Latest / OneLegUpAlex Media / ONELEGUPALEX TALKS WITH QC SOCCER ALUM PETER TOUROS ABOUT THE BALOGUN RED CARD DRAMA 7-6-26
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: All right, Well on my line right now is a
- 0:02Speaker 1: longtime friend from Queen's College, in fact, the Queen's College
- 0:06Speaker 1: soccer team. And I thought to myself, who would be
- 0:09Speaker 1: a great resource in person to reach out to about
- 0:12Speaker 1: this Balligan situation and the reversal of the red card?
- 0:16Speaker 1: And sure have you got in the red card? And
- 0:17Speaker 1: to begin with Peter Torros, you know, you were a
- 0:21Speaker 1: warrior on the field and you were everywhere on that
- 0:24Speaker 1: field at Queen's College. And I'm like, of course I
- 0:26Speaker 1: got to turn to you for this. Firstly, how you
- 0:28Speaker 1: been and you know we're both Queen's College alumni. Boy,
- 0:32Speaker 1: how long that was?
- 0:33Speaker 2: Right? How long ago that was?
- 0:35Speaker 3: Yeah, it's amazing it's been. I don't know, I was
- 0:37Speaker 3: like fifteen years. I don't know.
- 0:38Speaker 4: It's crazy to say it, but everything's been good, Thank god.
- 0:41Speaker 4: Everything is going well. Still involved in soccer, still playing
- 0:45Speaker 4: the game, still loving the game in the same way
- 0:46Speaker 4: like we were in.
- 0:47Speaker 3: College and those kids. But it's good to be back.
- 0:49Speaker 1: And of course, you know, I reach out to you
- 0:52Speaker 1: because when I did college soccer and I realized the
- 0:55Speaker 1: intensity of the sport and all that. I remember the
- 0:57Speaker 1: table bantering back and forth, this guy deserve card or not,
- 1:00Speaker 1: And I feel like we're right back at it. Every
- 1:03Speaker 1: year there's always debates about yellows versus reds. I mean,
- 1:06Speaker 1: why couldn't they just give him a yellow card to
- 1:08Speaker 1: begin with? And was there some bias against Team USA
- 1:12Speaker 1: to knock their leading scorer out. There's gotta be something
- 1:14Speaker 1: fishy with the whole decision to give him a red card.
- 1:17Speaker 2: To be going again with right Peter.
- 1:19Speaker 4: Yeah, Frankly, I when I when I watched the game live,
- 1:22Speaker 4: and I always try to look at an unbiased perspective,
- 1:26Speaker 4: and every time there is a red card or a
- 1:28Speaker 4: yellow card situation, like I was watching an angling game
- 1:31Speaker 4: yesterday and while the challenge was accidental, it was one
- 1:34Speaker 4: hundred percent of red card and even though I'd want
- 1:36Speaker 4: England to win, that's unfortunately the laws of the game.
- 1:40Speaker 4: And then when I saw the USA red card, I
- 1:43Speaker 4: saw it, I was like, this is this is not
- 1:45Speaker 4: a red card? It was complete accidental. I think there
- 1:47Speaker 4: will have to be some bias the VAAR. I mean,
- 1:52Speaker 4: it's just getting It's crazy and to see that a
- 1:54Speaker 4: player of his stature get kicked out.
- 1:56Speaker 3: Of the tournament where he's doing so well for a.
- 1:58Speaker 4: Nation that is that has so much hope lest the
- 2:01Speaker 4: bias led the personal side. I think it was completely
- 2:05Speaker 4: completely unfair. I don't think that there was any malice,
- 2:07Speaker 4: any intent. I think that front he was bumped, he
- 2:13Speaker 4: was wrong sided, they were spinning. Slow motion makes it
- 2:16Speaker 4: look bad, but slow motion is not real time. And
- 2:18Speaker 4: then you can tell as a soccer player living in
- 2:21Speaker 4: that situation that that wouldn't be a red card.
- 2:24Speaker 3: It's an accidental it got hit, but it doesn't. It doesn't.
- 2:27Speaker 3: It doesn't add up for me. I saw it, I
- 2:29Speaker 3: was like, that's not a red card in my eyes.
- 2:32Speaker 1: And and you know it came in a time where
- 2:34Speaker 1: it was a pressure cooker, right, so you're I think
- 2:36Speaker 1: they had sixty one minutes in or something, they had
- 2:38Speaker 1: thirty minutes to go, I mean thirty minutes down one guy.
- 2:41Speaker 1: You know that happened at a college level, But what
- 2:44Speaker 1: was that? Did you ever experience that?
- 2:48Speaker 3: Yeah, actually we did experience it in college. We played
- 2:50Speaker 3: CDW Post, which was top five in the nation at
- 2:52Speaker 3: the time. We're playing in a semifinal match and close
- 2:55Speaker 3: match and bias referee and at least in my opinions,
- 2:59Speaker 3: throughout one of players and then slowly again throws out
- 3:02Speaker 3: another one of our players, and we're like, what is
- 3:03Speaker 3: going on over here?
- 3:04Speaker 4: Everything just seems like it's it's going against us, and
- 3:08Speaker 4: body has to just do appropriate tactics. But there's there's
- 3:12Speaker 4: no way to plan when things are crashing down at
- 3:14Speaker 4: that moment. So you just try to compose yourself and
- 3:17Speaker 4: and think straight and at the end of the day, if.
- 3:19Speaker 3: You try to get the result, if you can and
- 3:20Speaker 3: make it work.
- 3:21Speaker 2: Peter, we were just kids.
- 3:22Speaker 1: The last time Team USA won even a knockout round
- 3:26Speaker 1: matchup in twenty four years ago in A two, which
- 3:30Speaker 1: is just unbelievable. But you know, I always thought the
- 3:32Speaker 1: turnaround with this team started when they got rid of
- 3:34Speaker 1: Klingsorf and you know about coaching your coach, the personnel
- 3:38Speaker 1: with you know, the new guy year Marginetto. He's great
- 3:41Speaker 1: and he's really turned the ship around, hasn't he.
- 3:45Speaker 4: H Yeah, it's it's frankly like we're always used to
- 3:48Speaker 4: being let down with two USA, even though we want
- 3:51Speaker 4: to be so patriotic and so supportive. But after that
- 3:55Speaker 4: first match against pot of Why, I saw the game
- 3:57Speaker 4: and I was like, what is this team? I haven't
- 4:01Speaker 4: seen anybody play with this type of intensity and progressive
- 4:04Speaker 4: motion and high pressing and in your face suffocating the
- 4:08Speaker 4: other team to the point where they really had no
- 4:10Speaker 4: chance of going anywhere. So it was it was extremely
- 4:13Speaker 4: extremely impressive for me, and I think it look leading
- 4:19Speaker 4: into the tournament. We also didn't do very well team
- 4:22Speaker 4: US side. But hey, I'm happy that we're in form
- 4:24Speaker 4: right now. Hopefully we can continue this rick run.
- 4:27Speaker 2: All right, So people are listening to you for the
- 4:28Speaker 2: first time.
- 4:29Speaker 1: At one leg of Balax Media, you were a Queen's
- 4:31Speaker 1: College night as soccer player. I'll give us a breakdown
- 4:35Speaker 1: of where you played on the field, what the tradition was,
- 4:38Speaker 1: and what that experience was like playing college soccer for Queens.
- 4:42Speaker 4: So for me was I was an offensive player, so
- 4:45Speaker 4: I played the number nine center forward striker I was.
- 4:49Speaker 4: I was basically always in the mix of trying to
- 4:52Speaker 4: score goals. Playing college soccer was amazing. I was a
- 4:56Speaker 4: transfer from Starnybrook, which was an unbeliev role experience, but
- 5:01Speaker 4: unfortunately I had to do what's right for our family,
- 5:03Speaker 4: come back to Queens and different environment, different group of kids,
- 5:08Speaker 4: different scenario, but the same love for the game. Look,
- 5:13Speaker 4: unfortunately I was plagued with so many injuries. I think
- 5:15Speaker 4: I had four major surgeries within the span of five years.
- 5:18Speaker 4: But it didn't change the perspective for me soccer. Soccer
- 5:22Speaker 4: love is love for the game and anything I could
- 5:24Speaker 4: do for my team, I did it, scoring goals, making assists,
- 5:29Speaker 4: handing out water bottles.
- 5:30Speaker 3: I didn't care. I just wanted to be involved.
- 5:33Speaker 2: And you were a big part and you had a
- 5:34Speaker 2: lot of energy on that field.
- 5:36Speaker 1: I mean I think you were won to heart and
- 5:37Speaker 1: soul of that team for sure over those few years that.
- 5:41Speaker 2: We watched you play.
- 5:43Speaker 1: And now you've taken all that and become a coach.
- 5:45Speaker 1: What's the coaching life like?
- 5:47Speaker 3: Coaching is? Coaching is phenomenal for me. I love the environment,
- 5:51Speaker 3: I love working with children, and I'm a phys teacher
- 5:53Speaker 3: by profession, but I love to coach.
- 5:56Speaker 4: I got into coaching very very young with my father.
- 5:58Speaker 4: My father created the club Hosmos FC, and we've just
- 6:02Speaker 4: been taken the club from Queens and created a very
- 6:04Speaker 4: good girls and boys organization where we are are competitive
- 6:09Speaker 4: even in this landscape of a monopoly soccer ecosystem. We're
- 6:16Speaker 4: still one of the only original clubs from Queens or
- 6:19Speaker 4: from New York City and just coaching is beautiful. It's
- 6:22Speaker 4: great to see what you have done with your athletes
- 6:26Speaker 4: and your players and to know that you are the
- 6:27Speaker 4: reason why that these kids have done it. The unique
- 6:30Speaker 4: situation about our club is once we start working with
- 6:32Speaker 4: our children in first and second grade, we have them
- 6:36Speaker 4: until they age out of a program.
- 6:38Speaker 3: And that's not normal.
- 6:40Speaker 4: Usually people get passed on corompell to post coach to coach,
- 6:44Speaker 4: and for us, that's not the case. We keep our
- 6:47Speaker 4: players for as long as we can and until we
- 6:49Speaker 4: give them the foundation that they need to go on
- 6:52Speaker 4: massive organizations that take them to the next level.
- 6:55Speaker 3: But it's been great.
- 6:57Speaker 4: I think it's I think it's the most job and
- 7:00Speaker 4: there's nothing better to see like the fruits of your
- 7:02Speaker 4: labor actually in full in front of you.
- 7:05Speaker 1: Well, what I love about your team is that you've
- 7:07Speaker 1: had a lot of successful guys come out of that program.
- 7:10Speaker 2: And you know, I see Brian buckmer byer on TV
- 7:13Speaker 2: now with the ABC News, I mean that Core really
- 7:15Speaker 2: went on to do bigger and better things and you.
- 7:17Speaker 1: Guys are showing that. But as a coach, Peter, what
- 7:20Speaker 1: do you hope this tournament brings? I feel like there's
- 7:22Speaker 1: a lot more energy towards twenty twenty six. Maybe finally
- 7:24Speaker 1: putting in America change things for sure. I mean Norway's
- 7:28Speaker 1: doing their thing, the Row and all that in every part.
- 7:30Speaker 2: Of the city.
- 7:32Speaker 1: It makes you feel like soccer is having a bit
- 7:34Speaker 1: of a surge here and maybe as a coach, you're
- 7:37Speaker 1: hoping that last beyond this whole World Cup experience.
- 7:41Speaker 4: I hope so, because I mean I travel over seas
- 7:44Speaker 4: all the time. I'm a first generation American. My wife
- 7:46Speaker 4: is from England, so like I'm always out the country.
- 7:50Speaker 4: And my hope in my thing is I just want
- 7:55Speaker 4: I just want people to understand that the American soccer
- 7:58Speaker 4: player or the American football player is not just a
- 8:00Speaker 4: dumb American that is that doesn't know what they're doing,
- 8:03Speaker 4: that is just big, fast and strong. Uh what, we
- 8:05Speaker 4: actually have quality because America is built on this immigration
- 8:08Speaker 4: and and first and second and third generation people, and
- 8:11Speaker 4: we do have quality over here. I'm hoping that this
- 8:16Speaker 4: surge of American pride as well as soccer soccer interest
- 8:20Speaker 4: is continues to rise because this is the most most
- 8:23Speaker 4: popular sport in the world, and we want to make
- 8:25Speaker 4: sure if we can continue that because It is a
- 8:27Speaker 4: beautiful sport, and it is a well runded sport, and
- 8:30Speaker 4: it has a lot of opportunities because it's given people
- 8:32Speaker 4: of opportunities like myself, like my peers that I've played next.
- 8:38Speaker 3: So I really hope this continues to go and it
- 8:41Speaker 3: just people. I hope people.
- 8:42Speaker 2: Now we're just are you one to yell at the TV?
- 8:45Speaker 1: So like if I see a game, I'm intrigued, I'm like,
- 8:47Speaker 1: just cross the ball already, you know, those have the deal.
- 8:50Speaker 2: Like that.
- 8:52Speaker 4: When when we're when when we're down and out, the
- 8:55Speaker 4: coaches and thing comes out and I'm not I don't
- 8:58Speaker 4: look they can't hear me, But like I I do
- 9:01Speaker 4: think I know what I'm talking about when things happen.
- 9:03Speaker 4: But obviously looking from the sideline is usually there when
- 9:06Speaker 4: you're on the pitch, So definitely sometimes, I.
- 9:09Speaker 1: Was remarking to a friend of mine, one of the
- 9:10Speaker 1: other big things I picked up watching you guys is
- 9:13Speaker 1: the strategy of keeping the ball away from your opponent, right,
- 9:15Speaker 1: I mean that was just and that field we had
- 9:17Speaker 1: was very uneven, as you know, it was a very
- 9:19Speaker 1: uneven field, so that ought to be a challenge just
- 9:21Speaker 1: to try and play keep away most of that game
- 9:24Speaker 1: before a goal, right, I mean that that whole plate
- 9:26Speaker 1: was a bit of a challenge at times.
- 9:28Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely.
- 9:29Speaker 4: Obviously, especially with uneven surfaces, it's even more difficult.
- 9:32Speaker 3: But at the end of the day, you try your best.
- 9:36Speaker 4: You try to adapt to the conditions that you're given,
- 9:38Speaker 4: and you try to stay to your game plan and
- 9:41Speaker 4: not straight away from it. There's pros and Constant with.
- 9:44Speaker 1: Himself when we were in twenty three, how proud of
- 9:46Speaker 1: you were you as an alumnus that.
- 9:48Speaker 3: To see that, I was over the moon.
- 9:51Speaker 4: It gave me a really big sense of joy and
- 9:53Speaker 4: ride and school spirit because to see such a small
- 9:57Speaker 4: school compete at such a great and level that is
- 10:01Speaker 4: that is amazing. And to go on too n Z
- 10:02Speaker 4: to blaze, that's that's unheard of for such a smaller,
- 10:05Speaker 4: smaller program, local QUNI school. You wouldn't think a product
- 10:09Speaker 4: like that would come out of that environment. But we're
- 10:11Speaker 4: absolutely capable.
- 10:13Speaker 1: Peter, you're a coach now, but your coach at Queen
- 10:15Speaker 1: did he have an impact on how you coach now?
- 10:19Speaker 4: I mean, obviously it makes us want to continue to
- 10:22Speaker 4: help the program grow.
- 10:23Speaker 3: We want to make sure that we're funneling kids there,
- 10:25Speaker 3: girls and boys. So if any opportunity that we could
- 10:27Speaker 3: send our top quality talent instead of them going elsewhere
- 10:31Speaker 3: or out of state, why not keep them here? So absolutely,
- 10:33Speaker 3: we want to we want to make sure that we're
- 10:35Speaker 3: supporting the program and then and keeping that flow, that
- 10:38Speaker 3: flow going.
- 10:39Speaker 1: You know, soccer is a bit of a discipline game too.
- 10:41Speaker 1: I've talked to my friend of mine and I told her, look, uh,
- 10:45Speaker 1: I watched you guys on the sideline. Either stop a
- 10:48Speaker 1: guy from hitting the ball before it got out of
- 10:50Speaker 1: bound or just letting it roll.
- 10:52Speaker 2: Is that one of the difficult decisions if the football
- 10:54Speaker 2: roll out of bounds. I feel like that's a lot
- 10:56Speaker 2: of discipline right there.
- 10:57Speaker 4: Well, for us, it's all tactical. We always have to
- 11:00Speaker 4: think two and three steps ahead. So if the bull's
- 11:02Speaker 4: coming out depends through a hit off of where it's going,
- 11:04Speaker 4: the position of the field that it is, it's all tactical.
- 11:07Speaker 4: So we have to be one, two, three plays ahead
- 11:09Speaker 4: of the actual situation that's happening at hand.
- 11:11Speaker 3: So there's you just have to know the game. And
- 11:14Speaker 3: the more that you've become, even the more that you're watching,
- 11:16Speaker 3: the more that you understand. The more that you're hyper
- 11:17Speaker 3: focused with the game, the easier those decisions to come.
- 11:20Speaker 3: Sometimes it becomes like a nature.
- 11:22Speaker 2: Are you surprised they reversed it?
- 11:24Speaker 1: I mean to keep to do the thing in the
- 11:25Speaker 1: beginning with stupid, but to reverse it does Does that
- 11:28Speaker 1: make people look even worse or better with the red card?
- 11:32Speaker 2: Yeah, to reverse balligan card.
- 11:35Speaker 3: I frankly, I think it's I think it's a mess.
- 11:38Speaker 3: I think it's a mess. I think as a US.
- 11:42Speaker 4: Soccer fan bias the I'm like, yes, this is great,
- 11:44Speaker 4: we got our softfollward back, are still boys in the field.
- 11:47Speaker 3: But as a soccer person, I don't know what it
- 11:51Speaker 3: does for the integrity of the game. I'm learning about
- 11:54Speaker 3: law twenty seven or rule twenty seven free fall. I'm
- 11:58Speaker 3: not sure what it is. I just think it's.
- 12:01Speaker 4: I think we're we're in a gray area, a massive
- 12:04Speaker 4: gray area. I've I know it's something that situation happened
- 12:08Speaker 4: with Ronaldo, but in the most massive tournament in the world,
- 12:12Speaker 4: we're going to ruin the integrity of it.
- 12:14Speaker 3: I don't know. I don't know. I think I think
- 12:17Speaker 3: I think it was a problem from the start, But
- 12:19Speaker 3: here we are.
- 12:21Speaker 1: Here we are indeed all right, Peter, before I let
- 12:23Speaker 1: you go, because I want to get you back in
- 12:24Speaker 1: the fall for the conversation when everything's kind of can
- 12:27Speaker 1: get back in the high gear with soccer before I
- 12:30Speaker 1: let you go. One of your favorite memories at Queen's.
- 12:33Speaker 1: I mean we had a lot, but what was your favorite?
- 12:37Speaker 4: Uh?
- 12:39Speaker 3: On the fielder off the field?
- 12:41Speaker 2: I know right well, No, on the field.
- 12:44Speaker 4: On the field, I would definitely say would be our
- 12:51Speaker 4: c tow Post semi final at CB Post. We had
- 12:55Speaker 4: this true underdog team and we completely took it at them.
- 12:59Speaker 4: They were a top rank team, they were favored to win,
- 13:01Speaker 4: they were ranked nationally at the time, a lot of
- 13:04Speaker 4: foreign players and we were just a bunch of local
- 13:06Speaker 4: kids and we took it at them.
- 13:09Speaker 3: The game was in our favor.
- 13:10Speaker 4: Unfortunately, the game did not go in our favor result wise,
- 13:15Speaker 4: but we played to the death.
- 13:16Speaker 3: The boys played with.
- 13:17Speaker 4: Heart and love, and and and passion and school pride.
- 13:21Speaker 4: We had a penalty wasn't given. I think that we
- 13:24Speaker 4: were against the April from the start, but that should
- 13:28Speaker 4: have been.
- 13:29Speaker 2: Your coach was Joe Massey? Am I right on that.
- 13:32Speaker 3: Joe Miso was the coach? Yes, And then and then.
- 13:36Speaker 4: That was my first year and then Carl Christian took
- 13:38Speaker 4: over for my years after.
- 13:41Speaker 1: Well, and you know, at D two level it is
- 13:43Speaker 1: not uncommon for our coach to both men's and women's
- 13:45Speaker 1: and that's what Carl did.
- 13:46Speaker 2: For those few years there.
- 13:48Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely, it's uh, kudos to him because that's balancing
- 13:52Speaker 4: two massive teams, road games, scheduling, pri it's it's I
- 13:57Speaker 4: do it on the club side and it's insane.
- 13:59Speaker 1: Well, thank god you saw it on the player side
- 14:01Speaker 1: and that experience. And one last thing, do you play
- 14:03Speaker 1: still at all?
- 14:05Speaker 3: Do I play?
- 14:06Speaker 4: Unfortunately? My doctor has played me after my ten surgeries.
- 14:10Speaker 4: He said, if you blow out to your leftany again,
- 14:13Speaker 4: you're going to be on do you have to have
- 14:15Speaker 4: a knee replacement for the age of thirty five?
- 14:17Speaker 3: So unfortunately I do not play competitively.
- 14:19Speaker 4: I'll go and I'll get a run in and pass
- 14:21Speaker 4: the ball in a recreational setting, but not consistently whenever.
- 14:25Speaker 4: It is just for health benefits. But no competitive unfortunately
- 14:29Speaker 4: anymore for me.
- 14:31Speaker 1: Well, by Peter Torros, I know, not by Joycee because
- 14:33Speaker 1: you were a competitor out there.
- 14:34Speaker 2: Man. All right, Well, I always love catching up with you.
- 14:37Speaker 1: We got to do this again soon, maybe as the
- 14:39Speaker 1: Fall kicks out. And if people want to be coached
- 14:42Speaker 1: by your because you got a company and all that,
- 14:44Speaker 1: where can.
- 14:45Speaker 2: They reach you?
- 14:46Speaker 4: Where are Cosmos fctst Cosmos with the k you can
- 14:50Speaker 4: reach us on social media.
- 14:52Speaker 3: Has been huge.
- 14:53Speaker 4: So social media is huge for us, Cosmos underscore FC
- 14:56Speaker 4: and you can reach out to us that we have
- 14:58Speaker 4: kids from the ages five to fifteen years old.
- 15:01Speaker 2: Well, there you have it. Do we win tonight? I
- 15:03Speaker 2: think we could win tonight now I felt like we could,
- 15:06Speaker 2: but I think we can now.
- 15:07Speaker 4: Frankly, I was skeptical when Bolligan was out, but now
- 15:11Speaker 4: that he's in, I'll take it.
- 15:13Speaker 3: I think that we have a chance.
- 15:14Speaker 4: Obviously, Belgium is as a is a crazy opponent. Look
- 15:19Speaker 4: what they did in their last match. They were too
- 15:20Speaker 4: old down and he came back three two and they
- 15:22Speaker 4: made it look with ease. They have quality, they have talent,
- 15:25Speaker 4: So we will never be out the game until the
- 15:28Speaker 4: whistles blown.
- 15:28Speaker 3: So let's see.
- 15:29Speaker 2: I think we got it, but I'm hopeful, all right, Peter,
- 15:32Speaker 2: always a pleasure. We'll catch up again soon in the fall,
- 15:34Speaker 2: for sure, definitely. July America two fifty.
- 15:38Speaker 3: We're here to fifty. Let's go. Let's do it for us, all.
- 15:41Speaker 2: Right, Peter, God, bless you man. Thanks for joining the
- 15:43Speaker 2: onely up alex Media.
- 15:45Speaker 3: Wonderful man. Thank you for having me. I appreciate you.
- 15:47Speaker 3: Good catching up, great catching up. We'll do it again soon, definitely, buddy,