Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Nedum Onuoha on the World Cup, USMNT's great start, Could France vs Senegal be the game of the tournament (?) + more

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Nedum Onuoha on the World Cup, USMNT's great start, Could France vs Senegal be the game of the tournament (?) + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

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Speaker 1: We me.
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Speaker 2: You were listening to the Sean O'Connell Show for the
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Speaker 2: Murdoch Hunting Studio DESPN seven hundred and ninety two to one,
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Speaker 2: A f am.
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Speaker 3: Talk to talk a little soccer, little football here on
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Speaker 3: the Sean O'Connell Show. World Cup action starts up again
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Speaker 3: here in about twenty four minutes, full slate again today.
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Speaker 3: You had four games yesterday, all four of them ended
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Speaker 3: up draws Spain, Cape Verd, Belgium, Egypt, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia,
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Speaker 3: New Zealand, Iran. All of those games yesterday ended in
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Speaker 3: ties Spain and Cabot was a scoreless time.
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Speaker 4: We'll talk about all of it with our next guest.
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Speaker 3: ESPN Soccer analysts former RSL Man Natum on WOA.
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Speaker 4: Joins us here on the Sean O'Connell Show. Natum, Welcome
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Speaker 4: to the show. How are you, sir?
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Speaker 1: I'm superb. How are you?
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Speaker 3: I'm doing great, Excited to talk a little World Cup.
1:01
Speaker 3: I will freely admit that, you know, soccer is not
1:05
Speaker 3: exactly my wheelhouse, but kind of like with the Olympics,
1:08
Speaker 3: I get caught up in the hype every four years,
1:11
Speaker 3: and I have found that especially with this as a
1:13
Speaker 3: North American World Cup played in cities and oftentimes in
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Speaker 3: stadiums I've been to. I've seen, I've watched, you know,
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Speaker 3: the regular denizens of those stadiums occupy. It's really really
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Speaker 3: fascinating to see the way that, you know, the international
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Speaker 3: community has descended upon North America and these American stadiums
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Speaker 3: in particular. And I just kind of wanted your perspective on,
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Speaker 3: you know, what this World Cup really means, especially as
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Speaker 3: a North American World Cup and the one being played
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Speaker 3: in the United States, where Team USA off to a
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Speaker 3: really good start. We can get to that here in
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Speaker 3: a second, but just a host nation that probably needs
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Speaker 3: a little good pr right now, and I think I
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Speaker 3: think that the tournament is providing it, at least so far.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it certainly is. I think in terms
1:59
Speaker 1: of trying to describe what this tournament means, I think
2:01
Speaker 1: it depends on your own perspective as such. But I
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Speaker 1: love the fact that in North America now we're getting
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Speaker 1: a chance to see how significant the World Cup is.
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Speaker 1: I think somebody like yourself and millions of others, you know,
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Speaker 1: they know soccer. They don't necessarily appreciate soccer. They casually
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Speaker 1: watch soccer, but you very quickly realize that fans from
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Speaker 1: all around the world, like this tournament is everything to them,
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Speaker 1: and that's why they travel from far and wide to
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Speaker 1: get a chance to come to watch their team wherever
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Speaker 1: they're playing. Like why there's so many Scotts in Boston,
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Speaker 1: you know, why there's so many Argentinians in this place,
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Speaker 1: Why there's so many people in that place, and as
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Speaker 1: well you get the people from around the country as
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Speaker 1: well who have links to these other countries coming forward
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Speaker 1: and you get a chance to feel the atmosphere because
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Speaker 1: for these guys, the soccer, the games is everything to them.
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Speaker 1: This is their identity. I think even you look at
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Speaker 1: the very first game that was had and Rajmanez scores
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Speaker 1: a goal for Mexico and you see him brought to tears,
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Speaker 1: but they're people crying in the stadium as well, the
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Speaker 1: people around Mexico almost brought to tears. You see the
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Speaker 1: goal when Canada scored in Toronto, and from all those
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Speaker 1: fans as well, and for USA, I think it was
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Speaker 1: eighteen million people watched the game. The very first game
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Speaker 1: against Paraguay, which was I believe was a telecast record
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Speaker 1: in English language, so you see the significance and you
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Speaker 1: see how other teams feel about the tournament as well,
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Speaker 1: and it's been very very well supported so far, and
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Speaker 1: they've been single games as well.
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Speaker 3: How surprised were you by that result against Pardaguay for
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Speaker 3: the US men's national team. You know, four to one
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Speaker 3: is probably not what a lot of people had on
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Speaker 3: the bingo card. They got the scoring started early and
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Speaker 3: really dominated a lot of that game. And Paraguay is
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Speaker 3: a decent squad. I don't know, you know much better
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Speaker 3: about you know, where they stack up with the rest
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Speaker 3: of this field. But were you surprised by that first
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Speaker 3: game result for USA?
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Speaker 1: Think, I think two things can be true, and I
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Speaker 1: think Paraguay very much underperformed, But then I also believe
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Speaker 1: some of that was because the USA were excellent. And
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Speaker 1: I think when we talk about the USA in particular,
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Speaker 1: do you know the Golden Generation talk, then a lot
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Speaker 1: of it's been about potential, and I think for the
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Speaker 1: last few years, knowing this tournament's coming up, this is
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Speaker 1: the thing that's had the big circle around it. How
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Speaker 1: are they going to perform in this competition? It's based
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Speaker 1: at home for them, and they were very much on
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Speaker 1: the front foot. They put so much pressure on Paraguay,
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Speaker 1: the noises up in the crowd, the players well and
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Speaker 1: truly up for it, and they basically took total control
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Speaker 1: of the game, which was a surprise to many. But
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Speaker 1: I think when you see how good those players are,
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Speaker 1: should understand that this is a type of thing that
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Speaker 1: can happen. I think it's worth not going too far
4:23
Speaker 1: in terms of excitement, believe and that everything is going
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Speaker 1: to be positive now, because football soccer can hit you
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Speaker 1: with some real harsh realities very quickly. But to be
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Speaker 1: able to have that game, for those players, to make history,
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Speaker 1: for those players to feel that support from the nation,
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Speaker 1: I think that's huge. And I think from a Paraguay standpoint,
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Speaker 1: and anybody that's going to be facing the US in
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Speaker 1: this tournament, whereas for some teams it will feel like
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Speaker 1: it's a neutral venue that you're playing your games in.
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Speaker 1: Any time you play against USA, you play against Mexico,
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Speaker 1: and Mexico or Canada in Canada is very much an
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Speaker 1: a way fixture, and I think the Paraguayans really felt
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Speaker 1: that and they suffered because of it. So a team
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Speaker 1: that was known for being so defensively good, all of
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Speaker 1: a sudden, there was no way they can handle the
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Speaker 1: attack from the USA, and you know that's probably going
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Speaker 1: to be a common.
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Speaker 3: Team you mentioned, you know, the reality check can happen
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Speaker 3: quite quickly in this World Cup for the US men's
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Speaker 3: national team. How likely is it that you start to
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Speaker 3: confront that on Friday when you take on an Australia
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Speaker 3: team that I think also some people felt overperformed in
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Speaker 3: their first match.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. I think they overperformed in sort of different ways though,
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Speaker 1: because the USA were favored to potentially win their group,
5:26
Speaker 1: because the talk was the third group game is going
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Speaker 1: to be the most important one against Turkyo, where whoever
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Speaker 1: wins was probably going to finish top of the group,
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Speaker 1: so there was an expectation that they would built there.
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Speaker 1: There wasn't any real expectation on Australia to be successful.
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Speaker 1: And what I like is for Australia's underdogs, they're sort
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Speaker 1: of clipping up everything that someone's saying, like even this call. Now,
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Speaker 1: they might say they're very much gotting against US, you know,
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Speaker 1: the bulletin board material type stuff, and they're going to
5:51
Speaker 1: be a tough side to play against because essentially everyone
5:53
Speaker 1: that's here is qualified to be here. You know, they
5:55
Speaker 1: deserve to be here, and they're good enough to be
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Speaker 1: able to cause trouble Like yesterday we saw Kate Verd
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Speaker 1: against Spain who were fancy to win the whole thing
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Speaker 1: and you know, and tire the game. So he's to
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Speaker 1: say that Australia can't cause an upset as such. But
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Speaker 1: I still really like this US side. I like the
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Speaker 1: whole advantage that they have, and if everybody can remain
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Speaker 1: fit and you know, can maintain the momentum that they have,
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Speaker 1: it might not be like a four to one blowout again.
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Speaker 1: But I still believe that in their group they are
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Speaker 1: the best side, and I'm confident that they'll be able
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Speaker 1: to get a result on Friday.
6:22
Speaker 3: I'm glad you brought up the cape Bird in Spain
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Speaker 3: scoreless draw to start the action yesterday.
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Speaker 4: How much of that was a.
6:30
Speaker 3: Function of Spain maybe, I mean not really taking cape
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Speaker 3: Bird seriously.
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Speaker 1: So this is where my bias will kick in and
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Speaker 1: I will present this on the table and say too
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Speaker 1: that there aren't many players that I played with that
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Speaker 1: wouldn't take a game seriously. But I think what happens
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Speaker 1: is the realities of who you're playing against. Kick in
6:50
Speaker 1: a little bit more when the game begins. Because Capbird
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Speaker 1: themselves in terms of African qualifying, they're a very very
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Speaker 1: doggy team, difficult teams to play against. They played the
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Speaker 1: Confederate their own Confederations Cup like afkon earlier in the year,
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Speaker 1: and their defensive record was very very good within the
7:04
Speaker 1: tournament they made it into the knockout rounds. So most
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Speaker 1: people underestimate an opponent based upon the fact that you
7:10
Speaker 1: don't see them very often. But when you do then
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Speaker 1: go tell to told them, you realize that these guys
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Speaker 1: are all professional as well. You know they're playing for
7:17
Speaker 1: something as well. I think you saw the goalkeeper, the
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Speaker 1: fourty year old goalkeeper at the end of the game
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Speaker 1: for them, you know he's brought to tears because this
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Speaker 1: is how much it meant to him. So when you
7:25
Speaker 1: come up against a team of players who are desperate
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Speaker 1: to get a result and you have maybe an off Dame.
7:30
Speaker 1: When I say an off there, I don't mean like overall.
7:33
Speaker 1: I mean in terms of not being able to take
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Speaker 1: their chances, because according to the chances, they should have
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Speaker 1: won the game. And I think when people miss chances,
7:38
Speaker 1: it's not because they're not taking it seriously, it's just
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Speaker 1: because they're not executed on the day. So I wouldn't
7:43
Speaker 1: level that criticism at Spain, and I think on a
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Speaker 1: different day, maybe the win that game comes to maybe
7:47
Speaker 1: nine times out of ten to win the game comes
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Speaker 1: to be in the way that they played. But again
7:50
Speaker 1: for them, it's also a reminders that this is going
7:52
Speaker 1: to be very, very difficult. But each team that you
7:54
Speaker 1: play against is subtly different, and to Spain maybe this
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Speaker 1: is reality chat that they need to go and win it,
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Speaker 1: because if we go back four years, there's one Saudi
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Speaker 1: Arabia that beat Leonard Messis Argentina in the very first
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Speaker 1: group game, but by the end of the tournament it
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Speaker 1: was Argentina lifting the trophy. So you know, never take
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Speaker 1: anything for granted, but make sure that you're you're ready
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Speaker 1: for the challenges ahead.
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Speaker 3: Plenty left to be played, obviously, but have you seen
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Speaker 3: anything in these first few days of the tournament that
8:21
Speaker 3: maybe you said, all right, we got to take Japan
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Speaker 3: more seriously, has anyone sort of jumped out to you
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Speaker 3: as a as a team that maybe belongs on your
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Speaker 3: radar and wasn't in the first place.
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Speaker 1: I think for World Cups, everyone has different expectations. You know,
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Speaker 1: there'll probably be four or five teams that generally believe
8:39
Speaker 1: that they should be winning the whole thing. They unly
8:40
Speaker 1: find out if it would be, but believe that should
8:42
Speaker 1: be winning the whole thing. Then if you've got teams
8:44
Speaker 1: like the US on Home Soul, who aren't really about
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Speaker 1: potential anymore. It's about the relatives of how good that
8:49
Speaker 1: they are, and they're wondering how far they can go.
8:51
Speaker 1: This feels this feels different. But then there's a sort
8:54
Speaker 1: of team caught in between those two stores, which in
8:56
Speaker 1: my mind is Germany, a team that's won the World Cup,
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Speaker 1: not that long ago team that is, you know, historically
9:02
Speaker 1: very very good at this stage and not many people
9:05
Speaker 1: believe that they would be in the final stages of
9:07
Speaker 1: the competition and do well. But they played against Kudosa
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Speaker 1: I think it was, and it went one to one,
9:12
Speaker 1: and everyone's like, hmm, this is interesting. Maybe this is
9:16
Speaker 1: the Germany side that we anticipated on one, that was
9:18
Speaker 1: going to struggle, and then they won the game seven one.
9:21
Speaker 1: I think anytime you scored seven goals at a tournament,
9:23
Speaker 1: I think people need to take you a bit more seriously.
9:25
Speaker 1: And I'm not sure what their odds would be like
9:27
Speaker 1: now in terms of chances of winning it, but it's
9:29
Speaker 1: just a gentle reminder that this team that has all
9:32
Speaker 1: the history in their favor that's been written off by
9:34
Speaker 1: so many, myself included, can really go up against anyone
9:38
Speaker 1: and then when they're ruthless, you know, they can score
9:40
Speaker 1: goals like this because like I say, Spain yesterday they
9:42
Speaker 1: couldn't score against Cape Verd, Jermany scored seven against a
9:46
Speaker 1: similar level of opposition, So maybe they're ready to go.
9:50
Speaker 3: France Senegal will start here in about fifteen minutes, and
9:54
Speaker 3: there are a lot of people who are very high
9:56
Speaker 3: on France right now. Senegal obviously he has some serious athleticism.
10:02
Speaker 3: What do you think this game is going to look
10:04
Speaker 3: like starting in.
10:04
Speaker 4: A few.
10:07
Speaker 1: So I'm very much rooting for this to be game
10:09
Speaker 1: as a tournament so far, because there's a lot of
10:12
Speaker 1: really good attacking talent in terms of the skill and
10:15
Speaker 1: technique on both sides. There's a lot of athleticism, as
10:17
Speaker 1: you say, from both sides, and players who are willing
10:19
Speaker 1: to take risks and you know, do something that's a
10:21
Speaker 1: little bit different. Whether we're talking about Michael Lise who
10:24
Speaker 1: was playing of the season in the German Bundesliga. You know,
10:27
Speaker 1: you're looking at Desre Du ways just won the Champions
10:29
Speaker 1: League with parisnjer Man and Bappe, who's top scoring in
10:32
Speaker 1: the Liga, or you know Sadie or Mane who's won
10:35
Speaker 1: the Champions League, who's one Premier League titles, who's done
10:38
Speaker 1: all this type of stuff. And I think for Senegal
10:40
Speaker 1: as well. Obviously it depends on your perspective, but they
10:43
Speaker 1: are technically the team that won the African Final, so
10:47
Speaker 1: they work around the best team in Africa before you
10:49
Speaker 1: know some of the listigation and stuff. So this will
10:52
Speaker 1: be a really really good matchup because I think some
10:54
Speaker 1: of the strengths that Franz have Senegal, I've got the
10:56
Speaker 1: ability to counter them. And as a consequence, this will
10:59
Speaker 1: be a really open game, I think, I hope, and
11:02
Speaker 1: if it's the case, I still think France will win,
11:05
Speaker 1: but I think it could be a very high scoring
11:07
Speaker 1: game from both sides, which is exactly what you want
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Speaker 1: to do. To start the day.
11:11
Speaker 3: Native have you liked the coverage so far on television
11:14
Speaker 3: here in this North American World Cup?
11:18
Speaker 1: That is a very good question if you If I'm
11:23
Speaker 1: gonna say. I'm going to say yes and no, yes,
11:26
Speaker 1: and now I think some of it feels a little
11:29
Speaker 1: bit over commercialized. As such, I think certain people that
11:34
Speaker 1: are speaking about the games, the chemistry is not necessarily
11:36
Speaker 1: always great. I think there's a real emphasis on these
11:39
Speaker 1: like hydration breaks and stuff, but it feels just like
11:41
Speaker 1: a game, a game of football has being split into
11:44
Speaker 1: four quarters. But maybe some of these are just the
11:46
Speaker 1: biases that I carry with me coming over to the US,
11:48
Speaker 1: and if this is the way that it's going to be,
11:50
Speaker 1: then fine. But I think there've been some players who
11:52
Speaker 1: haven't necessarily liked it, and from a viewing standpoint, that
11:56
Speaker 1: the game doesn't necessarily seem like it's the most important
11:58
Speaker 1: thing to all the broadcasters all the time, which I think,
12:01
Speaker 1: in my opinion, misses the point.
12:03
Speaker 2: Well.
12:04
Speaker 3: I think that's why I asked the question, because again,
12:06
Speaker 3: I'm not someone who watches international football all the time.
12:10
Speaker 3: I'm not someone who watches a ton of even Major
12:12
Speaker 3: League soccer, and when I watch a World Cup, I
12:16
Speaker 3: expect it to be the game. The form, the match
12:20
Speaker 3: itself is center staged and you know, but yeah, we've
12:25
Speaker 3: got four corners now, Hydration breaks in climate controlled stadiums
12:29
Speaker 3: and things like that, and I want the novelty. I
12:32
Speaker 3: want it to be different than what I'm used to,
12:34
Speaker 3: And I've been surprised at how much it feels like
12:37
Speaker 3: an NFL broadcast in a lot of ways.
12:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, I in some ways, like I don't know the
12:42
Speaker 1: ins and outs of how this all came to be
12:44
Speaker 1: in the certain competition rules to where it we happens
12:46
Speaker 1: in one game needs to happen in the other. But
12:48
Speaker 1: it does feel different. I think most people that have
12:50
Speaker 1: watched soccer throughout their life, they're looking at this tournament
12:54
Speaker 1: saying that it feels different. I mean, in some ways,
12:57
Speaker 1: in my opinion, probably didn't need to, but this is
12:59
Speaker 1: where we're at now. This is how they're deciding to
13:01
Speaker 1: go and try and do it. Even the emphasis on,
13:03
Speaker 1: like you know, showing celebrities in the audience and so on,
13:06
Speaker 1: that's not really like a soccer thing, because most like
13:09
Speaker 1: soccer fans are about the game itself and always will
13:12
Speaker 1: be about the game itself, Whereas now I think this
13:14
Speaker 1: kind of feels like a bit more about the show
13:16
Speaker 1: and making sure you've got spaces to advertise things which
13:20
Speaker 1: I don't know, Like I say, I'm I'm trying not
13:23
Speaker 1: to sit on the fence. I don't really like it,
13:25
Speaker 1: but I'm not in control and maybe this isn't for me.
13:28
Speaker 1: But the thing that's for me is the football that's
13:29
Speaker 1: going on. And you know, so far from of the
13:31
Speaker 1: best players in the world have started to show as
13:33
Speaker 1: what they can do.
13:35
Speaker 4: This is a very pointed RSL question.
13:39
Speaker 3: In your professional career, were you ever teammates with did
13:43
Speaker 3: you ever have a close relationship with someone who maybe
13:46
Speaker 3: thought they would be part of a World Cup selection,
13:49
Speaker 3: thought they would have an opportunity to represent their nation,
13:52
Speaker 3: and then they were snubbed and then of course after
13:55
Speaker 3: the international break they come back and what effect that
13:57
Speaker 3: might have.
13:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, so are we talking about Luna? We're talking about Gozo?
14:02
Speaker 1: Who was talking about Luna?
14:03
Speaker 4: I think more appointedly, but Gozo you could make a
14:05
Speaker 4: case also.
14:07
Speaker 1: I think during my time there, there wasn't a sense
14:11
Speaker 1: of disappointment about say a tournament this major. But I
14:14
Speaker 1: remember in my first season and going into the second season,
14:18
Speaker 1: Corey Baird had just been voted the rookie of the
14:20
Speaker 1: Season for Ris in MLS and he was in and
14:24
Speaker 1: around the US men's national team and he was being
14:27
Speaker 1: considered quite heavily and then he wasn't selected, and I
14:30
Speaker 1: remember the disappointment that he had, and for my time there,
14:33
Speaker 1: because I really liked playing with Corey, I don't think
14:37
Speaker 1: he performed to the same level again, and I think
14:40
Speaker 1: I don't know what the reasons would be for that,
14:42
Speaker 1: but getting that call to the national team would have
14:44
Speaker 1: probably been a springboard, and I think this level of
14:47
Speaker 1: disappointment that he felt and we felt for him as well,
14:49
Speaker 1: because I think maybe there was there was a competition
14:52
Speaker 1: that was coming up anyway, and we were quite fun
14:54
Speaker 1: of these chances for him to be able to get in,
14:56
Speaker 1: but it never happened. I think he maybe made the
14:57
Speaker 1: same case for Justin Glad as well, who's had spelled
15:00
Speaker 1: where he's played spells, where he's played really well, he's
15:02
Speaker 1: been around it, and then he's just fallen away a
15:04
Speaker 1: little bit. But yeah, I think for Fa Luna there's
15:08
Speaker 1: a huge disappointment there. And one of the tough things
15:10
Speaker 1: about say maybe just Lafe in general, n even soccer,
15:14
Speaker 1: is that all of a sudden, everybody's moved on and
15:16
Speaker 1: the team looks really good, so it's not even the
15:17
Speaker 1: story anymore. Yeah, But I'd like to think that he
15:19
Speaker 1: still has a future with the US men's national side,
15:22
Speaker 1: because he did well to this point and for him
15:24
Speaker 1: to be left out is a shame. But I'm sure
15:26
Speaker 1: he's going to be supporting and hopefully being deeply, deeply
15:29
Speaker 1: motivated to get a chance in the future, and maybe
15:31
Speaker 1: he could be the difference. Yeah.
15:33
Speaker 3: I think he's young enough that hopefully we'll see him
15:35
Speaker 3: in four years and eight years and things like that.
15:37
Speaker 4: Last thing before I let you go.
15:39
Speaker 3: We're seeing the end of an era for some of
15:42
Speaker 3: the biggest stars in the game, at least from an
15:45
Speaker 3: international in a World Cup stage, at least we think so,
15:48
Speaker 3: you know, Cristiano Ronaldo's last World Cup, most likely Leo
15:52
Speaker 3: Messi's last World Cup. Knowing the impact that guys like
15:55
Speaker 3: that those two specifically have had on the game and
15:58
Speaker 3: the fact that this will be the last of their
16:00
Speaker 3: six what is international soccer, international football like when those
16:05
Speaker 3: guys move on.
16:07
Speaker 1: It's a great question and one that like we can't
16:10
Speaker 1: necessarily even prepare for because for the last two decades
16:12
Speaker 1: we've not had to think about it. I think we
16:14
Speaker 1: saw the generation that came before them, But from when
16:16
Speaker 1: these guys have been in They've been the two most
16:18
Speaker 1: important players in the whole game. I think to give
16:21
Speaker 1: you my perspective here. So for example, when Lionel Messi
16:24
Speaker 1: moves to into Miami, I promise you every corner of
16:27
Speaker 1: the globe that I've been to has featured young kids
16:29
Speaker 1: wearing into Miami shirts with lion or Messi on the back.
16:33
Speaker 1: Wherever I've been to around the world, I've seen people
16:35
Speaker 1: wearing Christian Ronaldo al Nasa shirts, things that never thought
16:38
Speaker 1: I would see because it both two go beyond any team,
16:41
Speaker 1: go beyond any league. And when I was the last
16:44
Speaker 1: World up in Doha, I remember going to watch a game,
16:47
Speaker 1: a Portugal game, and as we were traveling over there,
16:49
Speaker 1: there were people from all parts of Asia wearing Portugal
16:52
Speaker 1: Ronaldo seven shirts. So these two aren't just inspirations for
16:55
Speaker 1: like fans, you know, the inspirations for say former players
16:59
Speaker 1: like myself, Like Messi's my favorite player of all time
17:01
Speaker 1: and he's two years younger than me. You know, that's
17:04
Speaker 1: a bit of a weird thing to get my head around.
17:06
Speaker 1: But yeah, they've changed the game to where the standards
17:09
Speaker 1: that were set and the bar has been raised to
17:11
Speaker 1: a point where like if you're not scoring a goal
17:13
Speaker 1: of the game for ten years? Are you really that good?
17:16
Speaker 1: You know? Those two have been exceptional. They've defined the
17:18
Speaker 1: game itself. And what I like is, especially with someone
17:21
Speaker 1: like Ronaldo, it's been about the professionalism as well. It's
17:23
Speaker 1: about doing the extra and that's changed the mindset of
17:26
Speaker 1: so many people that came, they came after them, and
17:29
Speaker 1: they leave the game, the international game in particularly in
17:32
Speaker 1: a great position because so many have tried to be
17:33
Speaker 1: as successful as they have, not just in terms of
17:36
Speaker 1: their ability, but they're sort of love of the game
17:39
Speaker 1: and they're the sort of dedication work ethic required to
17:42
Speaker 1: even have a chance of being maybe half as good
17:44
Speaker 1: as they are.
17:45
Speaker 3: I don't know if this is a very American thing
17:47
Speaker 3: or not, but we always want to know, Okay, well,
17:49
Speaker 3: who's the next one? Then who's the next Michael Jordan,
17:51
Speaker 3: Who's the next Lebron James, Who's the next Tom Brady?
17:55
Speaker 3: Is there an obvious answer to who the next torch bearers?
17:58
Speaker 3: Are the guys who can feel that void when Ronaldo
18:02
Speaker 3: and Messi are gone.
18:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I think the next people coming through they
18:07
Speaker 1: feel slightly different because I think with Ronaldo and Messi,
18:10
Speaker 1: the numbers in terms of goals and assists that they
18:12
Speaker 1: were hitting. No one will probably hit those numbers again,
18:15
Speaker 1: so you have to look at well, he was having
18:17
Speaker 1: a similar sort of impact, but without you know, essentially
18:19
Speaker 1: having those crazy, you know, look at it twice type numbers.
18:23
Speaker 1: So you're looking at Fay someone like a Chillian Mbappe
18:25
Speaker 1: as such at Realmdrid, you know, who were essentially the
18:28
Speaker 1: biggest football club in the whole world. You've got some
18:32
Speaker 1: someone like Erling Harland or whatever at Manchester City who's
18:35
Speaker 1: been top scoring in the Premier League. But if we're
18:38
Speaker 1: going to talk about people who have that sort of
18:40
Speaker 1: feel like those two, it's probably the men your Mouth
18:43
Speaker 1: of Spain in my opinion, because the way that he
18:46
Speaker 1: plays like he came on in that Spain in that
18:48
Speaker 1: Spain game yesterday as a nineteen year old and it
18:50
Speaker 1: felt like the weight of a nation was on his
18:52
Speaker 1: shoulders at the age of nineteen. But that's because this
18:56
Speaker 1: is the guy that finished second in the ballon door
18:58
Speaker 1: volting to see who was the best player last year
19:00
Speaker 1: at nineteen years of age. To play that, you know,
19:03
Speaker 1: does things that no one else can really do. So
19:06
Speaker 1: I think he's probably going to be the next in
19:08
Speaker 1: line in terms of people to watch out for the
19:10
Speaker 1: potentially win a ballon d'Or. But then if we're going
19:12
Speaker 1: to talk about this friends game as well, Michael Alise
19:14
Speaker 1: desire due. These are supremely talented players who play the
19:19
Speaker 1: game just that a little bit differently, And speaking of
19:21
Speaker 1: a former professional, everyone that plays is good, but there
19:24
Speaker 1: are some people that make it look easy. And if
19:26
Speaker 1: you can make it look easy whilst playing against really
19:28
Speaker 1: good players, I think it shows how specially you are.
19:30
Speaker 1: So I think those ones that I've named, they're young
19:32
Speaker 1: enough to be the ones who for the next five
19:35
Speaker 1: to ten years will probably be the flag bearers for
19:38
Speaker 1: the greatest in the world.
19:38
Speaker 3: I would say, Natum, cannot tell you how much we
19:42
Speaker 3: appreciate your time and your perspective today. Again we are
19:46
Speaker 3: we're doing a service for the listeners because I cannot
19:49
Speaker 3: talk soccer, so I lean on people like you who can,
19:52
Speaker 3: and no problem at all. I appreciate it. Thanks so
19:55
Speaker 3: much for.
19:56
Speaker 1: Your time, pleasure. Thank you very much.
19:59
Speaker 4: Natum on a.
19:59
Speaker 3: Wall former RSL player and obviously ESPN soccer analyst Queen City.
20:05
Speaker 3: He was with Manchester City and obviously finished in the mls.
20:12
Speaker 3: He does great work