team that was a good team being built.
7:41
Speaker 2: Uh And if I was the last piece to come
7:43
Speaker 2: in there, I was happy to be that piece because
7:47
Speaker 2: it was a it was a great transition and to
7:49
Speaker 2: see how how good that team really was. Obviously going
7:53
Speaker 2: up against a team like Chicago, which was a great
7:56
Speaker 2: team first year franchise and had these unbelievable Europea on
8:01
Speaker 2: players or whatever. So you know, Bob Bradley did a
8:04
Speaker 2: good team, good job building that team as well, but
8:07
Speaker 2: I definitely think we had the best team and we
8:09
Speaker 2: were the team to watch out for, especially that year.
8:13
Speaker 3: I remember you you kind of hit that hit that
8:16
Speaker 3: team like a thunderbolt when you arrived. It was every
8:18
Speaker 3: week you were scoring, You were assistant, and you're kind
8:21
Speaker 3: of the skeleton key that ended up unlocking a lot
8:25
Speaker 3: of the attacking stuff that you early.
8:27
Speaker 4: In the season.
8:29
Speaker 3: I think everybody had seen it, but there was just
8:32
Speaker 3: that one centerpiece missing, and that's the role you kind
8:35
Speaker 3: of played, Clint, and I guess the the the high
8:39
Speaker 3: point of all that was it was a hot summer
8:41
Speaker 3: night in Dallas in August of two thousand and you
8:45
Speaker 3: went out and you said an MLS record scoring five goals,
8:49
Speaker 3: and Table course was on the field with you that night,
8:53
Speaker 3: and it just kind of all came together for you
8:56
Speaker 3: and and for the MetroStars on that day.
8:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, Sony is you know, every once in a while
9:02
Speaker 2: when this kid's asked, I like telling the story because
9:05
Speaker 2: I think it's a good life lesson too, whether it's
9:08
Speaker 2: kids or anybody that is listening or watching or whatnot.
9:12
Speaker 2: But you would think that everything was just going in
9:15
Speaker 2: my favor that day. But at the beginning, it's hot,
9:18
Speaker 2: it's muggy, everything like that. And I think I took
9:21
Speaker 2: six shots that game. I could be wrong, but you
9:24
Speaker 2: can ask the statistician stattician. But the very first shot,
9:30
Speaker 2: I think I might have hurt the popcorn guy really
9:34
Speaker 2: bad because it was so far away from goal in
9:37
Speaker 2: the stand somewhere. And you know, the lesson learned there is,
9:41
Speaker 2: don't worry about what happened. Worry about the next play
9:45
Speaker 2: because you can't do anything about what just happened. And
9:48
Speaker 2: literally everything just laid in place. In the next five attempts,
9:52
Speaker 2: I put it goal, We're in the back of the net.
9:55
Speaker 2: And to add to that story, I think we were winning.
10:00
Speaker 2: It was either three nothing or three. I think it
10:02
Speaker 2: might have been three to one in the locker room,
10:04
Speaker 2: and everybody was happy. I just had a hat trick,
10:07
Speaker 2: so I'm happy. Everything's going good. And then all of
10:11
Speaker 2: a sudden we come out and Dallas scores three goals.
10:14
Speaker 2: We're losing four to three, and I am absolutely just livid,
10:19
Speaker 2: and I'm screaming about the defense. I think I was
10:23
Speaker 2: yelling at Mike Pecky at one time. I was like,
10:25
Speaker 2: get this crap together, what are we doing? And then
10:28
Speaker 2: you know, I was able to go in and score
10:30
Speaker 2: two more to put us up five to four. And
10:33
Speaker 2: then these guys were literally trying to kill me, so
10:35
Speaker 2: I asked the coach, hey, we only got a few
10:37
Speaker 2: more minutes left due these guys are going to be
10:39
Speaker 2: breaking my legs. Soon crowd was booing me and everything,
10:43
Speaker 2: so I was able to get out of their unscathed.
10:45
Speaker 2: And then I think at Dulphos scored a six goal
10:48
Speaker 2: for us to win six to four. So one of
10:51
Speaker 2: those games that I won't forget. It's pretty cool to
10:55
Speaker 2: be able to do that. Not many people can say
10:57
Speaker 2: that they scored five goals in a game, so I'll
11:00
Speaker 2: take that. But the most important thing was getting the
11:03
Speaker 2: win out of there, and to this day I think
11:06
Speaker 2: that rosewell or excuse me, the Cotton Bowl is probably
11:09
Speaker 2: one of my favorite places to play, even though nobody
11:11
Speaker 2: gets to play there too much anymore.
11:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you know, it's easy to define it as
11:17
Speaker 1: your favorite when you scored five goals, right, Dallas.
11:22
Speaker 2: Has always been my favorite team to play because I
11:24
Speaker 2: think that year we played them like three times because
11:27
Speaker 2: we would play them in the playoffs or whatever happened.
11:30
Speaker 2: But I think we played them three times that year,
11:32
Speaker 2: and I think I scored ten goals on them that season.
11:35
Speaker 2: So they're my favorite team to play. That's why I
11:36
Speaker 2: like the Cotton Bowl as well.
11:39
Speaker 1: No, and by the way, Matt You's saying that night
11:42
Speaker 1: in Dallas, we wish it was that night in Dallas.
11:44
Speaker 1: It was actually it was actually like before in the afternoon,
11:48
Speaker 1: ae hundred degree weather day at the Cotton Bowl.
11:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, so what was extremely the whistle blue and the
11:54
Speaker 2: game was over the.
11:56
Speaker 1: Exactly hey for me, For me to be honest, I
12:00
Speaker 1: think I played the whole game, but I think it
12:01
Speaker 1: was night. Right around the twenty fifth minutes.
12:05
Speaker 2: Her eyes were closed.
12:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, Aleck, Clint do all the heavy lifted on that one.
12:12
Speaker 4: But then it came back to buy.
12:13
Speaker 3: You a year later, Tab But when Clint scored the
12:16
Speaker 3: two thousand and one goal of the year for the
12:19
Speaker 3: Metro Stars on a terrible field and Clint chose not
12:24
Speaker 3: to pass to you instead, are you bitter about that now?
12:27
Speaker 4: Twenty five years later, do you think he made the
12:29
Speaker 4: right show?
12:29
Speaker 1: No, you know, I'm trying to figure out how you
12:31
Speaker 1: found that out. You must have read that somewhere, because
12:34
Speaker 1: I know that Clint dribbled everybody, like down the whole field, right,
12:38
Speaker 1: that's the goal. It was that. It was that giant stadium.
12:41
Speaker 1: He dribbled everyone and then he I think the goalkeepers
12:45
Speaker 1: coming out, but I'm open. I made the run the
12:47
Speaker 1: whole way. I ran like eighty yards with Clint and
12:50
Speaker 1: I'm open in front of goal, and he decided to
12:52
Speaker 1: shoot it.
12:52
Speaker 2: But I still do the state don't even know that
12:55
Speaker 2: I knew that you were there, because I guess because
12:59
Speaker 2: people were like, well would you even want to dribble
13:02
Speaker 2: that far? When you have you look up and you
13:04
Speaker 2: see two or three people in front of you. If
13:06
Speaker 2: I remember it directly, we actually had someone ejected, so
13:10
Speaker 2: I think we were down a man, I could be.
13:13
Speaker 2: And then we had a corner kick and so that
13:15
Speaker 2: I was at the top of the box and the
13:17
Speaker 2: ball came out, and so I was there with the
13:19
Speaker 2: ball and I was like, well, I have no one
13:21
Speaker 2: to kick it up to because we're down to man.
13:23
Speaker 2: So I just took off dribbling, and I was like,
13:25
Speaker 2: I'm just going to keep going right.
13:28
Speaker 3: It was a cow pasture, it was not a field
13:31
Speaker 3: that was in the best condition. But you scored that
13:33
Speaker 3: one and then you turned your jersey around in celebration,
13:37
Speaker 3: you showed your your last name to the crowd.
13:41
Speaker 4: It was I mean, there was.
13:43
Speaker 3: A there was a sort of a magical, almost rockstar
13:46
Speaker 3: type of thing to it right there. And was that
13:48
Speaker 3: your mindset in those days, like Okay, let's let's put
13:52
Speaker 3: on a show.
13:53
Speaker 4: Let's make sure these people are So it.
13:55
Speaker 2: Was definitely different on the field than I was off.
13:58
Speaker 2: I was definitely more mellow off the field. I always
14:02
Speaker 2: tell everybody that once you cross that line, I'll tackle
14:05
Speaker 2: my mother if she's on the other team, but I'll
14:09
Speaker 2: pick her up and take her for a beer after
14:11
Speaker 2: the game. And that's the way I was, or tried
14:14
Speaker 2: to be with everybody. You know throughout the league. You
14:17
Speaker 2: know you're my enemy when we're playing against each other.
14:21
Speaker 2: It's about going out doing what I need to take,
14:23
Speaker 2: you know, nothing like dirty or anything like that, per se,
14:27
Speaker 2: but try to get the job done. So I was
14:30
Speaker 2: very an emotional type of player, very energetic type of players.
14:35
Speaker 2: So I like to talk smack, I'd like to get
14:38
Speaker 2: crowd involved, or most of the time the crowd was
14:41
Speaker 2: booing me or whatever, you know, I would say something
14:44
Speaker 2: back to him. So I was one of those guys,
14:47
Speaker 2: but definitely different on the field wearing that jersey than
14:51
Speaker 2: I was off the field, for sure.
14:54
Speaker 1: And you know, and I think that's why the crowd
14:56
Speaker 1: identified so much with Clint because of you know, at
14:59
Speaker 1: the time. I'm not sure, Matt, if you were I
15:02
Speaker 1: guess you might have been a fan of the time
15:04
Speaker 1: right if you're in the area. But you know, the
15:07
Speaker 1: crowd absolutely loved Clint and loved his commitment on the field.
15:10
Speaker 1: I mean, although I mean you can tell by his
15:12
Speaker 1: demeanor what he's like off the field. He was always
15:15
Speaker 1: this way. He didn't just become this way now.
15:18
Speaker 4: On the field.
15:20
Speaker 1: He had no friends, and I think that's what that's
15:23
Speaker 1: what the fans in this area really identify with, with
15:26
Speaker 1: the guys that go on the field to just do
15:28
Speaker 1: anything to win and don't care about having friends. And
15:31
Speaker 1: I think that's why there was that immediate connection with
15:34
Speaker 1: the crowd.
15:35
Speaker 4: I still don't have the connection with the crowd, and
15:37
Speaker 4: then not sure, you gotta at least do Clint I
15:41
Speaker 4: promise that connection with the crowd.
15:44
Speaker 3: And of course the way you played in two thousand
15:46
Speaker 3: opened up doors to the national team, and you ended
15:49
Speaker 3: up being one of the faces of the national team
15:52
Speaker 3: for the two thousand and two World Cup, even coming
15:54
Speaker 3: off of devastating injury. And then you don't start the
15:57
Speaker 3: first game, but the second game of the group stage
16:01
Speaker 3: you started in South Korea against the host nation and
16:05
Speaker 3: you stood on the field for the national anthem, that
16:08
Speaker 3: big flag behind you.
16:11
Speaker 4: What what was that feeling like for you?
16:13
Speaker 2: It's one of the best feelings ever, I mean, especially
16:16
Speaker 2: how it ended up turning out. It's a game I'll
16:18
Speaker 2: never forget, just the way that everything played out, playing
16:23
Speaker 2: the you know, it was the first time that it
16:26
Speaker 2: was hosted by two countries, Japan and South Korea, but
16:29
Speaker 2: playing the host country in their city in Seoul, being
16:33
Speaker 2: able to go and play against them. You look around
16:37
Speaker 2: at that time for people that don't know, that was
16:40
Speaker 2: called the Red Sea because they would all wear their
16:43
Speaker 2: red jerseys out in the city and everything and had
16:46
Speaker 2: literally looked like red water flowing through the cities because
16:50
Speaker 2: there were so many people. But I remember back in
16:54
Speaker 2: those games you couldn't hear anything. I mean even if
16:56
Speaker 2: we were, you know, pretty much standing next to each other,
16:59
Speaker 2: it was hard to hear each other. And it was
17:01
Speaker 2: a loud game. The South Koreans were like robots, running
17:04
Speaker 2: their tails off and then being able to get that
17:08
Speaker 2: unbelievable ball from John O'Brien to lay down and be
17:11
Speaker 2: able to take that first touch and finish the second
17:13
Speaker 2: one was like the biggest sigh of relief. If you
17:17
Speaker 2: go back and watch that after a score and I
17:20
Speaker 2: run to the corner flag, you see like Brian McBride
17:23
Speaker 2: hugging me, and then I think Claudio puts his arms
17:25
Speaker 2: around us, and Claudia is like, just stay here in
17:28
Speaker 2: the corner, stay here in the corner so we could
17:30
Speaker 2: all get our breath back, because you know, the South
17:33
Speaker 2: Koreans they were crazy fit and running everywhere. But the
17:37
Speaker 2: one thing I remember the most is, and I tell
17:39
Speaker 2: this to people all the time, how they always ask,
17:42
Speaker 2: how is it you know, to feel where eighty thousand
17:45
Speaker 2: people are cheering for you? I mean, what is that feeling?
17:48
Speaker 2: And I was like, well, that feeling's good, but a
17:50
Speaker 2: better feeling is having eighty thousand people root against you
17:54
Speaker 2: and shutting every single one of them up. And that's
17:57
Speaker 2: what happened in South Korea. I mean, we had probably
17:59
Speaker 2: a few hundred people at the game, whether it be family, friends,
18:03
Speaker 2: you know, fans or whatever, on the far other end
18:06
Speaker 2: of the corner, and that's all you could hear. I mean,
18:08
Speaker 2: you could literally almost hear a pin drop in that
18:10
Speaker 2: stadium of how quiet it got. And you know, that's
18:13
Speaker 2: a feeling I'll never forget till the day I die.
18:17
Speaker 3: That goal against South Korea in the World Cup. That
18:21
Speaker 3: had to be your best moment in the US Jersey
18:23
Speaker 3: or was there another one that stands out for you?
18:26
Speaker 2: No, for sure, That's definitely the best moment. I mean,
18:29
Speaker 2: I just think the build up, the situation ends up
18:34
Speaker 2: so happening we lose that game or the next game,
18:37
Speaker 2: because we tied that one, so we beat Portugal, tied
18:40
Speaker 2: that game. That goal actually gets us through just because
18:44
Speaker 2: of the points that we had because Portugal ended up
18:49
Speaker 2: losing to South Korea. So South Korea helped us out
18:52
Speaker 2: to get through that. But you know, if you take
18:54
Speaker 2: all that into account, to be able to score that
18:56
Speaker 2: goal against the host country and be able to put
19:01
Speaker 2: us through out of that group, stage. That's definitely the
19:04
Speaker 2: best goal of my national team career for sure.
19:07
Speaker 4: Tad.
19:08
Speaker 3: How did it feel for you to be watching that
19:10
Speaker 3: one or to see it on highlights because it happened
19:12
Speaker 3: at about three am the journey.
19:14
Speaker 1: No, No, it was amazing, truly amazing, and more importantly
19:18
Speaker 1: because I knew Clint the person, you know, and I
19:21
Speaker 1: knew where he was coming from, and I knew when
19:24
Speaker 1: he celebrated a certain way, how he felt. You know,
19:27
Speaker 1: I really felt like I identified with Clint and how he
19:30
Speaker 1: felt in the game, and so I always had a
19:33
Speaker 1: strong connection with Clint that way, and it was really
19:36
Speaker 1: special to me to see him score and not load
19:40
Speaker 1: to what Clint was saying about, you know, standing there
19:43
Speaker 1: for the national anthem. You know, sometimes when you become
19:46
Speaker 1: a longtime national team player, you know there are many
19:49
Speaker 1: times when you walk on the field and you have
19:52
Speaker 1: the opportunity to listen to your national anthem. But sometimes
19:57
Speaker 1: you get caught up and we have to win this game.
20:00
Speaker 1: We need two points here, we need a point there,
20:02
Speaker 1: we need three points here, right, and you seem to
20:04
Speaker 1: forget really where you are, who you are, and who
20:07
Speaker 1: you're representing. You're just at the end of the day,
20:09
Speaker 1: just playing a game. But I have to tell you this,
20:12
Speaker 1: the World Cup is always different. You know, when you're
20:15
Speaker 1: listening to your national anthem at the World Cup, there's
20:17
Speaker 1: a special feeling that is different than any other game.
20:21
Speaker 1: You know, the whole world is watching, and you know
20:23
Speaker 1: you're fortunate enough, regardless of how good someone is, or
20:27
Speaker 1: how good you are, or how good the next guy is,
20:29
Speaker 1: that you're so fortunate to be one of eleven people
20:32
Speaker 1: representing your whole country and that that truly is special.
20:36
Speaker 3: You guys follow that up the group stage with a
20:40
Speaker 3: most famous performance in recent US national teams I think
20:44
Speaker 3: maybe ever the two nil win the Delsa Sero over Mexico. Now,
20:49
Speaker 3: you didn't feature in that one, but I imagine the
20:54
Speaker 3: celebration in the locker room afterwards must have been legendary.
20:58
Speaker 2: Clinton amazing. Obviously there's no blood lost between that rivalry
21:05
Speaker 2: and it continues to happen uh nowadays. Being part of
21:09
Speaker 2: that first Dosi Cetro and Columbus, Uh, that really kind
21:14
Speaker 2: of started this whole trend type hathing the pasmer that
21:18
Speaker 2: exactly and so and getting subbed into that because Josh
21:23
Speaker 2: goes in and that game to rewind. It's just funny
21:26
Speaker 2: how things pan out and how I think God looks
21:30
Speaker 2: after you and paves a way for you. But Brian
21:32
Speaker 2: gets his face smashed in, so Josh goes in, and
21:35
Speaker 2: then I think Claudio gets hurt, so then I sub in,
21:39
Speaker 2: and then guess what starts the dosi cetto there uh
21:43
Speaker 2: with Mexico. But yeah, that game at the World Cup,
21:47
Speaker 2: you know, just watching from the sideline, but just literally itching,
21:50
Speaker 2: wanting to get in because of everything that's going on
21:54
Speaker 2: with the you know, Marquez foul against Kobe and just
21:58
Speaker 2: multiple things have happening, so you know, a lot of
22:00
Speaker 2: bad blood between those I think especially it might not
22:04
Speaker 2: happen as much today. I'm not sure, but you know,
22:07
Speaker 2: those were just some battles against that era of Mexican
22:11
Speaker 2: players and US players. And then the funny thing is is, yeah,
22:15
Speaker 2: there was a celebration after not only to be able
22:19
Speaker 2: to win that second round match, but also do it
22:22
Speaker 2: against a team like Mexico, which everybody would always say, hey, yeah,
22:27
Speaker 2: Mexico is better. I think it my stint. I don't
22:31
Speaker 2: think in the games that I've played that ever lost
22:33
Speaker 2: against Mexico. I didn't get to play in the one
22:36
Speaker 2: where we played it as Teca, I think I was
22:38
Speaker 2: injured or I was out that game for some reason.
22:41
Speaker 2: But all the other games never lost to Mexico, And yeah,
22:45
Speaker 2: just to have that feeling to beat them at a
22:48
Speaker 2: World Cup on that world stage was amazing. And then
22:52
Speaker 2: you know, we may or may not have had some
22:54
Speaker 2: beers ready for us after the game. But the funniest
22:58
Speaker 2: part about the story is after the game, you see
23:01
Speaker 2: all them walk out. They got their wives and their
23:04
Speaker 2: nice purses and everything like that and kids, and you know,
23:08
Speaker 2: we're just sitting there hanging out, you know, waiting to
23:11
Speaker 2: get on our bus. They take off and then we
23:13
Speaker 2: get in our bus, have our beer on the bus,
23:17
Speaker 2: and then as we're driving, you see a bus that's
23:19
Speaker 2: pulled over on the side of the road. And we
23:21
Speaker 2: had our caravan of all the security that was going
23:25
Speaker 2: on with Osama bin Laden and everything. So we had
23:28
Speaker 2: all kinds of military police and everything with us, because
23:31
Speaker 2: everybody thought that the US team was going to get
23:33
Speaker 2: killed somehow. And so we're going by and it happens
23:37
Speaker 2: to be the Mexico bus that was pulled over the
23:40
Speaker 2: sidelines or on the side of the road. And then
23:43
Speaker 2: We're all hanging out the windows with our beers, just
23:45
Speaker 2: started cheering like crazy as we're passing the bus. So
23:49
Speaker 2: it was an awesome feeling. It just so happened that
23:52
Speaker 2: it worked out that way. But I guess the plan's
23:55
Speaker 2: always written how it's supposed to. That was a fun
23:58
Speaker 2: celebration for sure.
24:00
Speaker 3: After that victory and the next game, the famous Torsten
24:05
Speaker 3: Frings handball on the line. If there was var back
24:09
Speaker 3: in the day, that one probably would have been a
24:11
Speaker 3: lot different. Do you believe that you guys would have
24:15
Speaker 3: won if that penalty had been awarded?
24:18
Speaker 2: I think so. I mean I think it would have
24:20
Speaker 2: been a game changer. I mean what a lot of people.
24:22
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe not a lot of people, but it
24:24
Speaker 2: always talks about it comes up with a handball of
24:27
Speaker 2: this and that. Do I think that we would have won?
24:31
Speaker 2: You never know, because I think that what people miss
24:34
Speaker 2: a lot is probably the best player on that field
24:39
Speaker 2: was Oliver Kahan. Ye, the guy absolutely had a blinder.
24:44
Speaker 2: It wasn't just that. I mean, we had some really
24:47
Speaker 2: really good chances and he came up with some unbelievable saves.
24:50
Speaker 2: Would that have been another one that he came up
24:52
Speaker 2: with We'll never know, but I definitely think that that
24:56
Speaker 2: could have been the straw to break the camel's back,
24:58
Speaker 2: is if that is called and then they're already saying
25:02
Speaker 2: or already thinking that, Hey, the US is all over
25:05
Speaker 2: us right now, Oliver is really the only one that's
25:08
Speaker 2: saving us. We get that penalty, we get that goal.
25:11
Speaker 2: I definitely think it changes the mood of that team
25:15
Speaker 2: and builds that confidence in the US to where you
25:18
Speaker 2: could see a win. And then we win that game,
25:22
Speaker 2: We're back at playing South Korea again in the semi
25:25
Speaker 2: finals of a World Cup and who would have thought
25:28
Speaker 2: that the US or South Korea would end up being
25:30
Speaker 2: in the finals. So that would have been a fun
25:33
Speaker 2: little story to read about if that happened. But then again,
25:38
Speaker 2: I believe everything happens for a reason, and it just
25:41
Speaker 2: wasn't our time to go further.
25:43
Speaker 1: And again the pressure is off, right because you know,
25:45
Speaker 1: against Germany, not expected to win, US is the underdog
25:49
Speaker 1: and play and lose almost wins the game, And who
25:51
Speaker 1: knows what would have happened on the next one, because
25:53
Speaker 1: it would have been the same, right, All the pressure
25:55
Speaker 1: would have been on the South Koreans if that was
25:58
Speaker 1: going to be the the the and with no pressure on.
26:02
Speaker 1: We've always been a team to fear.
26:04
Speaker 4: Yeah.
26:04
Speaker 3: Absolutely, just hope that we see some of that. Let's
26:07
Speaker 3: hope that we see some of that this summer at
26:09
Speaker 3: the World Cup for the US team, who of course
26:12
Speaker 3: will be under some pressure, but for us, it's time
26:14
Speaker 3: for a break up. Next, we'll ask Clint about a
26:17
Speaker 3: current player that reminds him of himself. We'll ask him
26:20
Speaker 3: about his rockstar persona as described by Ryan Dunsath back
26:24
Speaker 3: in the day.
26:25
Speaker 4: And in the meantime, we're going to.
26:26
Speaker 3: Ask you to please rate, review, and subscribe to Inside
26:29
Speaker 3: American Soccer with Tom Boger and Tam Ramos wherever you
26:32
Speaker 3: get your podcasts. Okay, folks, welcome back to Inside American Soccer.
26:47
Speaker 3: I'm Mettal hosting for Tom Boger. I'm joined, of course
26:51
Speaker 3: by Tom Ramos, and we're joined by Clint Mathis, the
26:54
Speaker 3: guy who took the Metro Stars by storm back in
26:57
Speaker 3: two thousand and then became something of our rock star.
27:00
Speaker 3: As for our good friend Brian dun Seth who described
27:04
Speaker 3: going to the clubs with you back in the day, Clinton.
27:08
Speaker 2: I don't know what he was talking about. Yeah, I
27:11
Speaker 2: pleaded the fifth. Nah, No, I was. I definitely enjoyed.
27:16
Speaker 2: I mean, that's I think what caused a lot of drama.
27:19
Speaker 2: You know throughout my career is going out and doing
27:23
Speaker 2: things that not the normal guy did. But at that time,
27:27
Speaker 2: you know, I was in New York, a small a
27:31
Speaker 2: small town Conyers where I grew up, moved to LA
27:34
Speaker 2: and then moved to New York City. So I was
27:38
Speaker 2: fortunate enough to meet a lot of influential people that
27:43
Speaker 2: allowed me to get to meet some really cool, famous
27:46
Speaker 2: people that I would never normally get to meet, especially
27:49
Speaker 2: in Conyers unless it was the local bull rider or something.
27:53
Speaker 2: I don't know, but uh yeah, No, I enjoyed myself.
27:57
Speaker 2: But I think that that's what really allowed me to
28:03
Speaker 2: just be that person that was free going out on
28:05
Speaker 2: the field. Was it the best where I could have
28:07
Speaker 2: the longevity of my career or anything like that, especially
28:11
Speaker 2: how you need to take care of your body and stuff.
28:12
Speaker 2: Absolutely not. Would I change anything, Probably not, because that
28:18
Speaker 2: just gave me that freedom to say, Hey, I go
28:20
Speaker 2: out and work hard, and I go and do my job.
28:23
Speaker 2: I do everything that I need to do on the field.
28:26
Speaker 2: I should be able to get to enjoy it. Off
28:28
Speaker 2: the field as well, So maybe I shouldn't have done
28:30
Speaker 2: it as much, But you know, you live life and
28:33
Speaker 2: you learn from life, and no, I definitely enjoyed, enjoyed
28:38
Speaker 2: myself and maybe did have this rock star persona. I
28:41
Speaker 2: think at one point somebody called me the Dennis Rodman
28:45
Speaker 2: of soccer. I don't know if I would go that far.
28:49
Speaker 2: Was it like I was doing drugs or anything like that,
28:52
Speaker 2: But I did like to have fun and go out.
28:55
Speaker 2: Never did it the night before a game or day
28:57
Speaker 2: before a game or anything like that. At least I
29:00
Speaker 2: gave myself the day when I can't promise you on
29:03
Speaker 2: two days before.
29:07
Speaker 3: Is there a carrier part of the persona, I guess
29:10
Speaker 3: is the confidence in the swagger that you carried yourself
29:12
Speaker 3: with on the field. And Taba said, like, there's a
29:15
Speaker 3: difference between Clint on the field and Clint off the
29:18
Speaker 3: field in terms of how open and so like.
29:22
Speaker 4: Even in the midst.
29:22
Speaker 3: Of enjoying yourself in the way that you so eloquently
29:26
Speaker 3: just described, you were kind of a killer once you
29:30
Speaker 3: got in between the white lines. And is there a
29:34
Speaker 3: player that reminds you of yourself in that way you
29:38
Speaker 3: see them playing? You're like, Oh, that's kind of like me.
29:42
Speaker 2: Oh, that's kind of tough to say. I mean a
29:45
Speaker 2: lot of these guys I don't know personally because I
29:47
Speaker 2: mean I'm not around them or anything like that. That
29:50
Speaker 2: might be one we have to stick on a stick
29:52
Speaker 2: in a pin, stick a pin in it just for
29:55
Speaker 2: a second and let me think as we're talking a
29:57
Speaker 2: little bit more. But there's a a couple guys that
30:01
Speaker 2: you know, might come to mind that it was pretty
30:03
Speaker 2: much like a f off type of guy that I
30:07
Speaker 2: think people would pretty much call me is because you know,
30:11
Speaker 2: I was that guy that literally went out there to
30:14
Speaker 2: just try to win. I mean, that's what I was
30:15
Speaker 2: getting paid to do. That's what people care about. They
30:18
Speaker 2: don't care how pretty I look at doing things, and
30:21
Speaker 2: maybe some people do nowadays. But at the end of
30:23
Speaker 2: the day, and I think I learned that and maybe
30:26
Speaker 2: got a little harder spot on my heart playing in
30:30
Speaker 2: New York is because that's really all they care about.
30:34
Speaker 2: You know, I can go out and hit five thousand
30:36
Speaker 2: home runs or score eighty goals in a season, but
30:40
Speaker 2: if I'm not winning games, they don't care. They might
30:43
Speaker 2: be like, oh, yeah, the rest of the team sucks
30:46
Speaker 2: and Clint's great, but that's not the case. They want winners.
30:49
Speaker 2: And you know, I learned that a lot, you know,
30:53
Speaker 2: going in the New York area and realizing that I
30:56
Speaker 2: was just a small fish in a huge pond and
30:59
Speaker 2: to go out there, and you know, if you're going
31:01
Speaker 2: to put a stamp on something and have to make
31:05
Speaker 2: yourself notice, you got to go out there and you
31:07
Speaker 2: got to win. And it's about doing what you can
31:10
Speaker 2: and everything in your ability to go out there and win.
31:13
Speaker 2: And once you become a winner in that type of area,
31:15
Speaker 2: in that New York area, you know you're going to
31:17
Speaker 2: be beloved.
31:19
Speaker 1: And you know if I you know, that's a great question, Matt,
31:22
Speaker 1: because it's hard to it's hard to actually ask Clint.
31:25
Speaker 1: You know, is there a player that particularly reminds you
31:28
Speaker 1: of you? Right, because it's hard to find it from
31:32
Speaker 1: you know, from my end, I can tell you that
31:34
Speaker 1: I know the American pool pretty well of players. And
31:37
Speaker 1: if I had to compare somebody to Clint, I would
31:40
Speaker 1: have to I would have to say a combination of players, right,
31:44
Speaker 1: So I would have to say, for example, the skill
31:47
Speaker 1: the skill of like like Christian Pulisic with with the
31:51
Speaker 1: mentality of like a luna with the speed of like
31:55
Speaker 1: a ballaguan, where so I'd have to come up with
31:58
Speaker 1: like a bunch of things that would make it into
32:00
Speaker 1: one in order to match that.
32:04
Speaker 3: And he a multi talented player was Clint math Is
32:08
Speaker 3: and a guy who who learned some I guess tough
32:11
Speaker 3: lessons based upon what you were saying in terms of
32:14
Speaker 3: like getting that hardness on your heart from playing in
32:18
Speaker 3: New York. Is there a lesson that you learned while
32:22
Speaker 3: wearing a US jersey that has stuck with you over
32:25
Speaker 3: the years.
32:27
Speaker 2: I mean, just I mean you got to enjoy it
32:29
Speaker 2: while you got it. I think my national team career
32:33
Speaker 2: was cut a little short from internal things that we
32:38
Speaker 2: could talk about, but it's not really worth it. I
32:43
Speaker 2: don't think it was due to you know, playing ability
32:47
Speaker 2: or anything like that. I think it was you know,
32:49
Speaker 2: personnel and things of that sort, which I think people
32:54
Speaker 2: hears down the road later realized that a mistake was made.
32:59
Speaker 2: But yeah, my career ended pretty early with the national team.
33:02
Speaker 2: It was in two thousand and five. Also happened when
33:06
Speaker 2: I came back from Germany to play in Salt Lake,
33:09
Speaker 2: which was not a good situation the first season, so
33:13
Speaker 2: there was a lot of things that happened there. So
33:15
Speaker 2: I think with the national team, just enjoy it. Why
33:18
Speaker 2: you got it. You don't know when it's going to
33:20
Speaker 2: be taken away for you from you. In the professional world,
33:24
Speaker 2: people think that the players have all to say so
33:26
Speaker 2: or anything like that, but it's not the case. You know,
33:30
Speaker 2: you look at so many soccer players careers go in
33:34
Speaker 2: a different direction because they don't mesh with a coach
33:37
Speaker 2: or he's not and their plans or that coach brings
33:40
Speaker 2: in their players that they're loyaled. You don't know what's
33:43
Speaker 2: happening behind those closed doors, So enjoy every minute to
33:47
Speaker 2: be able to represent your country, like tab said, to
33:50
Speaker 2: be one of those eleven guys out on the field
33:52
Speaker 2: with your hand over your heart, plan for a country
33:56
Speaker 2: like the flag you know behind me, and just say, hey,
34:00
Speaker 2: this is something special. Nobody cares about the other stuff. Yeah,
34:04
Speaker 2: how many Instagram clicks or whatever the crap they call nowadays.
34:09
Speaker 2: I have no idea, But it's not about that. It's
34:12
Speaker 2: about representing your country and knowing that you're doing something
34:17
Speaker 2: special and it's going to be something that you'll never forget,
34:20
Speaker 2: you know, the rest of your life. As an individual.
34:24
Speaker 2: Other people might forget it, but that's something special that
34:27
Speaker 2: nobody can give you and nobody can take away from you.
34:30
Speaker 1: And that's a really good point about the national team.
34:33
Speaker 1: So you know, just you know, taking it back to
34:36
Speaker 1: my own experience. So I happen to be on the
34:38
Speaker 1: national team from you know, nineteen eighty eight to two thousand.
34:41
Speaker 1: But in that period of time, there were three World Cups.
34:44
Speaker 1: It was a ninety ninety four and ninety eight. And
34:46
Speaker 1: although some people may think, oh, that's your generation of
34:49
Speaker 1: players that you came through, there may have been two
34:54
Speaker 1: hundred players that were part of that process, and in
34:57
Speaker 1: the end it was really just Eric Guanala in myself
35:02
Speaker 1: that made it through the three World Cups. So sometimes,
35:04
Speaker 1: you know, to Clint's point, you know, sometimes you don't
35:07
Speaker 1: value the moments that you have and sometimes I get
35:10
Speaker 1: a little bit upset, and I have been over the
35:12
Speaker 1: last seven or eight years when we talked about our
35:14
Speaker 1: national team as as we're developing players for the next
35:18
Speaker 1: World Cup, And to me, that's not the national team
35:21
Speaker 1: and the national team should always be who are the
35:23
Speaker 1: best players that we have today? And let's take the
35:26
Speaker 1: best players that we have today and let's go beat
35:28
Speaker 1: that country today. What's going to happen next year, We
35:31
Speaker 1: don't know, because you're going to depend on your moments,
35:33
Speaker 1: You're going to depend on your club, You're going to
35:35
Speaker 1: depend on there's so many things outside of the national
35:38
Speaker 1: team that you have to depend on in order to
35:40
Speaker 1: get on the national team. That's very difficult, you know. Sometimes,
35:44
Speaker 1: you know, long careers on the national team are taken
35:46
Speaker 1: from granted thinking, hey, you know, so and so is
35:49
Speaker 1: a great player, so they must have been on the
35:50
Speaker 1: national team for ten twelve years. It doesn't always work
35:53
Speaker 1: out that way. There's hundreds of players that go up
35:55
Speaker 1: and down in those periods of time, and it's very difficult.
35:59
Speaker 1: And any time you have an opportunity to play for
36:01
Speaker 1: the national team and put your hand over your heart
36:03
Speaker 1: and listen to the national anthem, you really should truly
36:06
Speaker 1: enjoy it.
36:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, and next segment, we are going to find out
36:12
Speaker 3: Clint's best eleven for the US men's national team of
36:16
Speaker 3: all time. Guys who put their hands over their heart
36:18
Speaker 3: and enjoyed it and then performed left their mark on
36:21
Speaker 3: the game. Here in the meantime, we're taking a break.
36:24
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to Inside American Soccer. Please rate, review
36:27
Speaker 3: and subscribe.
36:27
Speaker 4: We'll be right back here.
36:39
Speaker 3: All right, folks, welcome back to Inside American Soccer. I'll
36:43
Speaker 3: respect to everyone who has ever played for the US
36:46
Speaker 3: men's national team, but we have Clint Mathis here and
36:48
Speaker 3: we're gonna ask Clint to pick his starting eleven to
36:52
Speaker 3: win one match at the World Cup. Everyone's in their prime.
36:57
Speaker 3: Who are the guys you're going with? And I just
36:59
Speaker 3: want our listeners to know that Tad was trying to
37:01
Speaker 3: make sure he was weaseling his way into the spot
37:03
Speaker 3: in the brain.
37:05
Speaker 4: But this whole, this whole process is on the up
37:08
Speaker 4: and up.
37:08
Speaker 3: I want to assure you no undue influence has taken
37:11
Speaker 3: place here.
37:13
Speaker 2: Yes, and just so you know it, break, I did
37:15
Speaker 2: not change any of my people, so I've kept him
37:18
Speaker 2: the saying. And this has been done way before this
37:23
Speaker 2: show even started. So you are going to see some
37:26
Speaker 2: bias here. Uh, you are going to see some positional changes.
37:31
Speaker 2: But this is who I would go and coach and
37:34
Speaker 2: take to the World Cup, and I think this team
37:38
Speaker 2: would do pretty damn well. So in goal, I'm gonna
37:42
Speaker 2: have Tim Howard left back. I'm gonna have DeMarcus Beasley
37:50
Speaker 2: center back. I'm gonna have Eddie Pope paired alongside Pablo
37:55
Speaker 2: Mastroani right back. I'm going to have Steve Tarndelo. I'm
38:03
Speaker 2: gonna have two holding midfielders. One's gonna be more of
38:06
Speaker 2: an up and down kind of guy. One's gonna hold
38:08
Speaker 2: a little bit more that first one's gonna be John O'Brien,
38:13
Speaker 2: who I have to say is probably my favorite US
38:19
Speaker 2: soccer player behind Tab. The next one is gonna be
38:24
Speaker 2: Chris Armis, I have to say, my favorite holding midfielder
38:30
Speaker 2: to play with between him and Pablo. That's why I
38:33
Speaker 2: put Pablo at center back because I know he can
38:35
Speaker 2: play center back and he can get forward as wealth
38:38
Speaker 2: he needs. Then in front of them, I would have
38:41
Speaker 2: the one and only tab Remos on the left side
38:48
Speaker 2: pension end to where DeMarcus could get up and down
38:51
Speaker 2: would be Clint Dempsey. On the other side pension in
38:57
Speaker 2: where Steve could get up and down would be Landon Donovan,
39:01
Speaker 2: and then up top we would have the big Header.
39:05
Speaker 2: Brian McBride.
39:07
Speaker 3: First of all, you're too humble. You didn't put yourself
39:09
Speaker 3: in that.
39:10
Speaker 2: That's why that's why I said I'm coaching this team.
39:13
Speaker 1: All right, good, good. I mean that's a great lineup.
39:17
Speaker 1: If you don't mind, Matt, I'm gonna go back to
39:20
Speaker 1: mind so he can see how I'd laid mine out right.
39:22
Speaker 1: So I had Tony, I had Tony and Gold three
39:25
Speaker 1: defenders Lalas Kevin Crowe who you may not know in
39:28
Speaker 1: Marcelo Baboa. And then across the midfield, I had you
39:33
Speaker 1: on the right with hearts and Rick Davis as holding
39:36
Speaker 1: mids and uh Hugo Perez on the left side, I
39:40
Speaker 1: had Landing as a as uh the attacking more of
39:44
Speaker 1: an attack in mid with win all then McBride up front,
39:47
Speaker 1: so we had some that's good. Yeah, we had definitely,
39:52
Speaker 1: definitely McBride. I mean McBride was great.
39:55
Speaker 2: He's been our really main only true number nine that
40:01
Speaker 2: was good in the air, would hold up the ball,
40:03
Speaker 2: distribute it back and then start running to get in
40:06
Speaker 2: the box.
40:07
Speaker 5: Right and by the way things together and by the way,
40:10
Speaker 5: we had dun sith here, you know, a few weeks back,
40:14
Speaker 5: and I asked him to talk a little bit about
40:16
Speaker 5: John O'Brien because you know, it's great what you said
40:19
Speaker 5: about John.
40:20
Speaker 1: O'Brien, but most most fans wouldn't know him, and he
40:24
Speaker 1: was such a great player, and I asked him to
40:26
Speaker 1: talk a little bit more about him so they get
40:28
Speaker 1: to know him. But yeah, what a great player, right
40:30
Speaker 1: quin Clint?
40:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was. I mean, I'm not saying this with
40:36
Speaker 2: any like level of like joking around. He was probably
40:41
Speaker 2: the most skilled American player I've ever seen.
40:45
Speaker 3: And he showed it on that famous goal that you
40:48
Speaker 3: scored against South Korea in the two thousand and two
40:51
Speaker 3: World Cup, dropping a dime. It was a right foot
40:54
Speaker 3: first touch and then a one touch finish with your left.
40:57
Speaker 4: Am I remembering that correctly, Quint?
40:59
Speaker 2: That's correct? Yeah? And then I don't know how you
41:01
Speaker 2: even't got that ball there because he just basketball through
41:06
Speaker 2: a water hose because he didn't have much for room
41:08
Speaker 2: to do it. And I don't know how he even
41:10
Speaker 2: saw me. But if he could have stayed healthy for
41:15
Speaker 2: a lot longer, I mean that that kid was unbelievable
41:18
Speaker 2: with his feet. He was.
41:21
Speaker 4: There were a lot of ifs from that team back then.
41:24
Speaker 3: Of course, if John O'Brien had stayed healthy, he would
41:26
Speaker 3: have ended up on Barcelona. If things had worked out
41:30
Speaker 3: forre Clent math as he would have ended up perhaps
41:32
Speaker 3: on Bayern Munich, but.
41:35
Speaker 2: The league I actually had a signed contract. What a
41:40
Speaker 2: lot of people don't know is we had a weekend
41:43
Speaker 2: off at the Metro Stars where we didn't have a game.
41:46
Speaker 2: Uh So I actually flew to Germany and met with
41:51
Speaker 2: Carl's Carl Heins rumenega Ulians and actually signed a contract
41:57
Speaker 2: with him, but the league wouldn't sell me.
42:00
Speaker 4: Yeah, so bad times back in the day.
42:02
Speaker 2: Another story into that one.
42:04
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, we'll get you on for another.
42:07
Speaker 2: One that happened nowadays. Put it that way, No, I don't.
42:10
Speaker 3: Think it would, but yeah, Clint, we appreciate you coming
42:16
Speaker 3: and joining us before this show. We all appreciate uh
42:20
Speaker 3: the memories you gave us in that wonderful two thousand
42:22
Speaker 3: and two World Cup, and some of us appreciate what
42:24
Speaker 3: you did with the MetroStars as well, including this guy
42:27
Speaker 3: right here is one oh one.
42:29
Speaker 4: Back in the day.
42:31
Speaker 3: It has been a pleasure having you on. Uh TAB
42:34
Speaker 3: and I big fans of yours always and forever, and
42:38
Speaker 3: to our listeners, thank you for being with us on
42:41
Speaker 3: this show and listening to Inside American Soccer. Please rate,
42:45
Speaker 3: review and subscribe and we will see you next week.