Latest / The Guuuzan Show / S1 Ep28 | Tim Howard: GKs of the USMNT 🦅 🦅 🦅

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S1 Ep28 | Tim Howard: GKs of the USMNT 🦅 🦅 🦅 · The Guuuzan Show

0:00
SPEAKER_00: And obviously, I'm signing for Man United.
0:01
SPEAKER_00: Bro, I'm wearing a light blue and navy blue Thai combo.
0:05
SPEAKER_00: I'm wearing Man City colors now, Ultra.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: That's how dumb I am.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: Oh, by the way.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: Also, not one person said, hey, by the way.
0:14
SPEAKER_02: Hey, but when you bought it, I bet you were thinking, I look good.
0:17
SPEAKER_02: I look really good.
0:18
SPEAKER_02: I was like.
0:26
SPEAKER_03: Welcome back to another episode of the Goozan Show.
0:30
SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Bragg Zan.
0:31
SPEAKER_03: With me as always, Joe Freihhoefer.
0:33
SPEAKER_03: We've got a very special guest today, Everton and USMNT legend, and someone I call a close friend, Mr.
0:43
SPEAKER_03: Tim Howard.
0:43
SPEAKER_03: Timmy, what's happening, dude?
0:45
SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the show.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me, guys.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: I mean, your studio looks amazing.
0:49
SPEAKER_00: The picture behind you does you justice because it's a handsome picture.
0:54
SPEAKER_03: I love it.
0:55
SPEAKER_03: I appreciate you being kind.
0:56
SPEAKER_03: I appreciate you being kind.
0:57
SPEAKER_03: Thanks for having me, man.
0:59
SPEAKER_03: Uh no, how how's things, man?
1:00
SPEAKER_03: I it's it was a busy summer, a lot of travel.
1:04
SPEAKER_03: Um, I know you're you're always on the move.
1:07
SPEAKER_03: You're all you're always here, there, everywhere.
1:09
SPEAKER_03: Uh, but how you feeling, man?
1:10
SPEAKER_03: How you doing?
1:11
unknown: I'm good.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm base, I'm basically whatever Lannon tells me to do, I do.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: He he makes our schedule.
1:17
SPEAKER_00: So I just um the world the World Cup was great.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: It was great.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: It was uh it was busy.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: I needed a rest, like everybody needed a rest.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: And then uh as you can see, Syracuse soccer.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: My daughter uh transferred to Syracuse, so doing a lot of those games and traveling up to watch her play.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: And obviously, with the Premier League back, um, you know, every weekend's busy, so but it's good.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: It's all soccer all the time.
1:40
SPEAKER_00: You know exactly what that's like.
1:41
SPEAKER_03: For sure, for sure.
1:42
SPEAKER_03: Watching the World Cup.
1:44
SPEAKER_03: Did you miss it?
1:45
SPEAKER_03: You do you wish you were back playing?
1:46
SPEAKER_00: You know what's crazy, B.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you and I spent we traveled the world together, spent uh a decade playing together.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: I don't miss soccer.
1:55
SPEAKER_00: I love I love being on your podcast, I love talking about soccer, I love analyzing with NBC, I love watching my daughter's games.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: I literally love soccer.
2:03
SPEAKER_00: Everything about it.
2:04
SPEAKER_00: I love watching games when I'm not working.
2:08
SPEAKER_00: I I have no like playing doesn't excite me.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: And I get and I think that's maybe just because I don't know, I had a nice long career and I feel like I did everything.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: And you know what people don't understand when they're in our position and they can't, my our relationship with soccer is so different.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: Soccer was cruel and loving and hard and dark and joyful.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: There was all these emotions.
2:30
SPEAKER_00: Like when my friends are like, yo, we got field time in Lower East Side.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to play on a Sunday?
2:34
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, no, like that sounds fun for you.
2:37
SPEAKER_00: Soccer to me, like I hated it and I loved it.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: And it's just when you're when you're a professional at that level, your relationship with the game is so different.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: So for me, I don't enjoy playing.
2:47
SPEAKER_03: No, for sure, for sure.
2:49
SPEAKER_03: Uh, I've I've just recently joined the staff game, and and I'm certainly not playing in goal.
2:55
SPEAKER_03: Uh and quite the opposite, dog.
2:57
SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm playing the other end of the pitch and I'm I'm bagging goals for fun.
3:00
SPEAKER_03: Homie's strong.
3:01
SPEAKER_03: You're turning the clock spot.
3:02
SPEAKER_00: You used to be a good striker back in the Chicago day.
3:04
SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
3:05
SPEAKER_03: But but now listen, it's it takes a full week to recover, and my body's like, what is going on?
3:10
SPEAKER_03: And um, obviously, throughout this summer, right, we we saw tons of goalkeeping, tons of unbelievable performances, right?
3:18
SPEAKER_03: At any moment, did you ever did you ever get nervous that your record of 16 saves in a World Cup game was gonna get broke?
3:25
SPEAKER_00: Well, no, because I think records meant to be broken.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: That that record's going to be broken for sure.
3:30
SPEAKER_03: So don't give me that.
3:31
SPEAKER_03: For sure there was a there was there was a PCU that was like, come on, keep keep my name top of that list.
3:37
SPEAKER_00: Listen, my name's there.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: It's uh I'm like to say is it 72 dolphins that every year they celebrate uh you know when a team doesn't go undefeated?
3:44
SPEAKER_00: No, I don't know.
3:45
SPEAKER_00: I I I'm okay with it, man.
3:46
SPEAKER_00: I had my I had my time.
3:48
SPEAKER_00: So if it stands for a while, great.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: If not, that's cool too.
3:51
SPEAKER_01: Tim, let's rewind the clock.
3:53
SPEAKER_01: If we go back to your first ever call into national team camp, what for you would you say is one moment that was maybe your welcome to the US MNT moment?
4:02
SPEAKER_00: Which is here's the crazy thing that you just asked me that Landon and I uh just recorded a podcast.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: Again, he wanted to record early, so I just have to say yes.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: Um we just recorded uh a pod about an hour ago, and we literally talked about this.
4:17
SPEAKER_00: It was based around Kevin Sullivan or something, but we did talk about my first time.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: Bruce called me into camp.
4:22
SPEAKER_00: It was in Columbus, Ohio.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: I don't remember who who the team was playing, um, but it was like my first call-up.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: It was basically like you're gonna train and carry some bags and some water, and you know, you're never gonna play, but like welcome to the team.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: And I just sort of remember uh crossing and finishing at the end of the session.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I think like Joe Max Moore, Brian McBride, and balls are just like whizzing past my head, you know.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: And it was like it was sort of like I was in the right position, but like this is another level.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: And that was sort of the moment I remember going back to the hotel thinking like I kind of belong and I'm doing some decent things, but like this is real deal.
5:01
SPEAKER_00: So uh yeah, I remember it fondly.
5:03
SPEAKER_03: That's a that's amazing.
5:05
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I think every step of the way, you always have these moments, right?
5:09
SPEAKER_03: Where it's like, you know, obviously yourself start with New York, New Jersey, Metro Stars, and then going going to England.
5:15
SPEAKER_03: But like you, you have this moment, and I certainly had it, right?
5:19
SPEAKER_03: And whether it was college to MLS, MLS to the Premier League, it's like I belong, but I need to increase my performance here.
5:27
SPEAKER_03: I I need to get better, and I need to get better really quick.
5:30
SPEAKER_03: Would you agree that was that was similar for you?
5:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's similar.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: I think it's similar for everyone, Brad.
5:34
SPEAKER_00: You you we look at we look at guys who are successful, and you can talk about young guys, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, you know, those are the ones on the tip of everyone's tongue now.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: What even if you see some greatness on the on the TV, on the pitch if you're live, what you don't realize is in order to grow from the youth, from the youth team to the reserve team to the first team to the national team, you constantly have to grow and get better, which basically means you're never walking into that new environment as the best.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: You have to adapt, you have to make your mistakes, you have to learn very quickly.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: And those are the guys who are successful.
6:12
SPEAKER_00: Like they're not they're not exempt from that step up, they're not exempt from those, those like road bumps.
6:19
SPEAKER_00: We all have them.
6:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the one the the guys that you see just happen to deal with them quicker and and better.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
6:25
SPEAKER_03: No, for sure, for sure.
6:27
SPEAKER_03: Speaking of growth, right?
6:28
SPEAKER_03: You you look at the US team in in terms of how the summer went, uh, Mauricio Pachatino re signing to to come back as US men's national team manager.
6:37
SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, where where does the US go from here?
6:40
SPEAKER_03: How how do they build on on this summer?
6:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, Mauricio Pacettino had some interesting uh quotes this week, didn't he?
6:48
SPEAKER_00: He he had a some sort of press um opportunity.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, you know, he just you know he talked he talked pretty openly.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: And I and you know, both Landon and I thought he was talking directly to players when he said like there's going to be we're we're gonna we're gonna reshift a lot of a lot of things in terms of culture and all the things that we thought was set, right?
7:08
SPEAKER_00: Because we get excited, we as fans, ex-players, you get we all we all rode that wave, you know what I mean, um, in the summer, and we're so excited.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: And what you realize is when you hear from Pacitino himself is like, oh, there's some things here that need sorting out.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: So I think there's some, you know, some exciting young players that will probably get an opportunity, which at the beginning of the cycle you need.
7:29
SPEAKER_00: You also need um some of the senior players, you know, to be fully involved and committed right from the off.
7:36
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think this, you know, this four years, and I've and I've gone on record and saying this like, forget the World Cup.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: But there's Nations League we need to win, Gold Cup we need to win, Copa America.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: We need to get to at least a semifinal because South America right now isn't as strong as it used to be.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: World Cup qualifying, by the way, like gotta finish first or second.
7:55
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that the these are all things, these are all markers that are like super important.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: And the summer was great.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: That's the culmination of every four years.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: But like now is the time where we really need to start figuring out what this team is.
8:07
SPEAKER_03: For sure, for sure.
8:08
SPEAKER_03: And and listen, obviously, four big games coming up, right?
8:11
SPEAKER_03: Before we get to all those tournaments that you mentioned, four four big games, including you know, one against Mexico and one against Canada.
8:19
SPEAKER_03: What what what are the expectations going into those games?
8:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't know.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: I'm interested how you guys feel this this window is so weird.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: Like I don't like this window.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: I used to love how like it was two, yeah, then you get a you know, four-week break or whatever, then it's two again, because realistically, you're not gonna, you're not gonna be, you know, there's a lot gonna be a lot of chopping and changing, you know, four four games that quickly.
8:42
SPEAKER_00: So I guess he sort of prioritizes Canada and Mexico, but I don't, I don't, that's hard to say.
8:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, you'd like to you'd like to make sure that you continue to try and dominate the region, which you know has been a little bit in flux, but Canada's an important game because our guy Jesse believes that they're the best, and he's gonna he's gonna love nothing more.
9:04
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he's gonna be coming flying in.
9:06
SPEAKER_00: For sure, for sure.
9:07
SPEAKER_00: And then and then US Mexico, we know that's how everyone's judged in this region.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: So um, really, really interesting games.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, I obviously I'm excited for them.
9:16
SPEAKER_00: This is the four all together seems like a lot.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think you know, people like you guys and me and Landon and all the so-called experts, we're gonna have to sort of dissect that.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: Like, what, what, what lineups is he playing in what game?
9:28
SPEAKER_00: And is he prioritizing certain games and which players are playing well, even in games where, you know, if if he puts out a team where it's a bunch of young guys, we still have to be able to say, like, how did those guys perform in in a big environment and sort of take away not just the result, but actually the performance.
9:46
SPEAKER_01: In a window like this, too, Tim, you talked about that camp mix.
9:48
SPEAKER_01: What kind of mix would you like to see?
9:51
SPEAKER_01: And what what would you say are the standards in those matchups with?
9:54
SPEAKER_01: There's always going to be fireworks with Jesse March, Kinone's coming off a crazy World Cup for Mexico and them being a host nation too.
10:00
SPEAKER_01: It feels like this was a big, big uh footy eclipse this past summer, too.
10:03
SPEAKER_01: How do you build into that with standards and with possibly a new camp mix?
10:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's uh again, I think it's hard.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: I think it's I think the coaching staff has a lot of pressure on them to bring in um to bring in fresh talent.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: And I think this team, by the way, for as well as they did in the summer, I still I still think there's a lot of pieces that need identifying.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: I do.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: I think we I think center back, um, you know, who's gonna partner Chris Richards over the next four years?
10:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, there's still there's still players in and around the midfield that I think um are to come, particularly some some young younger players.
10:36
SPEAKER_00: It looked Giorena is now holding down a spot um you know, uh at Strasbourg.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: Kevin Sullivan is on the tip of everybody's tongue.
10:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, so he has so he has to figure out what that blend and what that mix is.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: He'll get it right.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: And I think there's a little bit of it where this is the first, this is the first kick of the ball after the World Cup.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: So you get a little bit of leeway.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: You know, you get a little bit of you can chop and change and try and you know create partnerships.
11:04
SPEAKER_00: But I still do think, you know, we uh I I would venture to say we probably need to fill five or six positions, like like over the long term.
11:14
SPEAKER_03: For sure.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: I think that that's real.
11:16
SPEAKER_03: No, definitely, definitely.
11:18
SPEAKER_03: Let's let's go back obviously uh and change gears a little bit to to your journey and in terms of getting on that plane, head into Man United, right?
11:27
SPEAKER_03: You you leave New York, New Jersey, Metro Stars.
11:30
SPEAKER_03: What was that first interaction with Sir Alex like in terms of his aura?
11:35
SPEAKER_03: You're walking into a massive club.
11:38
SPEAKER_03: Um and and you know, I was trying to explain to Joe, like back then, right?
11:42
SPEAKER_03: And I say back then, meaning you couldn't just turn on the TV and and watch soccer, especially European games, right?
11:49
SPEAKER_03: You you it just wasn't a possibility.
11:52
SPEAKER_03: So, you know, Man United at that time was was flying and absolutely massive.
11:58
SPEAKER_03: Uh, the likes of Roy Keane, uh, you know, unbelievable teammates that that you shared the pitch with.
12:04
SPEAKER_03: But what was that like walking in and and that first interaction with Sir Alex?
12:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was crazy.
12:09
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, you talk about that team, it was the remnants of the um the 99 travel winning team, right?
12:14
SPEAKER_00: You still had Paul Skulls, Nicky Butt, Roy Keene, the Neville Brothers, um Rude Van Istelroy, Real Ferdinand.
12:21
SPEAKER_00: They they weren't on the 99, but that there was so many big names.
12:24
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I mean, Ryan Kiggs, there was so many.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: The talent was crazy.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: And so um, you know, I spoke to Sir Alec Ferguson probably like my last couple days in the United States on the phone.
12:37
SPEAKER_00: And you know, it's like speaking to the president, you just don't say a whole lot, and you you know, you say, Okay, yes, sir.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: And then I got over there, and it's funny that I'm in Boston.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: It's crazy, there's a lot of things going on this morning.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: I was in Boston, I played my last game.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: He actually he there's a funny story.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: He actually called me and called Bob Bradley, who was our head coach at Metro Stars.
12:58
SPEAKER_00: And obviously, I'm signing from Man United.
12:59
SPEAKER_00: So he's like, Don't play Tim.
13:01
SPEAKER_00: Like, we don't play, he's done.
13:04
SPEAKER_00: He if he gets injured, this isn't going through.
13:06
SPEAKER_00: And of course, me, I'm like, Oh, I feel really loyal.
13:08
SPEAKER_00: I want to play.
13:09
SPEAKER_00: And Bob played me anyway.
13:11
SPEAKER_00: So I'm in Boston, right at the hotel.
13:13
SPEAKER_00: I know I'm signing Brad.
13:15
SPEAKER_00: My press conference is like in three days.
13:17
SPEAKER_00: So I I walk over to the hotel mall, Macy's or JC Penny.
13:22
SPEAKER_00: I pick out this nice suit, Ralph's fly, shirt and tie combo.
13:28
SPEAKER_00: I get there, and the first time I see Sarat Ferguson is the is the day I'm signing, right?
13:33
SPEAKER_00: So you sign in the boardroom as you as you've done.
13:35
SPEAKER_00: You go up into the boardroom, you sign with the chief exec, and then you go down, you do the press conference.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: Bro, I'm wearing a light blue and navy blue tie combo.
13:44
SPEAKER_00: I'm wearing Man City colors that ultra.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: That's how dumb I am.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: But by the way, not one, also, not one person said, Hey, by the way.
13:53
SPEAKER_02: Hey, but when you bought it, I bet you were thinking, I look good.
13:56
SPEAKER_02: I look really good.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: I was flout popping my combo.
14:00
SPEAKER_00: And that and that was sort of my first interaction, but it was really cool because Sir Alec Ferguson was he he was the legend already, right?
14:09
SPEAKER_00: Like he added to that, added Premier League titles and champions, another championship title, but like he was the legend.
14:15
SPEAKER_00: So when I when I was at United for those three years, it was so incredible.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm so thankful for that time.
14:21
SPEAKER_00: It didn't work out for me, but so thankful because I saw I saw I saw what it was like to like to be the best, to have people who hold you to standards that you are almost impossible uh to achieve.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: You know, Sarah Ferguson ruled that football club.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: Like nobody else at that football club was above him.
14:39
SPEAKER_00: Believe that.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: And so it was it was special to be a part of that.
14:43
SPEAKER_01: You go from Manchester United to spending around 10 years at Everton, of course, in what we like to call as just the peak of the Barclays men era, right?
14:51
SPEAKER_01: So the Barclays Premier League, you had just unbelievable hoopers in that era, including somebody like Leighton Baines, who Brad and I were talking about pre-show.
14:59
SPEAKER_01: He just had unbelievable technical ability, would do ridiculous stuff as a left back.
15:03
SPEAKER_01: What is some of the craziest stuff you ever saw him do, either at training, at a match, in his routine that made him just a certified Barclays man?
15:11
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's funny because he uh, you know, that was actually a cool time before I get back to Leighton Baines.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: Like, there were so many Americans playing on the Premier League.
15:20
SPEAKER_00: It was so much fun to have like all of your boys there, not just like close by you can hang out with, but you knew like every time the highlights were on, you're looking for for one of your guys, and you got to play against them.
15:30
SPEAKER_00: So that was a fun time.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: Bainesy was hilarious because he was so he was so Everton through and through.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: Like there were times like he was linked to Chelsea, he was linked to Bayern Munich, and we'd come in the dressing room and be like, like Baza, like is Munich real?
15:47
SPEAKER_00: And he was so like nonchalant and flippant.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: He's like, I don't know.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe I don't know, I'm not sure.
15:52
SPEAKER_00: And then he had a he had a streak.
15:53
SPEAKER_00: I can't remember the exact one, but he had a streak of it really, really dry humor.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: I think he had made like 21 penalties in a row.
16:02
SPEAKER_00: He was our penalty taker, and he was always on the pitch, right?
16:05
SPEAKER_00: So he he he was always on pins, and he made 20, 21, or 22, and he was just like, I'm gonna miss.
16:12
SPEAKER_00: Like he would go, I'm gonna miss today.
16:13
SPEAKER_00: We're like, what do you mean you're gonna miss?
16:15
SPEAKER_00: He goes, Well, I don't know.
16:16
SPEAKER_00: Like he's like, I've made 22 in a row.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: He's like, I'm gonna miss.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: So so then from that point on, we just kept like every time he stepped up, we're like, I think I think he's gonna miss.
16:24
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna miss today.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: He was the best, he was brilliant.
16:27
SPEAKER_00: He was absolutely, I mean, he was a guy who played every week, played for England.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: You know, we we used to say about Layton Baines, he gave you he gave you like an eight out of 10 performance every week.
16:38
SPEAKER_00: Do you know how hard that is?
16:40
SPEAKER_00: Like as a as a Premier League player to play every week and like pretty much be nailed on as like a seven or eight out of ten.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: He was incredible.
16:47
SPEAKER_00: As a defender as well, right?
16:48
SPEAKER_03: I mean, that as a goalkeeper, you're thinking, oh, I I don't have to worry about that side of the pitch because he's got that on unlocked.
16:55
SPEAKER_03: Um, you always said that that Everton felt like you, right?
17:00
SPEAKER_03: What why?
17:01
SPEAKER_03: Why, why, why, why did that, you know, that that relationship between you and Everton, Everton and you, it just fit and and it resonated so well.
17:11
SPEAKER_03: Why though?
17:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was I was a you know, I was a blue-collar kid in in Jersey, and um, you know, David Moyes talked about Everton being the people's club.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: It was it was a club of people from the streets, from dock workers.
17:25
SPEAKER_00: And Man United is incredible.
17:27
SPEAKER_00: It was incredible.
17:28
SPEAKER_00: But like it was, I just wasn't prepared for that level.
17:31
SPEAKER_00: I think, you know, by the you know, by the time my career career finished, I probably was, but I wasn't ready for that sort of level of stardom and and like rock star status.
17:41
SPEAKER_00: And you know, when I when I left United and I spoke to David Moyes about Everton, and he's and he told me about the club, I was like, that feels like me.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: That feels like the family atmosphere that I'll be able to thrive in.
17:54
SPEAKER_00: And then the first day I walked in, the rest is history.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was Everton was everything I ever dreamed it could be.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: Um I fit that club, you know, they they were perfect for me.
18:06
SPEAKER_00: And so um it, you know, it worked out.
18:09
SPEAKER_00: And and that's obviously an understatement when you when you spend 10 years at a club uh as the number one, it just you you just know that you made the right decision.
18:17
SPEAKER_00: And my way I always say, by the way, when I went to Ticket as Alec Ferguson, and you know the story, Brad.
18:23
SPEAKER_00: I I they brought Edwin Vandasar in, who was one of the greatest goalkeepers in history, was brilliant, and I hated it, but I learned from him.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: And I remember after that year, at some point I had to go speak to Alec Ferguson.
18:35
SPEAKER_00: I said, I gotta leave.
18:36
SPEAKER_00: I could stay here for the next 10 years, but I'm gonna be a number two.
18:39
SPEAKER_00: And so I went to knock on his door, and I remember my wife at the time.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: I said, I'm going in there every morning.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna speak to him.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: And the manager's office was right next to the canteen.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: So I'd walk up the stairs three days in a row, Brad.
18:51
SPEAKER_00: I went, his door was closed, and I went, nah, just come back tomorrow.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: Come back tomorrow.
18:55
SPEAKER_00: So, and then I next day, same thing.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: I was so scared.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: But I sat down in his office.
18:59
SPEAKER_00: I told him, I, you know, I think I need to leave.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: And he was he was gracious.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: And there were three teams that uh so I had my my agent had three teams, Premier League teams at the time.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, needless to say, two of them haven't been in the Premier League for a very long time.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: So I made the right decision in going to Everton.
19:17
SPEAKER_03: That's amazing.
19:18
SPEAKER_03: I I love that because we've we've all been there as players as you go speak to the manager, and it's like, uh, you know, I'm just gonna do it tomorrow.
19:24
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm just gonna I'm gonna turn left instead of turning right, I'm gonna go get a coffee.
19:28
SPEAKER_02: Uh I don't know.
19:30
SPEAKER_03: Or then when you get in there and you're like, right, I'm gonna say this, this, this, and then all of a sudden it's you walk out and you're like, actually, I think I might have blacked out while I was in there, and I didn't accomplish anything that I wanted to speak to him about, but somehow he like made me feel awesome.
19:44
SPEAKER_03: So, you know what?
19:45
SPEAKER_03: All right, and then like a day goes by and you're like, wait, no, that's what I was going to talk to him about, and I need to go back in there.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: The people don't understand that, Brad.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: But like the genius of some of these managers to where you'll walk in and you're raring and you walk out of there going, Oh, you know, he likes me.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: He's not gonna play me, but he likes me.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: And it's you know, it's so funny as your kids get older.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: And as I mentioned, my daughter plays um uh soccer in the ACC, and and she's had tough conversations with coaches.
20:11
SPEAKER_00: And and I say to her, like, sweetheart, I hate talking to my boss.
20:16
SPEAKER_00: Like, like, this isn't like it's not because you're 19 years old.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: Like, this doesn't get better, by the way.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: Like, if I if I have to speak to my boss at NBC, I'm still like, I'll call him tomorrow.
20:25
SPEAKER_00: Like, and no one likes that, you know?
20:27
SPEAKER_00: Terrible.
20:28
SPEAKER_02: It's so true.
20:29
SPEAKER_01: Tim, your feeling of Everton just being such a match for you, in big part was the people of Liverpool, right?
20:34
SPEAKER_01: The fan base, the scouses.
20:36
SPEAKER_01: Can you take us into what makes a Merseyside derby so intense?
20:40
SPEAKER_01: What were some of the craziest moments that you live between the sticks in that matchup?
20:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, well, I didn't win many.
20:46
SPEAKER_00: That's the crazy part.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: I I, you know, uh Liverpudlians are are special people.
20:51
SPEAKER_00: They're so they're so passionate.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: I remember going, and I didn't feel maybe I didn't know the British culture when I got to Manchester, but like I remember stepping in through the doors of Everton the first day, and I remember thinking, I want to be an Evertonian.
21:03
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, like publicly said that to free people, like I want to be one of them.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: Now that was going to take hard work and dedication and effort, and you have to give to them the way they give to you.
21:13
SPEAKER_00: And I achieved that in the end, but like I that that's how that's how passionate they were that some kid from New Jersey who had only been in the country three years was like, I desperately want to be one of these people.
21:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, it's a word, it's just it's the most working class culture I've ever been around.
21:29
SPEAKER_00: The two, you know, some of the stuff you can't make up.
21:32
SPEAKER_00: You know, you have two powerful football clubs that are used to be just a stone's throw away from each other.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, reds and blues live amongst each other, work amongst each other, um, go to the pubs together.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: You know, families are divided.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, and like, you know, we Brad, you you you witnessed this in Birmingham with Villa, but like you can't get away.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: Like, if you live in Liverpool and you go to the grocery store, you go to work, you go wherever you go, you can't get away from it.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Like you turn the corner and there's a mural of a Liverpool player.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: You turn the corner and someone's got you know their car is kitted out with all Everton stuff.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: People, that's all people talk about.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: They don't talk about basketball or baseball or the opera.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: They only talk about football.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: And more particularly Everton and Liverpool.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: So can you imagine growing up in a culture where your grandparents, your parents, your friends, your teachers, everybody talks about only two teams?
22:25
SPEAKER_00: Like that's that's crazy.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: And it's impossible to get away from it.
22:29
SPEAKER_03: No, for sure.
22:29
SPEAKER_03: It's pure passion.
22:31
SPEAKER_03: Um, speaking of crazy moments, let's let I want to go back.
22:34
SPEAKER_03: Do you remember when we were in South Africa 2010?
22:37
SPEAKER_03: We're leaving a hotel, right?
22:39
SPEAKER_03: To go to the game, to go to the stadium, and all of a sudden, our our our massive convoy gets stopped.
22:45
SPEAKER_03: And you know where I'm going with this?
22:47
SPEAKER_03: And all of a sudden, there's an animal crossing.
22:50
SPEAKER_03: There's a herd of elephants crossing the road in the in the bus, the police convoy, everything stopped.
22:55
SPEAKER_03: And we're like, what are we doing?
22:56
SPEAKER_03: We've only been driving for about three minutes.
22:58
SPEAKER_03: To leave the hotel, you had to cut through one of the national parks, and there's a herd of elephants crossing the street.
23:03
SPEAKER_03: Do you remember that?
23:04
SPEAKER_00: And South Africa was wild.
23:06
SPEAKER_00: It was I remember bus, like some of the buses and vans we had.
23:10
SPEAKER_00: True story, right?
23:11
SPEAKER_00: They have they would have the, you know, like in in America, we have these like the grills on the front of cars, right?
23:16
SPEAKER_00: Like they have this front grille, but the grill would come down, like it would it would come down into like this like shovel sort of thing, and we're like, what's that for?
23:24
SPEAKER_00: And like, well, sometimes they have to like scoot under and out like an animal, pick it up, and like move it because it won't go.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: And we're like, that's just made up, but yeah, we have some wild stories, wild stories in South Africa.
23:35
SPEAKER_00: Good times, good times.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: So after about 10 years, Tim and Everton, you eventually came back to MLS, right?
23:40
SPEAKER_01: To Colorado.
23:41
SPEAKER_01: What do you think was most calling to you about how much the league had changed from the time that you were abroad to when you came back to MLS, how much it had developed since you'd left?
23:50
SPEAKER_00: Oh, so much.
23:51
SPEAKER_00: It was crazy.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: So um Denver was a it was a was so great for me.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: So many things in life are about timing.
23:59
SPEAKER_00: And I was ready to come back, and you know, they were they were uh you know, they were a smaller market team, and you know, the fans of of the Colorado Rapids sort of understood this moniker of like no one chooses us.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: People people go to New York and LA, and I was a big, a bigger name player, and I and I chose them.
24:19
SPEAKER_00: They chose me too.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: And it was a it was a special relationship with the Colorado Rapids and their fans.
24:23
SPEAKER_00: And the the difference in the league, it was a long time, 13 years I was away.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: And I read I just remember I remember leaving, and no matter where we played, it didn't matter what I was with the Metro Stars, no matter where we played, people just wanted to see soccer player, they wanted my autograph, and they didn't care that I played for the away team.
24:43
SPEAKER_00: They did they just wanted soccer, and then when I got back, it was like pure hatred.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: Salt Lake hated me, Seattle hated me, and I was like, that's that's crazy.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: Like there's almost every team had a soccer-specific stadium, you know.
24:57
SPEAKER_00: And when I left, I think there was like two or I don't know, Columbus and someone else.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: And like I just remember thinking, wow, this and I had seen it by because you know, we'd come back for the national team, but to actually live it and experience it, and true story.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: One of one of my seasons in Denver, we went to Seattle and went out for a warm up, and Seattle's a brilliant place to play, brilliant.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: And I remember walking back in the dress room and saying to like a couple of young boys, like, if you never make it to Europe, like soak this in.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: This is incredible.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: And and I remember thinking, like, I would have never said that in 2002.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: Like you couldn't have you couldn't have imagined these atmospheres.
25:34
SPEAKER_00: Seattle didn't even exist then, you know, as an MLS team.
25:37
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, the league has changed so much for the better.
25:39
SPEAKER_03: No, it's huge.
25:40
SPEAKER_03: It's huge.
25:41
SPEAKER_03: Listen, obviously, you're you're repping Syracuse, right?
25:44
SPEAKER_03: We talked about Allie, you know, playing playing college soccer uh for for the the mighty orange.
25:50
SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, about a year ago, I think we saw a video of you hopping in goal, take, take, taking part in a little challenge.
25:59
SPEAKER_03: Um, I've got two questions.
26:00
SPEAKER_03: One, is that going to get run back in terms of you um jumping back in goal?
26:06
SPEAKER_03: And then the second part of that question is how many days did it take you to recover from that afternoon?
26:13
SPEAKER_00: Listen, let's let's let's you and I can be real because we we sing from the same hymn sheet.
26:17
SPEAKER_00: Number one, I desperately hope Syracuse Orange Women andor men do not ask me to do anything physical on the field.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: That would be I would I would do it because I love the program, but God, that would hurt me.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, here's the craziest thing, Brett.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: The craziest thing.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: I try and keep myself fit physically in the gym, all that stuff.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: I swear to you, and you're going to appreciate this.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: I put on boots, gloves, whatever.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: I had the kit.
26:43
SPEAKER_00: I did like I said I'd go through a warm-up with the goalkeepers, right?
26:47
SPEAKER_00: Like a a little catching and some handling, some you know, a couple dives, up and overs.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: That was like it.
26:53
SPEAKER_03: That was his like match day minus one routine.
26:56
SPEAKER_03: Not hitting the ground.
26:58
SPEAKER_03: They game the next day, and he's like, uh, I'm not diving today.
27:01
SPEAKER_02: Just a couple of this, a couple of that, call it a day.
27:03
SPEAKER_02: Totally.
27:03
SPEAKER_00: So so it was one, but it wasn't even that.
27:06
SPEAKER_00: It was like we, I mean, I think they gave us like 10 minutes.
27:09
SPEAKER_00: So we did it, we did a few up and overs, just a few catches.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: Then I went in and what there was 10 penalties, and I I think I uh dove 10 times.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: I swear, Brad, I just swear to you.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: Did all the bits.
27:19
SPEAKER_00: We did the social media afterwards.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: I got in the car, got back to the hotel.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: My feet and my hips hanging off.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: Like, and I was thinking to myself, that that's not that's not possible.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: I I literally I did like I did like 10 minutes of actual goalkeeping activity, and I was cooked.
27:38
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't believe it.
27:39
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't believe it.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: Also, I was embarrassed as well because I got absolutely pasted, but here we are.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I love that.
27:45
SPEAKER_00: It was great.
27:46
SPEAKER_01: I feel like Brad's making the same noises too when he gets back in from staff and just like dog pieces, even though he's throwing four bicycle kicks out there.
27:53
SPEAKER_01: So that's behind me.
27:54
SPEAKER_01: That's just me, just trying to jump, you know.
27:56
SPEAKER_03: But it's like it's one of those where I'm like, well, what was I thinking?
27:59
SPEAKER_03: What was I thinking?
28:00
SPEAKER_03: And and one, my body's not meant for running, so now I'm out there.
28:04
SPEAKER_03: I say running hundred miles an hour.
28:06
SPEAKER_03: Use that use that term very loosely.
28:08
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but yeah, Tim, let's play a little something we like to call the stay silent challenge.
28:14
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna list off some goalkeepers for you here.
28:16
SPEAKER_01: Stay silent until you hear a goalkeeper better than Tim Howard.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: You ready?
28:21
SPEAKER_01: Oh, Jesus, I'm not gonna be silent very long.
28:25
SPEAKER_01: Scott Carson.
28:28
SPEAKER_01: Simone Mignolet, Asmir Begovich, Vojic Cheshire, Wayne Hennessy, Tim Crew, Roman Weidenfeller, Claudio Bravo.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: He killed me with the Liverpool yet.
28:54
SPEAKER_01: It was good, it was good, you more, you wore Ruin Patricio.
29:00
SPEAKER_01: Edwin Vandersar.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: For sure.
29:04
SPEAKER_01: Better check.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: Literally the best.
29:10
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
29:11
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, what?
29:12
SPEAKER_00: He's a god.
29:13
SPEAKER_00: John Luigi Buffon.
29:16
SPEAKER_00: Top two ever.
29:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: Smashed it.
29:19
SPEAKER_03: Unbelievable.
29:20
SPEAKER_03: That's unbelievable.
29:21
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I I I saw the list and I was like, we're we're we're getting down, we're getting down to the bottom.
29:26
SPEAKER_03: We're getting down to the bottom.
29:28
SPEAKER_03: And I was like, we need to throw some curveballs in there.
29:31
SPEAKER_03: But like those, those at the end.
29:33
SPEAKER_03: I mean, no disrespect to the names earlier in the list.
29:36
SPEAKER_03: But the ones that you named at the end, I mean, absolute legends of football and then legends of of the goalkeeping position.
29:45
SPEAKER_03: And we were fortunate to be able to be a part of you know those competitions and games and competing against these guys.
29:52
SPEAKER_03: You talk about Sir Alex running uh united in a way where you learned what it meant to be the best, and you're you're going up against it every single day.
30:00
SPEAKER_03: Uh to be able to go up against those guys, uh, unbelievable challenge.
30:04
SPEAKER_03: Timmy, we're we're coming to the end here, my man, but you know, very quickly, right?
30:08
SPEAKER_03: You're you've been an inspiration to so many kids, um, both on and off the field.
30:13
SPEAKER_03: And obviously on the field with your performances, how you've carried yourself, um, you know, to be a number one for as long as you have at the highest level, you know, someone that I learned from and was fortunate enough to be so close and see you work every single day and how you went about your business.
30:31
SPEAKER_03: Uh, it was a it was a true honor.
30:33
SPEAKER_03: Um, but you you also do a lot of advocating for off-the-field issues, right?
30:38
SPEAKER_03: And obviously, um Tourette syndrome and and your ability to to grow up and then just be an inspiration to so many kids, so many families um that maybe are dealing with something like that, right?
30:52
SPEAKER_03: What does that mean to you and to be able to have the platform that you have, to be able to talk to kids, to talk to families, and and continue to inspire so many years after after playing?
31:03
SPEAKER_00: Well, I appreciate that, Brad.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm you know, I with with my advocacy for Trett syndrome, I often say, like, I I want to be a voice for the voiceless until they are strong enough to speak and advocate for themselves.
31:15
SPEAKER_00: And um yeah, I I I was lucky or fortunate or or or a mix of the of the two.
31:23
SPEAKER_00: I had I had soccer and I was super talented, and that's that gave me a platform to try and achieve greatness, and yet I have this condition that's very obvious and very visual and very public.
31:35
SPEAKER_00: And so there was no hiding from it.
31:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I'm sort of thankful that I had that platform.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: And you know, we get we have opportunities to continue to um give give kids one um be able to advocate for themselves, but also just hope.
31:50
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, I'm one of those kids.
31:51
SPEAKER_00: I recently I recently watched a uh you know a documentary on on my idol, Mahmoud Abdul Raof and um formerly Chris Jackson.
32:01
SPEAKER_00: And the name of the the documentary is called Stand.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: And you know, that was literally when I I was diagnosed, I was born in 1979, I was diagnosed in 1989.
32:12
SPEAKER_00: Like there was nobody that looked like me.
32:14
SPEAKER_00: And then he was the first athlete that I was like, oh my god, like that's me, that's who I am.
32:19
SPEAKER_00: I think I saw a piece on you know, 60 Minutes or something, and I was like, Whoa, like and so that was inspirational.
32:25
SPEAKER_00: So then when I had the opportunity to have that platform, I tried to do a lot of the same things, and uh yeah, it's been really special.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: But neurodiversity is so much um more out in the open now, and that's you know, I'm obviously really proud of that.
32:36
SPEAKER_00: It's not just Tourette syndrome, there's so many um neurodiverse issues out there, and and so many athletes that deal with it.
32:42
SPEAKER_00: Oh, not just athletes, but a lot of young kids.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: And um, it's important that we speak about it and then we celebrate it.
32:48
SPEAKER_03: Love that, man.
32:48
SPEAKER_03: You're you're reaching greatness off the field just as much as you reach it on the field.
32:53
SPEAKER_03: Last one, my man.
32:55
SPEAKER_03: The game of football.
32:56
SPEAKER_03: What does it mean to you?
32:59
SPEAKER_00: Uh the game of football is my life.
33:01
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I think I I wrestled with that for a long time, right?
33:06
SPEAKER_00: Because you don't want to be you want to be known as something else, right?
33:10
SPEAKER_00: Like there's so much pressure.
33:11
SPEAKER_00: When you're like me and you and you you become a professional athlete, that means you were pretty great since you were 10 years old.
33:17
SPEAKER_00: And you know, you just you constantly are trying to figure out who who you are.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: And then when it all comes full circle, football's my life.
33:25
SPEAKER_00: It's given me all the great things that I know.
33:28
SPEAKER_03: Amazing, Timmy.
33:29
SPEAKER_03: Can't thank you enough for for jumping on the pod.
33:31
SPEAKER_03: We know you're a busy guy.
33:33
SPEAKER_03: Uh, appreciate you taking the time, man.
33:35
SPEAKER_03: Uh, always a pleasure to to catch up and uh give my best to the family.
33:39
SPEAKER_03: And uh we'll talk to you soon, man.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: You guys are the best.
33:41
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, man.
33:41
SPEAKER_03: Appreciate it.
33:47
SPEAKER_03: Timmy Howard, always a pleasure to get to catch up with you, man.
33:50
SPEAKER_03: Appreciate you coming on.
33:52
SPEAKER_03: Fantastic guests, great goalkeeper, obviously.
33:55
SPEAKER_03: Uh fantastic guy as well.
33:57
SPEAKER_01: It's surreal to think that you guys were in the national team space for that long consecutively.
34:02
SPEAKER_01: Like the goalkeeping level of both of you guys, you kept it so high for so long.
34:06
SPEAKER_01: And to be able to see you guys just talk shop like this, too.
34:09
SPEAKER_01: Have you have you had that moment of giving each other flowers or just like, bro, what what a legacy we left.
34:14
SPEAKER_01: Have you had that yet individually with him?
34:16
SPEAKER_03: Uh I don't think about any legacy that I've left.
34:20
SPEAKER_03: I I certainly am appreciative of the legacy that he's left and and how he made me a better goalkeeper, uh, and the ability to work with him and train with him and you know, um, you know, be on the pitch and compete in that environment.
34:34
SPEAKER_03: And so um, you know, I'm appreciative of of that side of it.
34:38
SPEAKER_03: But yeah, uh, I I don't know if you ever kind of recognize afterwards the legacy or whatnot, just because it was never about that.
34:49
SPEAKER_03: It's certainly not about that now.
34:51
SPEAKER_03: It's you just wake up and go about your business and do it.
34:55
SPEAKER_01: Two competitors, too, man.
34:56
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's just the mindset that you guys have.
34:58
SPEAKER_01: For sure, for sure.
34:59
SPEAKER_01: All right.
34:59
SPEAKER_01: Listeners, we're gonna get stuck in now to another Home Depot mailbag, always delivered on time, just like a Home Depot delivery.
35:05
SPEAKER_01: Speaking about the national team scene and camp coming up quickly, Brad, I wanted to ask you, of course, what do you remember about your very first call up to the US MNT?
35:14
SPEAKER_01: What year was it?
35:14
SPEAKER_01: Where were you when you got the call?
35:17
SPEAKER_03: Uh yeah, well, good question.
35:19
SPEAKER_03: Uh, it was a long time ago.
35:21
SPEAKER_03: Uh I just finished my first professional uh uh season with Chivus USA, rest in peace, uh, of course.
35:29
SPEAKER_03: Um, but I'd finished my first year uh as a professional uh in California, 2005.
35:35
SPEAKER_03: And so I was then invited.
35:38
SPEAKER_03: Um it was a couple weeks before Christmas of 2005.
35:42
SPEAKER_03: I was invited to January Camp in 2006, uh, which obviously back then January camp started right after New Year's Day.
35:50
SPEAKER_03: So I think it started on January 2nd or January 3rd.
35:53
SPEAKER_03: Right after you had to be there on the 2nd?
35:55
SPEAKER_03: On on the 2nd or on the 3rd.
35:58
SPEAKER_03: Um and that you know, as I mentioned, I I got an email.
36:02
SPEAKER_03: It wasn't a phone call.
36:03
SPEAKER_03: I got an email a few weeks before Christmas saying, congratulations, you've been selected.
36:07
SPEAKER_03: Uh we'd love to have you in camp, sort of thing.
36:10
SPEAKER_03: Uh, and I was super excited.
36:12
SPEAKER_03: The only problem was that we had booked a uh a vacation with my now wife Brie, and who obviously she's been on the podcast, but uh we had booked a vacation with her and her family, uh, a New Year's cruise, uh, which wasn't going to return back until like January 6th or 7th.
36:32
SPEAKER_03: So then I had uh break the news and tell her, well, guess what?
36:35
SPEAKER_03: I've been invited in national team camp.
36:37
SPEAKER_03: This is amazing.
36:38
SPEAKER_03: Uh, but at the same time, I'm not gonna be able to go on the vacation.
36:41
SPEAKER_03: So she was obviously excited for me, uh happy for me.
36:44
SPEAKER_03: I didn't really understand it because Chiva SA that first year, we were terrible.
36:48
SPEAKER_03: I didn't think I was very good and conceded a lot of goals.
36:51
SPEAKER_03: Uh expecting it at all.
36:53
SPEAKER_03: We didn't win many games, and then all of a sudden getting invited to national team camp.
36:57
SPEAKER_03: And and you know, of course, I was thinking, oh, I've got an opportunity to go to a World Cup next next summer, 2006, uh in Germany, uh, not realizing that obviously all the Europeans weren't called into camp, and most of that team was based in in Europe at the time.
37:12
SPEAKER_03: And so um uh I dropped everything, was ready to go, and went to January camp for the next back then, those camps were I want to say six weeks long, maybe seven weeks long, because preseason for MLS back then didn't start until the end of February.
37:28
SPEAKER_03: Okay, and so it was it was quite a long off season.
37:31
SPEAKER_01: Wow, man.
37:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
37:32
SPEAKER_01: So where were you when you got the email?
37:35
SPEAKER_01: And also, how did you pull up your email, dog?
37:37
SPEAKER_01: We're talking 06.
37:38
SPEAKER_01: Like, what was that?
37:39
SPEAKER_01: A blackberry?
37:40
SPEAKER_01: It's a brick the size of this.
37:42
SPEAKER_03: I I don't even know if it was on my phone, to be honest.
37:44
SPEAKER_03: Uh, it was probably a big old box computer with dial-up internet.
37:50
SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
37:51
SPEAKER_03: Uh I don't know exactly where I mean I'm I'm guessing I was probably back in Chicago since it was it was the offseason at that point.
37:58
SPEAKER_03: Uh we certainly didn't make the playoffs that first year.
38:01
SPEAKER_03: As I mentioned, we were terrible.
38:03
SPEAKER_03: Um but yeah, it was uh so I'm I'm gonna say in somewhere in Chicago, and probably with my parents, but yeah, on the computer, which was not as convenient as uh or as compact as as cell phones are today these days.
38:18
SPEAKER_01: No way.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: When you think about everything that you and Bree have have been through as a couple, too, right?
38:23
SPEAKER_01: Were you nervous in that moment?
38:24
SPEAKER_01: Being like, hey honey, I gotta try and get a refund here for this cruise.
38:28
SPEAKER_01: And it's it's never stopped since then, you know.
38:30
SPEAKER_01: Like you guys have been all over the world together and gone through everything of a a footballer family's lifestyle.
38:36
SPEAKER_03: What's that mean like in the the early days?
38:39
SPEAKER_03: She was like, I I know that you play soccer, but I didn't expect to be having the experiences that we've had throughout our lives and um our oldest two being born in the UK and you know, everything that has come with this journey of of professional soccer, professional football.
38:56
SPEAKER_03: And so um that part has been amazing, extremely thankful and grateful for the opportunities that we've had.
39:02
SPEAKER_03: Uh, but yeah, those early days, it was like, you're doing what?
39:05
SPEAKER_03: You're skipping a vacation to go to this?
39:08
SPEAKER_03: Like, what is this?
39:09
SPEAKER_03: You know, gouse, bro.
39:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, worked out in the end.
39:12
SPEAKER_01: Worked out in the end.
39:13
SPEAKER_01: Definitely worked out.
39:14
SPEAKER_01: Thanks, guys, for tuning in to another edition of the Home Depot Mad Bag, always delivered on time, just like a Home Depot delivery.