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If Tab Ramos Ran U.S. Soccer… · Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If tomorrow was the Stanley Cup finals and a team
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: loses 4-3 in overtime and you threw me at the
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: press conference, I could probably answer all the questions. You know,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I could get in there and say, well, you know,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: if we only, if we only would have pressed the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: puck a little bit harder, you know, we, we fell asleep,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to Inside American Soccer.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: I am USMNT insider Tom Bogert, and I'm joined by
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: one of the greatest players in USMNT history, Tab Ramos. Tab,
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: I was doing a little yard work this morning while
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: taking calls. So I come in looking a little bit
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: less spiffy than you for people who are watching on YouTube.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: He's got a really nice fresh blue polo on first,
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: second day of school action tab. You, uh, looking pretty nice.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Uh, thanks. I appreciate that. I, you know, I, uh,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: I have to say, I really liked the yard work part.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: So I, you know, I wish I was doing a
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: little bit more of that because I truly enjoy it. Um,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: but I have to say, you know, I'm excited. You know,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: we started our school yesterday and, uh, We've got a
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: bunch of kids here that are going to be with
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: us all the way until June 14th, until the end
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: of the school year. We're excited about it. It's been
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: two years of planning to get here. It was a
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: great day yesterday, the way we started, and we're looking
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: forward to the rest of the week and the rest
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: of the year.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Obviously, it'd be more fun to talk about the soccer
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: aspect of everything you're doing right now with youth development
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: and the school side. But more of the boring side,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: the administrative, I'm always interested at people, obviously, that come
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: from the sports world like yourself, all of the achievements
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: on the field and coaching and everything. You like to
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: be tied to the game. How much of the administrative, going, paperwork,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: getting permits, those kinds of things, were you hands-on for
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: that kind of thing too? And are you somebody that
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: can do that without it being difficult? Because my brain
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: would melt trying to do that side of the aspect.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: No, I mean, and that's a great question and it
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: would take forever for me to finish, uh, finishing to
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  Speaker 1: answer that. No, but, uh, to be honest, I have
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: a great partner, uh, John Saunders, who's, uh, you know,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: really it was his idea a couple of years ago to,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: you know, it was his sort of his, uh, it was,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: it was his idea to come to me and sort
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: of pitch it. We had worked together before and, and
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: he's done like an amazing job in the, and what
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: you're talking about, the, the, the backend platforms to get
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: all this going. Because there's the whole financial side, there's
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: the whole school side, there's the whole, like you said,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: the permit side. Because if you're going to start a
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: school in seventh grade, it's different than if you start
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: in sixth grade. You need different permits within the state
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: of New Jersey if you have sixth grade and below
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: than if you have seventh grade and above. So all
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: of those things, I'm familiar with all of them, but
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: I'm not hands-on with all of them, although I know
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: what's going on at all times.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: No, good for you. I was hoping that you were
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: going to say that. Nope, I've got, you know, they
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: say it's good. They do it. They're the experts. I
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: handle the soccer side of things. Wash my hands of
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: that because for somebody like me, I'm just straight up
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: incapable of a lot of the other things, which is
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: not great in terms of a well-rounded human being. But
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: I know my shortcomings. So glad that, unsurprisingly, you don't
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: have the same ones. But let's get into the U.S.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: men's national team. The European seasons have started. We got
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: a couple surprise starters from in and around the national team.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: I don't know if Younes Moussa counts as in and
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: around the team anymore. But, Tab, Younes Moussa was on
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: the starting 11 for AC Milan and Ruben Abraham's debut.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Chris Pusik was not. As he continues to recover from injury,
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: he should be back soon. But, Tab, Younes Moussa, first
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: of all, I thought he was for sure not going
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: to be playing for AC Milan this year. And even
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: if he was technically on the books at this time,
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: I figured it was one of those train with the
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: reserves while we find you a move. And he's back.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: I have to say, I thought exactly like you, exactly
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: what you said, but you do know that I'm a
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: fan of Musa and I've always liked him and I,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: and I still like him and I'm, I'm very happy
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: to see that he played 90 minutes. He played in
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: the center of the field and he, although he didn't,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: you know, I didn't think he had a great game.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: I thought he did well enough and, but it's great
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: to see him play. He played 90 minutes, 90 minutes
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: for Milan. And, and I think, Listen, why not? I mean,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: this kid has, I think to me, he has always
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: proven he's a good player. And I wish he would have,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: you know, been able to get a better look going
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: into the last World Cup.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just weird that he hasn't. Like when he
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: was 18, 19, that looked like somebody who was going
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: to make 100 caps because he was just felt so
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: advanced for his age. So clean, composed and experienced for somebody.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: He was a calm presence. that I would be content
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: when the ball would come to his foot that, that
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: you just trust it. It kind of feels like he
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: hasn't progressed since then, which is just a surprise to me.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: There's been a few moves. Maybe the moves haven't been perfect,
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: but like hindsight's 2020. I don't think any of them
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: were dumb transfers, but he finds himself back in Milan
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: after a little bit of upheaval, get a new manager
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: comes in new style. Maybe this will help them. They
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: play the three of the backs of system. I want
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: to see him in a midfield, particularly if it was
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: like a midfield trio, but he can play that right
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: wing back role. So maybe there'll be more minutes for
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: him this season. Christian Pulisic, as I said, he didn't play,
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: but he was on the bench, which I was pleasantly
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: surprised by. But I was a little bit disappointed if
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: he was fit enough for the bench that he didn't play.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Maybe just a coach decision. Maybe just get him into
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: the team as he recovers. And I don't think that
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: there's any doubts that he'll be an integral part of
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Milan this year.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: No, and that's what Ameren has said over and over again,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: that he's a big part of this team. And so
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: we expect for him to start coming along. Obviously, he
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: was injured. You know, at least that's what we knew.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: And I'm sure his preseason is behind in comparison to
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: the rest of the players. And because of it, I
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: think he's probably not taking a chance with them at
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: this point. But I do think that Pulisic will end
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: up being a big part of Ameren's main group. And
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: he will have to be, right? Because he's at that
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: point where he needs to be one of the leaders
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: of this team.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Elsewhere in Italy, Juventus won. McKinney started again, of course.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: He played mostly attacking midfield, but if you look at
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: a Weston McKinney heat map, it's, you know, touchline to touchline,
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: endline to endline. He'll pop up wherever he does because
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: that's the kind of player he is. Nothing, you know,
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: to stand out in, you know, very good or very bad.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: He was just solid and they win 1-0 over Frozeon.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's all. I think that's a good thing when,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: you know, another week goes by and we can say
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: McKinney was McKinney this week. That's it.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: That's it.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: That's really what it's about. You know, we can count
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: on him. And, uh, he's, you know, definitely a key
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: on our national team and, uh, he can, you know,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: he keeps on trucking.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: That's it. It's, it's, it's fun that we're at a
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: stage where there's a regular key starter for Juventus and
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: we're just like, yeah, you know, next thing, what else
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: should we talk about? Because it's always funny looking back
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: at a dozen years ago, it'd be, yeah, we would
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: lead every single show. We did analyze every performance, talk about,
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: you know, every moment, you know, good, better and different. And,
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: We're at a good point with American exports and American
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: players in Europe that we can start with Milan or Juventus.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: We haven't talked about several players playing in the Premier
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: League yet that we'll get to. But we can move
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: to France where Tim Weah is captaining Marseille, Tab.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: That's huge. And, you know, this is a good point
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: you make about, you know, McKinney just playing at Juventus
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: every week. You know, it wasn't it wasn't, you know,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: more than a couple of decades ago where just getting
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: free tickets to a Juventus game was a good, you know,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: a good end. for an American in Europe. But, you know,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: McKinney is there every week. And now we have Tim
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Weah at Marseille. Here's another, you know, another one, another
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  Speaker 1: great club in Europe that's won, you know, Champions League.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: And it was great to see. Obviously, he played the
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: full 90s, the captain, important part of this team and
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: a great club. And he got to play against Reyna
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: for a little while, right? Because even Gio got a
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: few minutes at the end.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that was interesting. Good to see that he's playing
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: and playing well. Seems to be going to have a role,
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: at least at the beginning of the season. I was
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: a little bit dubious of that. I was a little
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: bit worried. So that's a good start for Gio Reyna. Again,
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: he played 20 minutes in that loss. Elsewhere in France,
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: Balogun was not in the matchday squad for Monaco. I'm
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: still expecting a departure before the end of the transfer window.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: That closes on September 1st in most places in Europe.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: We'll see where he goes. There's been reporting around Monaco
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: that they have a couple of signings lined up that
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: they're waiting on to finalize and pursue because they're waiting
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: for Balgin and another player to depart. And I'm assuming
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: that's why this has taken as long as it has
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: because at some point you have to get to the
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: crunch time of the transfer window. Will he or won't he?
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: With the buying clubs, are we going to try to
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: lowball because we know Monaco wants to sell? Is there
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: a number where Monaco would say, hey, we're just happy
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: to keep him? So I think it's just more about
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: a staring contest tab of the buying clubs or the
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: clubs that are interested in trying to get the very
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: best deal because they know Monaco are incentivized to sell
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: at this point, but Monaco partly are incentivized to sell
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: because they figured it would make the most sense this
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: summer if he's not signing a new contract. So there's
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: a lot going on here, but I still expect him
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: to leave.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And I, and I think that may be what happens. I,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: you know, I think we're seeing, could be seeing a
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: little bit of what, what happened with Pepe and PSV
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: at the beginning of the year where, you know, the,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: The deal was all set to go somewhere else. But
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: until PSV could find a replacement for him, they didn't
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: really want to move. And I think that might be
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: the case. I think at this point, Monaco may be
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: looking for the right type of forward to replace him.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: If there's one thing Monaco has done really, really, really
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: well over the last 10 years is get young players
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: and sell them for a lot of money. And I
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: think they know how to find the right talent. And
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: they're probably looking for the right talent at this point.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: to be able to have him step in as soon
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: as Flo is gone.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: In Spain, Alex Freeman, Jordi Cordoza, Johnny Cordoza, Villarreal played
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: Atletico Madrid. Neither of them. got off the bench. Both
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: were unused subs in their 2-2 draw. In England, Brendan
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: Arrington started for Leeds in a win. Chris Richards started
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: for Crystal Palace in a loss. Those are two guys
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: that are going to be key parts of their teams.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: Arrington will probably talk about more because that's the nature
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: of attacking players. And Chris Richards, as we've said all summer, is...
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: an anchor stalwart of this Crystal Palace team. We'll see
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: how they get on without Oliver Glasner as the manager.
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: I think that they'll be fine. Maybe they won't hit
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: the same exact heights. It'd be difficult for Crystal Palace
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: to hit the heights that they did over the last
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: two years because it was historic for their club. The
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: first two trophies in a century or half a century,
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: whatever it was, is not a team that had been
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: used to winning titles. And they win the FA Cup.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: They win the Conference League. So anything over the next
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: few years that isn't back-to-back relegations is going to be
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: gravy for this Crystal Palace team. And for right now,
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: Chris Richards will be a key part.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's how we look at it. I think,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: you know, in last week's show when, you know, we
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: spoke with Matt Doyle about, you know, he talked about
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Chris Richards potentially having the best season of any American
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: in Europe. He may, but I think this Crystal Palace
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: team will make it hard for him because, you know,
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: as we mentioned, you know, here's the thing about the EPL.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Even if you're a good team, now you switch coaches.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: You have someone new coming in. And the EPL is
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: just deadly. You know, the way the teams rebuild. I mean,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: look at what Chelsea's done. You know, look at the
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: money that's spent by all these teams to rebuild. And
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: it's hard for Crystal Palace to keep up. And at
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: some point you have to think, hey, you know what,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: they're going to have a down season. And I think
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: this is going to be a difficult season for them.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: I think he'll do well. I think Crystal Palace will
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: do well. But I think doing well may be, you know,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: landing somewhere between, you know, 13th and 16th. at the
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: end of the year. That might be doing well for them.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: And we'll see what they can do in a Europa
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: League run. That'll be very fun, particularly after they won
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: the Conference League. And you talk about the money spent
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: in England. Just look at the three promoted clubs, how
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: much money that they've thrown around. It's really something. We
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: all know the financial power that the Premier League has,
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: but man, Hull City are outspending, you know, like the
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: fourth team in Italy or give or take something. It's
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: really incredible. And it's difficult to be even a mid-table
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: English team because year over year, you can get dragged
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: down to a relegation battle because there's so many good
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: teams and there's so much money within that league. Maybe
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Middlesbrough will be there next year to have with the
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: three Americans trying to lead them to promotion. But yeah,
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of Americans playing abroad. One more that
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: I want to hit on is the American duo at PSV,
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: Ricardo Pappi, Serginio Dest. They both scored a big win.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Ho-hum for PSV in the Eredivisie. They are going to
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: be favorites. They're going to score a lot of goals.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: Both of these players will be starters for as long
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: as they're at the club. And, you know, ho-hum, all
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: is good there. Yeah.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: I mean, like you said, they score a lot of goals.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, they scored already nine goals in three games
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: to start the season PSV. So they're, you know, they're
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: underway again. You know, and I, and I do think
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: to give a little bit of credit to Ajax, who's
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: been obviously one of the bigger disappointments in world football
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: over the last few years. I mean, You couldn't describe
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: it any other way for Ajax. I'm hoping that this
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: new rebuild now will start to make them competitive. And
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: I think the Dutch league, you know, if you don't
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: have Ajax and Feyenoord being real competitive at the top
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: of the table, you know, with PSV, you can't think
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: much of the league, unfortunately. So I'm hoping that this
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: year is a little bit more competitive. Of course, PSV
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: is doing, you know, Ernie Stewart doing a great job
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: there with his team. But I'm hoping that Ajax and
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: Feyenoord really, really make a strong run this year.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: A couple of things. Stateside, Cabin Sullivan scored for the
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Philadelphia Union after he had a midweek red card against
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Inter-Miami rescinded, which I think was the right decision. And
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: as he started, he scores against Austin. Just playing really,
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: really well. Tab, I don't know how much you saw
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: of the Philly and Miami and the red card that
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: he got, but his brother is getting walked over by
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: Ian Frey. Quinn Sullivan kind of body slams him and
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: Cabin is the first one there. And it's very funny
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: because before the game, he had an interview with the
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: broadcaster and was just talking about like the Philly fighting mentality.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: And he meant it figuratively, not literally. And then he's
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: the first guy into kind of a fracas for his
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: literal brother, not just when you call your teammate your brother.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: He was there to back up Quinn. And while he
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: showed fight, like he got hands to his face multiple
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: times by a Miami player. And he held his cool,
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: which is much more than I could say about myself
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: at 16 or probably even 31. Somebody put their hands
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: on my face. So I give Kevin Sullivan credit. That's
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: why I was glad that he got vindicated by his
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: red card being rescinded and he scored for the union
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: against Austin. And he's again, I've said it a few times,
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: he's taken a leap and it's really, really fun to watch.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: No, I mean, I think it says a lot about, uh,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: Kevin and his, and his ability to be strong and
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: not be afraid. Right. I think that's how I see it.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think the incident was a big
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: deal to, to, to be honest. I, you know, I,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't hold it against him in any way. I mean,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: he just stepped in front of a team, but the
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: fact that he's.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: 16 years old, I mean, I mean, Are you serious?
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm just thinking of my kids at home
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: when they're 16 years old, you know, and, and, and
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: here he is, you know, he's stepping in front of,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: you know, grown men and, and saying, get, you know,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: get away from my brother here. And, uh, I, you know,
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: I give him a lot of credit as you know, Tom, uh,
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: and maybe this is a little bit of a New
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: Jersey thing too. You know, I, I like feisty players,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: you know, I like that. I, there's nothing wrong with
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: that at all. There's zero wrong. As a matter of fact, I, I,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: I think more of him now than I did before
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: because I, this kid's not afraid of anything. And by
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: the way, you know, we've been calling on the show already.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Is it three weeks where we said something's going on,
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: but he's different now than before the world cup. And
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: he's different so much that we think that he should
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: probably get called to the national team on the next one.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: And I, and I will continue to say that I
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: like what he's doing. I think this is not an
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: average player when you, when you watch them, regardless of
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: the age and the fact that he's 16 and he's
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: the dangerous player. uh, player on Philadelphia union. And when
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: he gets the ball that I'm anxious to see what
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: he's going to do next. I mean, I, I can't
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: find a negative single negative sign. Um, I think his
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: old plus signs for him and, and I hope to
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: see him on the national team soon. Yeah.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: You and me both. Um, I was speaking to people
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: at the union, um, was writing something about Kevin recently. And,
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: and they were like, during the world cup break, With
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: the players, I was very happy for them that they
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: all got time off, well-deserved time off, particularly the veterans.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: But Kevin Sullivan would have had every right to just
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: do training on his own, but more or less take
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: a beat. He came to the club and he said,
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: I want to keep playing. The second team is playing.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: I want to go train and play with them. And
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: he did. And this is a player that would have
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: every right to be like, I'm beyond the second team.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: Because he is. He has nothing left to prove there.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: It's not as if it would help his development for
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: long-term being there. But he's like, instead of taking a
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: few weeks off, I want to play. And he did.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: And he played in a closed door friendly against the
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: Ivory Coast for the Philadelphia Union, too. When the Ivory
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: Coast was camped in Philly ahead of the World Cup,
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: they were getting kind of minutes in their legs. Gavin
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: played against the Ivory Coast and he put up his
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: own highlight reel. And I was somebody who was at
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: the game was like, hey, like he showed like a lot.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: And like you saw the clip.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: He goes, he wasn't just that. Like he was defending hard.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: He was. Making simple plays, he was tracking back. He
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: didn't just show up in that game to be like,
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: I'm going to try to do some cool stuff because
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: it's a friendly. It's not my team. Who cares? It's
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: just really cool to see. And the people around the
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: club just constantly rave about his mentality. And I think
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: you're seeing it here. And I'm certain that he's been
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: putting in the extra time for a long time. It's
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: not just his God-given skill and the skill that he's honed.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: It's his continuing work rate. It's not just because he
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: was training over the World Cup break. It's things that
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: he's been doing for a long, long time. that we're
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: seeing him get this, this kind of breakthrough. He had
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: his first breakthrough of like playing time and now he's
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: the breakthrough of a really productive player.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And there's, you know, when you put it that way,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: there's nothing more than Philadelphia fans would want from an
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: athlete representing them. Right. He, I think he embodies everything
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: they would want to see. And, and that's really important.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: But by the way, this is, this is what we
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: want to see of our national team too. These guys, right.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Players like him who are fully committed, um, And this
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: is how you get better, by the way. Yeah, of course,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: he may be, in some people's eyes, he may be
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: past the Philadelphia 2 team, but these are all good
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: experiences for him, and I think he's taken full advantage
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: of them, and that's good to see, and that's why
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: I believe he'll continue to get better.
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: I agree. Last one here for me, Matt Turner and
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: Matt Freese played against each other this week at an MLS,
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: and the two of them were awesome in a 1-1 draw.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: Matt Freese, in particular, had a double save, a penalty,
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: and then the follow-up from Carlos Hill. It was really,
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: really good. So I thought it was fitting that the two,
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: the number one and number two at the World Cup
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: for the United States, they played really well in an
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: MLS game against each other. And there's still going to
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: be long-term questions about the goalkeeping spot, but these are
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: the two players who gobbled up all the minutes. They'll
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: obviously freeze more than Turner. And they played against each
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: other and both showed out this weekend's half.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it's good to see. Obviously, you know, we
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: can always talk about how, you know, we think that,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: you know, in terms of goalkeeping, we should be at
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: a different place than where we are now. But the
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: fact is, these are the best goalkeepers we have at
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: the moment. And I think we if we can if
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: we can support them and in particular be supportive in
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: moments when they're doing really well, like now, why not?
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: You know, we they need the confidence. And, you know,
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: as long as we can give it to them, I
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: think it only helps the team more.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: All right, that's the weekend recap around the U.S. men's
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: national team. But it's time for a quick break. Up next,
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: I'm going to ask Tab a couple of questions. So
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: please stick around. Rate, review, subscribe to Inside American Soccer
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: with Tom Boer and Sab Ramos wherever you get your podcasts.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: Welcome back. to Inside American Soccer. Tab, I want to
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: put you in the hot seat, throw a couple questions
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: at you, see where we go. We'll be a mix
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: of serious, fun, wherever we go. Who knows? I want
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: to start with one. We've dabbled on it a little
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: bit about whether it's development at U.S. Soccer, structure of
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: the federation, who's starting right back or goalkeeper center forward.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: I wanted to get your thoughts on kind of an
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: overarching question around the federation. If you were in charge
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: of U.S. Soccer, What is the one thing you do
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: in that day?
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Well, this, this is actually a, it's a great question.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: And we could take it. We could have some fun
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: with it, but I always like to say that, you know,
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm what, what my opinion is, I think
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: is based on not the years I played, because I
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: think when I played, I, I didn't learn enough about
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: the game. I only started to learn more about the
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: game when I started to, take my coaching licenses. That's
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: when I really truly started to learn about the game.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: And then in particular, more not only coaching through the
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: youth system, but when I started to coach at U.S. Soccer,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: when I had the opportunity to coach some of the
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: best players in the country and see what they look
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: like when they're 17 and 18 years old and 19
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: years old, and then becoming technical director of U.S. Soccer,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: I got to see all the way down to sort
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: of U14, all the best players. What is it that
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: they do? How can we make them better? How can
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: we provide better competition for them? And so I think,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: you know, sometimes when I speak, I, you know, I
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: speak based on my experience. And certainly I don't ever
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: think that I have all the right answers. I just
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: have an opinion and that's all that is. And hopefully
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: it's constructive. So I'd start answering your question by saying first,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: I would look if there was something that I could
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: change What I would change at U.S. Soccer is that
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: I feel like from a fan standpoint and from, let's say,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: a media standpoint and from coaching standpoint, everyone that's outside
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: of U.S. Soccer, I feel like there's just not enough
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: accountability at U.S. Soccer. But I don't say that in
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: general because there's anyone in particular not doing a good job.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: I'm saying accountability only because I'm saying Like, I'd like
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: to know who is responsible for different things. Right. So,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: for example, you and I could start talking right now
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: about youth development and and we could talk about scouting
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: for U.S. soccer, for example. Right. So most people will
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: think like when something comes to us as news from U.S. soccer,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: it will be U.S. soccer says X. Right. U.S. soccer
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: is now going to change youth development and make it
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: this way. us soccer scouting system is now going to
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: look this way. You know, when us soccer names, a
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: new national team coach, it's usually us soccer names, a
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: us national team coach. Um, you know, I think if
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: there was one thing I could change is I would
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: make people responsible. So I would, what I would do
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: is I would name certainly a technical director for the
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: men's side. And I would name a technical director for
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: the women's side. Um, That's in charge of running the
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: soccer park so that we, all of us, and I say,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: we obviously not me. I say fans, I say coaches
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: out in the market, players, everyone else, media. They know
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: who to go to so that we have someone to
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: ask questions to, because I think sometimes when someone gets
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: hired at us soccer, where there's this senior national team
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: coach or somebody that works in scouting, the, it comes
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: to us from us soccer and it doesn't come with
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: the right answers from the right people. So if, for example,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: JT Batson was going to tell us that, you know,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: was going to come out next week and announce that U.S.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: soccer is doing something new for the youth. Who do
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: we ask the questions to? Why can't we have a
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: technical director who is in charge of this, who has
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: maybe a press conference once a month to explain where
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: we are, where we're going, where that's above the day
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: in and day out. But someone who is responsible for
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: our sort of our our our our way, our our our,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: our ideas about how we're going to develop our style
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: of play, all of those things at the moment. Let
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: me give you an example. Let me, you know, if
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: for whatever reason, Mauricio Pochettino doesn't work out over the next,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: you know, 12, 18 months. And we decide, Hey, this
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: is terrible. I'm not saying this is going to happen,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: but Hey, this is terrible. We have to get rid
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: of the coach. who do we ask about that? Like who,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: who was the person? And I know that we answered
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: that on this show. We said, okay, well it was
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: health voyage and it was JT Bassett and it was
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Cindy Cohen. And it was a bunch of other people
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: who helped them. No, no, no. But who, who, who
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: has the idea that this coach is going to take
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: us to a certain place. And by the way, that's
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: just the coaching side. I would say the same for
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: our style of play. I would say the same for
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: our youth national teams. I would say the same for
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: our scouting, right? There has to be somebody. It can't
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: be Osaka. So if there was one thing I would
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: change is I would make people responsible, people that we
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: can ask questions of. That's all.
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: That's very interesting. And I didn't see you going that way,
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: but I do like that as an answer. As a follow-up,
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: so when you were... I guess that you didn't do
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: a ton of press conferences at U20. When you were
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: the head coach of Houston Dynamo, how did you... did
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: you enjoy handling media? How, how often were you as
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: honest as you could be? How did you kind of
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: manage that side of your job when you were an
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: MLS head coach?
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Um, I don't know if there's anybody that enjoys press conferences. Um,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: and I, but maybe, um, I think I was always,
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: I think I was always good to the media, you know,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: whatever they ever required from me, I was there. Um,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: I always showed my face and took the blame for losses.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: I always gave the credit to the players for wins.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: I think I did all the things that a coach
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: is supposed to do. But let's be honest, Tom. By
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: the way, I don't watch hockey. I don't watch hockey.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: But if tomorrow was the Stanley Cup Finals and a
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: team loses 4-3 in overtime... and you threw me at
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: the press conference, I could probably answer all the questions.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: You know, I could get in there and say, well,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: you know, if we only would have pressed the puck
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: a little bit harder, you know, we fell asleep. You know,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: you can answer. All the answers are the same. So
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: press conferences are, you know. Now, because I think it's different, right?
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: I think it's different, you know, when you– after a game.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: And I think, I think it's different when you're asking about,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: you know, midterm goals and long-term goals. And, and this
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: is what we're doing. And, you know, we're going to
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: play four, three, three, and we are looking for players
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: in our account and in our scouting system who can
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: really receive defeat in the middle of the field that
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: can really, we're going to be a national team four
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: years from now who wants to keep the ball all
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: the time. That's our idea. So then three, four years
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: from now, we can evaluate and say, Hey, you know what?
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: This has really failed. And you know what? Tap failed
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: with what he wanted to do because that's what he said.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: He's been telling us all along. He wants to play
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: this way. And by the way, all of the time
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: that we've had him in press conference, he said, this
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: is what we've done towards that goal. This is what
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: we're doing now towards that goal. So we're going in
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: a direction, which by the way, may not be the
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: right direction because, and as far as I know, by
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: the way, other than Johan Cruyff, um, I think, and
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: I would say Manny Chelsea, I did New Jersey, but
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: other than those two people, uh, Other than those two people,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: I would say most people at some point, regardless of
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: their ideas, at some point their ideas get old, right?
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: And they don't work anymore and somebody else comes on.
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: But I'd like to really be able to have conversations
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: with somebody who is qualified enough to answer all the questions.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: I bet that we could have done a fake pregame
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: and postgame press conference with you. Insert opponent X. You'd
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: be like, oh, they're a great team. They defend really well.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: They've got good structure. It's going to be difficult. We're
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: going to have to work hard to break them down.
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: And then say, you know, after the guy was a
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: good opponent, we were lucky. We worked hard. We were fortunate.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: I bet that you could have had all of those
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: lines ready to go. Like you said, two different things
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: between planning a big picture and a head coach having
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: to do that.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because I think a technical director position is much different, right?
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: You cover a lot. So you cover, obviously, you have
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: your senior national team, and now you pick a coach
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: that's going to pick First of all, you have an
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: overarching style of play of what you want your country
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: to look like. And now you pick a national team coach.
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: That's just one little part of it. You pick a
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: national team coach who may last a couple of years
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: or may not. And then you have your style of
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: play that you're developing through your youth national teams. And
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: then you have your scouting that brings the players into
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: the national team. They're all underneath your overarching way that
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: you want to play. So now any question that you
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: can answer, all these things are connected to the top,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: to this is what we're going to look like at
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: the end, right? So that's sort of, if I had
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: to look for something, that's kind of, and forget all
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: the C-level executives that have some answers and, you know, okay,
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: you played soccer 30 years ago, that's great, you know,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: and it's good that you know that it's 11 against 11.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: That's all you need to know. The rest of it,
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: just go get some money so that we can run
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: all the programs. That's how I feel about the C-level executives.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: But then let's have some soccer people that can answer
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: the questions, you know, because there's a lot of kids
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: out there. There's a lot of coaches out there that
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: really need a direction, right? And if they knew, Hey,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: look what our national program is doing. Look what they're
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: doing for the youth national team. We want to do that.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: We want to be part of that. And that's connected
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: to the coaching education and everything else, which of course
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: it's all connected now. I'm not inventing anything by the way.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: This is all connected already. I would just like to
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: see someone who can give us the message in terms
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: of like, this is exactly, I'm the soccer person. This
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: is what we're doing, right? Instead of hearing it from
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: an executive, which really doesn't connect with me or coaches
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: or players or anyone that's really in soccer every day.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: That's very interesting. One, one more on like the, the
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: youth side of things. What is the, like, what is
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: the right balance, particularly in a country so large as
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: ours of trying to have a, you know, centralized style,
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: like a continuous style. So that when you go from
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: the U 15 youth national team, the U 17 to
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: the U 21s into this, that there's continuity and you're not,
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: having brand new kind of tactics and ideas and everything
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: versus like the diversity of talent, thought, skills across the
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: country as large as ours. How do you, where do
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: you find a middle ground in, we want to have
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: principles that everybody is learning or everybody cares about, but
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: also we don't want to make tab, as you've said
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: in the past, every Academy game, 4-3-3 playing out of
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: the back, center backs go wide, the DMs, like every
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: team trying to play the same way.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, and that's a great question because I would
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: answer that by saying, you know, Spain is kind of
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: the same. You know, Spain, we know Spain for playing
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: a certain style, right? But yet in Spain, if you
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: look at a... Let's forget the Barcelona players because we
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: know they play exactly how the Spanish national team play.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: So let's take a player from Basque country, right? Bilbao,
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: Real Sociedad, Eibar, like that area. And let's take players
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: from Seville, like, you know... betis sevilla you know uh
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: in in the lower part of spain andalusia granada malaga
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: like completely different these are like different countries in terms
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: of soccer like in andalusia they like to see the
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: flashy players who make a couple of you know you
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: know flashy moves here and there and they like the
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: you know the the the fancy style of play let's
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: say whereas in basque country they like serious players who
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: work hard those guys are gonna wear and by the
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: way i'm not saying they're Certainly not bad players. Xavi Alonso,
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: all these guys are all Basque guys. But there's a
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: certain style to who they are, right? And the same
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: you can say for Galicia and La Coruña and Celta
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: Vigo and those kind of clubs, right? So they're all different,
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: but they all blend into the national team because that's
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: the way the national team play. Ultimately, someone has to
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: make the call and say, this is the way we're
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: going to play. And then you start picking players that
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: fit into your system.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: When maybe maybe one more one more youth development for
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: serious one before I hit you with a couple more
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: fun ones. Twofold.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: One, I.
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: Know that you appreciate talent from everywhere in the country.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: There's arguments about is Florida the best for soccer players,
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: Southern California, New Jersey or the tri-state area, maybe or.
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: Where would you say is the best St. Louis? Again,
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: you go on down the list, there's plenty of places
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: where pro players come from. Where was consistently the best
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: areas for soccer or was it always changing?
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: No, it's been pretty consistent over the year that in general,
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: let's just say in general, the best players were coming
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: from Southern California and from Dallas, Texas. That's sort of
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: the two areas where you can say, hey, there's a
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: number of players who And that's, by the way, based
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: on a type of player. And that was usually the
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: skillful player, the player that was really comfortable on the ball.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: And that's why those players could always fit into any
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: team you put together. Right. Whereas, you know, New Jersey,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: of course, we've had skillful players in New Jersey. You know,
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: Claudia Reina, you can go on with the list because
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: we've had a lot. We've been really fortunate. But. But
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: there's also that hardness about the New Jersey players. So maybe,
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: you know, there may be a coach who's coaching a
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: team who says, I can only use a couple of
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: those guys. You know, I don't want too many. You know,
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: there's the northern part in the Midwest. And what is
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: that known for? It's known for having players a little
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: bit like, let's say, like Basque country, right, where the
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: players are hard. You know, of course, you're going to
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: have some that are really skillful, some that are just
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: really only physical. But, you know, the bottom line with
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: those guys are going to be like, They're going to
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: work hard all the time, just like the New Jersey
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: players are going to fight all the time. You know,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: the players from that part of the country, they're always
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: going to work hard. And then the players in Dallas
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: are going to have a good combination of both being
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: skillful and being able to cover ground and wanting to win, right?
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: And the LA players are a little bit more of the,
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: in general, the flashier players, the players with the most
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: skill of anyone else, right? So you start picking things
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: apart and then you can still put a team together
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: with people who fit into what you want to do.
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: In your playing career, or I guess coaching career, maybe
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: we would leave Metro Stars out of it because you're
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: going to be biased of where you're from. What was
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: your favorite place to live?
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: Oh, wow. You know, I love living in Seville. Seville
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: is such a great place. You know, the food. And,
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: and just the city, you know, was huge, but I
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: really enjoyed also living in Figueres. You know, the first
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: team I signed in Europe was called UE Figueres, which was,
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: it was, it was a little town right on the coast,
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: right next to France, you know, 35 minutes north of Girona, about,
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: you know, 40 minutes south of Perpignan, France. So it
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: was right on the Mediterranean. It was just a beautiful
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: place to live. So. I was lucky to be able
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: to live in those. But I would definitely pick Spain
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: if I had to pick a country to live in.
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: That's really cool. Going to go back then. So we're coaching.
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: We went pro. College. Any good NC State stories come
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: to mind? I pulled up your stats. Obviously, they're top
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: 10 in program history. All of that good stuff. But
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: when you think about your days at college soccer, what
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: comes to mind?
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: Wow. I'll start.
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: Three-time All-American, by the way, for the people listening.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: No, I'll start with a negative one. So my freshman
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: year when I went to NC State, obviously I wanted
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: to go pro, but unfortunately I got drafted by the
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: Cosmos that year and the league was going to fold.
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: It was the last year of the league, so it
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: was recommended to me to go to college because NASL
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: was going to fold. So if I went to the NASL,
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: I would be there one year And then I'd have to,
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: now I lose my college eligibility. So that's what it was.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: Right, right, right.
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: So I went to NC State and I played my
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: freshman season. I was with our U20s actually. So I
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: got to NC State because of our World Cup qualifying
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: went into, I think early September, maybe like the first week.
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: So I missed like the first two games at NC State.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: I think I got in, me and a couple other
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: guys that were in the youth national team, by the way,
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: that we all went to NC State. So we missed
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: the first couple of games. We joined, I think the
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: third game and played the rest of the season. The
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: season was average at best. And I remember sitting in
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: college in January at one point, just sitting in my
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: room going, kind of thinking, well, what am I doing?
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: What am I doing? I thought I was going to
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: be a professional player. Here I am in college. I actually,
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: you know, I got to school about two weeks ago.
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: I haven't even touched a ball in two weeks. This
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: is the first time in my life, like I hadn't
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: even touched a ball. You know, I just, I got there,
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: I started to go to class and then it was,
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: we were going to start training the following week, but
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: I hadn't touched a ball in a couple of weeks.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: And then, so then the, then started to come together
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: a little bit more. Obviously I, I had a great
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: coach in George Starantini who was connected overseas because his
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: brother had played in the world cup and he's the
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: one that started to connect me to some trials in
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: Europe and things like that, which at the time, you know,
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: back then it was really difficult for any, obviously any
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: American guy to go to Europe and play. Um, But
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: but yeah, I mean, in general, I love NC State.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: You know, we had great teams at one point. I
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: think we have we had five U.S. U-20 national team
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: players and four Nigeria U-20 national team players. So we
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: we had great teams. But I'd have to say overall
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: in all of my years, we made it to the
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: NCAAs every year. But we were like we were like
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: the biggest disappointment in the country year after year. So
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: it was, uh, in general, it was not good.
• 38:46
  Speaker 2: I mean, what happened? Do you have, do you have one,
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: one year where you were like, maybe it was your
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: last one or was there any like, God, I can't
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: believe that we didn't win.
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, my junior year, um, I mean, I want
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: to say we likely had the best team in the country.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: Clemson ended up winning two national championships when I was there.
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: So they were like right down the road. But, uh,
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: but I remember, I think my junior year we were ranked, uh, fairly,
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: you know, we're always in the top five or six and,
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: And I think my junior year, we got a really
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: high seed in the region. I think we're number one
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: in the South, which was good for us because we
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: got a bye in the first round and we hosted
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: Duke in the second round. So we thought, okay, that's
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: pretty easy. You know, you know, uh, by first round
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: and we host the second round and we hosted the
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: second round and lost it. So, so we didn't even
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: win a game. We thought we were going to win
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: the national championship and we didn't even win a game.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: So yeah, that was not a, it was not a
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: great year for us.
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: Um, one more or one more topic. Again, I want
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: to read to the people listening. At St. Benedict's Prep,
• 39:51
  Speaker 2: Sabramo scored 161 goals in four years. Do the math,
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: people listening. From whatever age, 13 or 14 to 17
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: or 18, 161 goals playing high school soccer from the midfield,
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: including 57 your senior year. Is that the most fun
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: you've ever had playing soccer? I can't imagine anything like that.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, think about it. If you look at
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: the quantity of goals, that's still not what Messi or
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: Ronaldo did at the highest level.
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: You played for three months. Okay, well, that's true.
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: Actually, it was only 20 games in the season.
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: So I did play exactly 80 games.
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: I played 80 games.
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: I played 80 games.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: No, but I'll tell you the funniest part of that.
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: The funniest part is that I went to St. Benedict's
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: as a seventh grader, but they had me go practice
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: with the varsity. And they put me on the freshman team.
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: I never went to eighth grade. I skipped eighth grade.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: So I went right to high school. I scored 27
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: goals my freshman year, but I was really an eighth grader.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: I wasn't even a freshman.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: That's so funny. But that was fun that, you know,
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: because on top of it, you know, I was playing
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: some of the guys on my team where some of
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: them were wrestlers getting ready to for their season. And,
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: you know, our season records were normally 13 and seven or,
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: you know, it wasn't like we were just killing everybody.
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: But but yeah, it was a lot of fun. I
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: love St. Benedict's. That was a great time.
• 41:26
  Speaker 2: But like for people in New Jersey, but growing up
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: when I did like St. Benedict, St. Benedict's was like
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: it and still is an absolute powerhouse. So I just
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: assumed that you were there because they were the best school.
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: Getting closer and closer with you and relearning all of
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: these kind of older stories of like, oh, no, like
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: that was just another team. And then you guys showed
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: up and then all of a sudden you're a powerhouse.
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: Well, my freshman year, I remember because it wasn't my
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: freshman year. I was just an eighth grader. but St.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: Benedict's had never had a winning season in soccer.
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: That's insane to me.
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: So, so I get the St. Benedict's and I'm like, yeah,
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: this is the funny part. Cause father Edwin, who's the
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: headmaster there. And they had a, they had a soccer coach.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: I was a soccer coach was also basketball or something
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: like that at the time. And, uh, and they bring
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: me in for a tryout and the try, wait, wait,
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: the tryout. I go in with my parents and, and they, uh,
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: And the tryout was I had to dribble around cones
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: and I had to juggle the ball. That was the tryout.
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: Were you nervous?
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: No, but I'll tell you this. I'll tell you this.
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: We did a tour of St. Benedict's. And this tells
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: you about my parents and my family, everything you need
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: to know. But we go to St. Benedict's. We go
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: through the whole tour. And then we go back home,
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: back to Kearney. And when I get back there, my
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: parents go, so what did you think of the tour
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: of St. Benedict's? And I said, ah, I said, yeah, well, really,
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: I don't want to go there, you know, because I
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: got to take the 39 bus to go there. I said,
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: I don't want to go there. And they're like, oh,
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: you know, that's too bad because we decided that you're
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: going to go there. That's the way, that's the way,
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: that's the way it worked with my parents. So then
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: it was like, then I knew like for my freshman year,
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: I had to take the public bus to get to Newark,
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: you know, but that's kind of how, that's kind of
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: how that worked.
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: Legendary school, legendary time. Tab, thank you for letting me
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: go on a long winded, ride there for a bunch
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: of questions. Thank you all for listening. I could do
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: this forever, but we'll cut it here. Thanks again for
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: tuning in to Inside American Soccer. Please rate, review, and
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: subscribe wherever you got your podcasts.