Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #194: Michael Lewis on away qualifiers in Concacaf

Episode Date: September 1, 2021

Michael Lewis, the editor of Front Row Soccer and a reporting veteran of eight World Cups and seven Olympics, joins to talk about the USMNT playing away in Honduras, and other parts of Central America. He also discusses what it's like to cover these games, having done so himself in San Pedro Sula in 2001 and 2009.Michael Lewis on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoccerwriterLewis’s latest piece on World Cup qualifying: https://www.frontrowsoccer.com/2021/08/30/welcome-back-to-the-jungle-usmnt-has-a-history-of-challenges-pitfalls-during-wcq-in-central-america/Support Scuffed on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedJoin the Discord: https://discord.gg/ayz9QekfeRBuy our merch: https://my-store-11446477.creator-spring.com/ Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedAlso, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.comAnd check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the scuffed podcast. I'm Adam Bells in Georgia. With me is Greg Velasquez in Iowa. We talk about U.S. men's soccer. Michael Lewis is one of the deans of American Soccer journalism, the founder of front row soccer. He's covered eight World Cups, seven Olympics and all 22 MLS cups. He writes about New York City FC and the U.S. national team for Newsday and pens a soccer history column for The Guardian. For our purposes today, he's attended World Cup qualifiers in Honduras twice in 2001 and 2009. Michael, thank you for agreeing to do this. Great to be on, Adam. Thank you. So first of all, both of the qualifiers you attended in Honduras were wins, which is not always the case. So do you consider it your duty to your country to be at the match in San Pedro Sula next week?

Unfortunately, I have not been to any of the U.S. games since 2009. I wish I could be attending this year's game, but I'll be watching it on streaming. Our TV would, like everyone else, and write it off of that. But there's nothing like being at a stadium to really get the atmosphere and the roar of the crowd as the old cliche goes. Yeah, I've been, you know, I've been sort of watching a lot of the old highlights. And the roar of the crowd, I'm glad you mentioned that, because the roar of the crowd reminds me a little bit of the roar you hear in the Camp New when Barcelona is playing. That's like gutter.

Do you know what I'm talking about? that like almost guttural um roar is the right word does that you know you're absolutely right it's funny in 2009 and we were in a makeshift press box then for just be right so many american reporters at the game and we were literally sitting in the upper parts of the stands uh fortunately with a roof so rain that we were protected but um i felt like we were back in a stadium in like the 1950s or 1960s. And not to criticize anything about the Olympico Stadium in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. I just got that time machine feeling.

And I said, wow, this is pretty cool. This is what it must have been like. Because the fans, and if I could tell you a little story. Please. They packed the stadium. They were there for like two, three, four hours beforehand. And we had two bus rides of journalists. I went with a second bus ride.

And while walking up to the press area, I had to walk through dozens of fans. And they could spot a wringo from a million miles away. And they're having fun with us. They're going quattro zero, quattro zero. And, you know, when in Rome, there was the Romans and just smile and to say yes, yes, yes, because they're having fun with us. they were you know and what that's what one of the things I was most impressed with the crowd they were there to enjoy the game um I since we all know that what happened at the game

what impressed me another time was at the end of the game and this was 2009 the US won three to two and the fans gave I would have will assume their heroes a standing ovation because both teams left it on the field. Yes, it was a physical game. I don't think it was as bad as some of the other Conccaf games in Central America were in terms of physicality, but it was a really good game

by both teams, and like I said, both teams left it on the field. And that's all you hope for in a game like that. It's interesting. I was going to ask you, like, how hostile is the crowd really? Because we talk about hostile, you know, Conccaval. way qualifiers, but are we talking like Celtic Rangers or Bears Packers? You know?

Well, it depends on, I guess, what country you're in. I remember in the 2001 game when the U.S. ran onto the field. Brad Friedel, who was the keeper that night, led the team onto the field, and the fans were cursing at the U.S. I remember that. Remember, this is eight years apart, 2001 to 2009. A lot of things could happen in eight years. And I remember turning to Steve Gough of The Washington Post was with me and Mike Wittal of Soccer America. And I mentioned to one of them.

And this was when, by the way, the controversy, who was supposed to be the U.S. goalkeeper? Was it Casey Keller or Brad Friedel? Two superb goalkeepers for many years. And I said to one of them, hey, listen, they're pretty pissed off that Greedles playing tonight. I guess they want Casey Keller. The thing is with the players, you know, I think it goes

right, the good players, it goes right through them. Because essentially you expect to be booed when you're awake. If you get booed at home, then you're in trouble. Saying all of that, if I could bring Costa Rica into it, they are the most intimidating fans I've ever met. I've ever seen, and I've been to

a few qualifiers at Supriza and at the Stadio Nacional. And they will make life difficult for the gringoes as much as they can. You know, the visiting locker room at Supriza was below a part of the, one of the end zones of the stands. The fans knew that, and they just stomped on it before the game and at halftime. And that could be pretty unsettling.

You know, it's one thing you hear booze or curses or whatever. It's another thing when you're thinking, with a ceiling of this locker room hold. And even Landon Donovan said, Landon Donovan said it was one of the most intimidating parts of the game for him. Saying all of that, back in 2013, I believe I was in Costa Rica for a qualifier and the press box was near the fans.

And they hated the Americans on the field, but they love to talk to us, the media from the United States. So it was all about intimidation, making life miserable for the team out on the field. And, you know, you've done a damn good job in Costa Rica about it since the U.S. doesn't win there since 1985. Crazy. But the Honduran crowd, after the U.S. took a two-to-one lead in 2000. 2001, a late goal, a free kick by Clint Mathis, who was in his prime at the time. We didn't know what the heck was going to happen.

You know, it was a close game decided on a non-controversial goal, but you don't know how a crowd is going to react. Fortunately, they filed out of the stadium pretty peacefully, all things considered. Yeah. So you would rank Costa Rica qualifiers away as more intimidating than Honduras, at least in your experience? In my experience, from what I've read about too, I've done extensive research about qualifiers, particularly in Central America over the years. And they tend to be the most difficult part. And we'll, the U.S. will have its hands full next year when they play in the end, the end stretch of qualifying in Costa Rica. But, you know, Honduras, that could be, that could be intimidating maybe for a player who's not used to it, a new player, a younger player who, yes, they play in Europe.

They play in the Champions League, which is a tough competition. Yes, the U.S. national team played in two games, final games in the Concaf Nations League, which against Honduras in the semis and Mexico in the finals. And those were physical battles. And I think that could be a preview of what we're going to see over the next few days. But being down there in the tropics, because you've got, especially this time of the year, the heat and humidity thrown in, too, that's something that they're not necessarily used to. I'm not saying they can't overcome that, but it's another challenge.

Yeah. As a reporter on the scene back in 01 and 09, did you stay at the same hotel as the team? Were you on your own? Walk us through the logistics of that. We were at the hotel with the team, as it turned out. It worked out well in that regard. when we had press sessions, we just had to go down to a special room and talk to the coach, whether it was Bruce Arena in 2001 or Bob Bradley in 2009, made life a lot easier.

They had buses. I give U.S. soccer a lot of credit because Honduras can be a very dangerous place. They had buses for the media, too. You don't want to hear of anyone from the, you don't want to hear of anyone from the, U.S. media getting into trouble or getting injured to and from the games. It's interesting. For the 2001 game, we stayed, I think I believe it was a Hilton. I'm sorry, it's 20 years ago.

My memory is good, but I don't mean, might not be that good. And as it turned out, we work, and this was out of town too. So there was, I think, some security around the hotel, too. I could get to go to a special date to get into the hotel. But there was a shopping mall across the street from us. And we were told we were going to be sitting in a press box, but we were going to have minimal amount of outlets and that sort of thing. The day of the game, I went to Sears and bought an electric strip for about $10 for us,

for the rest of the media, just in case we needed it for our computers. Those computers back then were not as advances today with all the bells whistles on it, but you know, you wanted to write your story during the game or part of your story during the game, you need electricity. So I buy this electric script and we used it during the game. Unfortunately, we didn't have the ability to send back to the U.S. I mean, there was no such thing as wireless internet at the time. We had to like, you know, plug, use a phone plug to plug into the wall.

And that plug was not usable, unfortunately. We tried to clean it out and it didn't work. As it turned out in my rush to get to the U.S. locker room and to stay with the media contingent, too, we wanted to stay together. I left the $10 power strip at the stadium. I guess that's my contribution to Olympico Stadium there in San Pedro Sula. To me, it was worth the $10, definitely. I think I made it a traveling expense for my taxes as well, too. Nice.

Nice. So you said there were two buses of reporters going to that game in 2009 from the hotel to the Olimpico? Yes. They gave us an option if we wanted to go earlier or later, I should say. And I, at the time, I was the editor of big apple soccer.com. I might have had some stories to do there, even though I could work in a press area and in madness and everything like that. I figured take the extra two hours and work by myself. And, you know, we would warn that there were going to be fans there very, very early.

I mean, this was a big game for Honduras at the time. as well as the U.S. And I thought it was a very smart move for the U.S. as well, too. It's funny. And, you know, we did not venture, at least I did not venture out of the hotel in 2009. We had all our meals there. Actually, I lied. Actually, me and a bunch of other writers went to a restaurant literally half a block away,

probably the night before the game. But that was the reason. I'm glad you did. I'm glad you did. Be ashamed to get knocking out of the hotel at all. Yeah, yeah. But you don't want to take any chances in a situation like that. There were some travel advisories as well, too.

In the 2009 game, there was a revolution going on there. the old president refused to leave and it was all sorts of bad stuff happening and sometimes it's smart not to go out and about. I mean, I've been to enough countries in the world that I want to see a city or a country museum or capture the atmosphere of the area. Unfortunately, I cannot say I did that in her. Andoros. Opportunity missed, unfortunately.

But, you know, sometimes it's more important to be alive to talk about it as well. Right. It seems like the U.S. journalism contingent would struggle to fill two buses for in a way qualifier these days. Am I wrong on that? Aren't there, are there fewer people making the trips for these games than there used to be? I, you know, probably in the era of COVID, I think that's cut down the travel a bit. And also it does cost money to get down there, although from what I've heard, I think from Miami to Honduras, I thought I saw something on the internet. And I know people say this all the time.

I see it on the internet. But I think, I don't know if it was one way or a round trip, $130, which is pretty reasonable. It's, I think, a two and a half hour flight if my memory serves me. correctly. It sounds plausible to me. The flights from Atlanta to San Pedro Sula a month ago were like $3.50, so not horrible either. Yeah, it depends on the time of the year and the time of the flight and whatnot.

You know, I know, if I'm not mistaken, Stephen Gough of the Washington Post is down in El Salvador. I think Grant Wall of Sports Illustrated said he was heading. there and there'll probably be a few others, but, you know, I hate to say this, but it's sometimes easier to watch at home right now because you've got the TV in front of you, and the interviews afterwards are done via Zoom. You don't, you know, if the interviews were done in a mix zone or one-on-one or whatever, I could see it happening. And maybe some of the writers will, will get that opportunity to maybe do an exclusive interview. And for me, I think good for them.

They're down there. They should get, quote, unquote, rewarded in some way. But yeah, my gut feeling is, assuming there was a bus, there was probably going to be maybe one bus or maybe take a taxi or an Uber or whatever. But there's probably going to be fewer today than in 2009. That's my gut feeling. If I'm wrong, I apologize. Okay, yeah.

I guess I was wondering if, like, even pre-COVID, there were fewer, like, the press core at these away games has declined because I remember in KUVA, it seemed like there were only a handful of reporters there, and the information was all coming from, like, a couple of them. But I don't have the stats on that either, so. I think you're correct. one thing, at one time, there were more newspapers covering it live. I covered it live for the New York Daily News in 2001 and 2009. A lot more papers were around than with the bigger budgets where they could afford to send their writers.

Right now, they don't have the same money to spend. There are exceptions. Like I said, the Washington Post. Websites are the ones that will have the money that has the ability to send writers down there. I just don't know who else is going. It's not like I look on Twitter to see, hey, I'm going to El Salvador, so-and-so is going, but there'll probably be just a handful this time.

Unfortunately, I would love to be down there, but I have to look at costs on my end, too. Yep, yep. I would have loved to be down there too, but yeah, same situation. What's the scene like? So the one thing you do get, for sure, from being there, is seeing the scene around the game, and you've touched on it a little bit.

But can you describe, you know, what the scene is and how maybe it's different from the scene at a big U.S. stadium for a home qualifier? Like, what's different about it? Well, you know, you mentioned it before about the guttural sounds of maybe being at New Camp. Camp Newell, I'm sorry. You know, it's just a, I think, just a different world that they will react to everything. Good, bad, and indifferent.

And it's, as a writer, I soak it up. I think it inspires me to write better because, hey, these people are into the game. It's going to make, let me get into the game even more so, too. it becomes, I think, a little more emotional in a good way. As a writer, I want to see the best game possible. Yes. Do I want to see the U.S. win? Yes, but I'm not going to cry if they lose.

I have to write a story on deadline. But, you know, I guess the best way to describe it is it's a lot of fun because it is a roller coaster ride with the fans because they will, oh, you know, and they'll cheer. They might, and they'll be booing when there's something bad happening. or maybe they just all of a sudden go from cheering to absolute silence because the opposing team or worse, the U.S. has scored, you don't do anything. You know, you don't recognize them at all. That's happened. That happened at the 2009 game where the U.S. equalized at one time and the just like the crowd went silent. It's funny, though, if I could bring up another place besides Honduras in Panama. I was down there for a game in 2004, a 1-1 draw that the U.S. pulled out in the stoppage time.

When Panama scored, and we were in an open press box, by the way, or press area, I should say, and there were fans sitting in a deck above us. When Panama scored, we got pelted with beer, Coca-Cola and I think some popcorn. The thing is, some of us thought that, wait a minute, now, were they dumping on us? But I remember on the other side of the field, I saw fans go crazy, and I remember seeing beer, soda, and popcorn fly into the air, too.

So I think we were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. No, it was not the end of the world because I think we understood what had it occurred. And we never got dumped on before or after that, too. So I think it was part of the celebration. And I think we were so into the game. And we were also worried about the fact that it was a thunderstorm out in the distance, and we were afraid of getting electrocuted, I think, because of all the wires that were around us. So we had, I think, more important things to worry about then whether or not we got a little beer on us,

which could get washed out anyway. So, you know, there's all this talk about people banging pots in the middle of the night outside the hotels and, you know, making it difficult for players to sleep and so forth. Did you ever see any of that or is that, yeah, or I suppose you've probably researched that a little bit. What can you tell us about that? Research, yeah, I researched it, talk to players about it. It's never happened at the hotels I've stayed at. I think security has gotten better. I think, let's face it, the team has gotten to better hotels.

I mean, if you're in a downtown hotel, I think we were in a Marriott in Panama, for example, was on a street block, you know, on a regular street. How are you going to make noise in front of a hotel like that? Sometimes if you're in a hotel that has room on all sides, you have a better chance of of blaring music in the middle of the night I mean I think through the years

the U.S. has learned to cope with that to get again better hotels better security. It's always good to spend a little extra money on that. Players have been given earbuds to wear at night and it's

work for the most part it's not always perfect. The scary thing, of course, back I guess in the 80s and 90s, was getting things thrown at you on the field, whether it's batteries, coins, bags of urine. I don't know where the bags came from. Well, I have an idea, but I mean, just it's pretty disgusting, just carrying that around for any length of time,

Unless it's for a post-game urine test. But I've heard, you know, a game against El Salvador in Honduras in 1989. And the game was moved from San Salvador because of band violence there in a World Cup qualifier earlier that summer. before the game, Tony Miola, who was making his World Cup qualifying debut for the U.S. was ready to pick up a water bottle that he saw in net. And David Vinoli, the backup goalkeeper, told him, don't drink that. And he explained why. He says, it could be urine.

It probably is urine. And so sometimes you have to think ahead. It's funny. Speaking of Tony Miola before the game, when Bob Ganswer was the coach way back then, they usually had team meetings the day of the game. It goes over last minute details, that sort of thing. And again, they're in a Honduran hotel for an El Salvadoran game.

And a number of players with Tony get into the elevator and does it move. And they're trapped in the elevator only an hour or so before they're supposed to leave for the game. Tony admitted he was claustrophobic a bit and he was getting worried and finally they managed to climb out of that precarious situations and got to the field on time for the game. They couldn't believe they were getting conca caft in a neutral venue. So incredible things like that have happened. I think they're probably less of them, but who knows what the team might encounter.

in El Salvador or Honduras. When you say that the fans in the stadium, let's say at the Olimpico, react to everything, and it is a very emotional, sort of, in a good way, experience. Do you perceive a higher level of fan intelligence

in a qualifier in the Olimpico than you would say at Red Bull Arena? Maybe Red Bull Arena is not an example, at a predominantly, you know, U.S. fans stadium? I think I might be more passion than anything else. I think one thing I've noticed with fans is that they are international fans, no matter where I have traveled, they know the game pretty well.

But I think in terms of passion, you know, playing the U.S., beating the U.S., playing the U.S. close in a game, that's a big deal that they could say, even if they lose, they go, hey, we could have won because so and so missed the... We could have tied or won because so and so missed the penalty kick in the 80th minute or whatever. I think it's more passion than anything else. In terms of understanding the game,

I mean, I think American fans know the game as well as any fans in the world. At least the ones that are going to go to World Cup qualifying matches, because that's not just another club game. This is World Cup qualifying. It doesn't get any bigger or better than that. Right.

Okay. What's, why is it, you know, tell me like I'm five, as they say on the internet. Why is it so difficult to get wins in these venues? I mean, you happen to witness two wins, but our record away at Honduras is not usually a win. and even in El Salvador, we've, you know, we haven't always gotten results in San Salvador. So why is that, why is it so difficult? It's, you know, I guess I'll try to wrap up everything I've said. It's the fans.

They can be intimidating the atmosphere, the stadium. Dodgey fields. Some of these fields are not kept up or that are kept up in a certain way for the home team. Maybe it's bumpier. It's better for the home team when it's bumpy. The weather. There are games that I've been at in the Caribbean and in Central America where it's rain during the game, which doesn't help the field conditions at all. And when I say weather, it's also the heat and humidity.

And, you know, you add all that up and you've got some really good teams. I mean, Costa Rica, they've got 5 billion people or so in the country and they keep going to World Cups. and so you give them that's incredible per capita the quality of players that they put out there and Honduras and I know they haven't been to as many World Cups as Costa Rica

has been but they have a number of talented players too so the opposition they'll make it very very difficult for any team let alone the US and let's face it going back to the crowd again again playing the United States. Gringos, for whatever reason, they might not like them, maybe hate them, and you just

try to intimidate them as much as you can, because whether or not U.S. players know Spanish, they know enough curse words across the spectrum of languages to know when they're getting cussed out. I think that combination just makes it so difficult. And which no other region in the world has anything like that. And listen, I've never been to a qualifier in Africa. I've been to qualifiers in Europe. I've been to qualifier in Oceana. And even that is pretty laid back.

But nothing like Conccaf in the Caribbean or something. Central America. And that's what mesmerizes me and probably mesmerizes you and the fans too because it's just not anything like that in the world. U.S. players who play in Europe tell their teammates what they have to go through. And some of their teammates are like, oh, they can't believe it. Different world down there. But I think it makes winning sweeter.

And when the U.S. does qualify, that much sweeter as well. It feels like a privilege in a way, you know, to be able to be part of it, even for me as a fan, as a fan and a podcaster. I'm really excited about it. Well, can you, one more, I don't want to take too much your time, but two more things. This El Salvador. No problem. How would you, you know, putting yourself in the shoes of the El Salvadoran fans, like how big of a game is this for them? It's like it's their first time in World Cup qualifying since that 09 cycle.

I mean, the final round of World Cup qualifying, how does it, is it fair to say it's the biggest game in more than a decade for them? I believe so, definitely. You know, it's kicking off World Cup qualifying for them. I think, you know, I can't read their minds, but I'd like to think getting at least a point out of the game would be considered good. would be even better. You know, I just think that this is, I think the two most important games for them

would be U.S. and Mexico, because if you could extract points from those two teams, those are considered the giants of Cockcaf. With all apologies to Costa Rica, which to me, I consider Costa Rica a giant of Cockcalf too, but I think in terms of reputation, that's a big deal.

You know, it's, if you could start out on the right foot against the U.S., wow, that's fantastic. Saying that, of course, we have a new generation of players, a golden generation of U.S. players who will have their say about that. Right. Can you tell us real quick what the Oceania Qualifier you went to was in the European one? I've been to a couple ones

at Wembley Stadium England and Poland I know England beat Poland 3-0 in 1993 and then England Italy in 1996 97

Italy like took one or two shots on target and one and England like I shot them by a ridiculous amount but as it I remember in my notebook, I was mapping the English shots, and they were forced. They were taken wide and a lot of them outside of the box. And Italy does a fantastic job of stopping England from taking quality shots. I know.

It's 24 years ago. Why do I remember that? I don't know. It's awesome. In Oceania, I went to Samoa. I was doing a bunch of stories about World Cup qualifying, and I got a chance to see three double-headers within a short period of time when the Metro stars were on the road,

so I was able to go there. Don't ask me why. Insanity on my part, but it was essentially, I guess a few hundred people, seating for a few hundred people. I think the fans were separated by rope. They had a bunch of stands there.

No, there were no one running onto the field. And all things considered, it was pretty laid back. Compared to Concca Calf. Then again, you might say that about anything about Conca Cacat. But a memorable time just because I was in a place I never thought I'd ever be. And it was an education for me at that time. But like I said, that was 2005. Very cool. Can you tell us where can we find your, where can people find the piece you write after the dust settles on Thursday night? I guess you're going to be up late that night.

Yeah. Whenever things get settled on, I, um, I did write a piece about, um, I, um, I did write a piece about, um, Already that's on front row soccer.com about the difficulties playing in Central America through a series of interviews I've done over the years with Landon Donovan, Alexei Lollis, Tony Miola, the late Siggy Schmidt. It's for club and country, mostly for country. But some of the things I touched on here, but there might be some other details. well too. I am in the process of trying to update an old story I wrote for Big Apple Soccer, just a complete history of the U.S. qualifying in Central America, all their qualifying matches,

which is probably going to be a mini book. I'm trying to get it out before tomorrow's game, before Thursday's game. And I just want to, like I said, I could be insane sometimes, but I did a story years ago and I'm updating it at the moment. So you could take a look at it at front row soccer.com and or follow me on Twitter at soccer writer. I was fortunate to get that. That's a choice. That's a choice handled. That was pure luck in 2009.

That's all I know. I was surprised it was available. I grabbed it. Well, I'll put a link to the article. The one you mentioned about recent. starting qualifying in the show notes as well as your Twitter handle. Can you give a last thing, can you give us a points prediction for this window? Three matches?

We're going to get, the U.S. going to come out with nine points? Four? That would be optimal. Okay, the way I look at it is U.S. has got to win its game at home. I don't care who they're playing. So you're talking minimal of three points. I think the U.S. should be able to get at least one point out of Central America, probably against El Salvador. I think they'll be able to come home with maybe five out of a possible nine points.

I think they could pull off ties on both ends of the Central American trips. You know, and the way I look at it is, four is, okay, you know, you went one, one and one, two games are on the road. You're also extracting home points. When you get a tie, we have to remember this. You're extracting points from the other team. They want to get three points for the win. Two wins would be fantastic. You know, seven points would be incredible.

and three for three would be outstanding and pointing the U.S. in the right direction. But saying all that, I think I'll take five points right now. Like I said, the win at home and a draw in each place. Anything more than that is like gravy and a great dessert. Fantastic. Michael, thank you so much doing this on short notice like this and sharing your wisdom. Appreciate it. You're welcome.

I appreciate it. I think I'll tell Sam Staskel to look for that power strip because I think that reporter from the athletic, he's going to be down there. So we got to track that power strip down. Well, the big joke was, you know, we'd turn on the power strip and the lights would go out in the stadium. That was the big joke.

You know, I'm glad we were forewarned beforehand about it. And like I said, you know, you try and do your homework beforehand. We researched a team. Now we were able to research the stadium a bit and what's $10 when it means getting your story in on deadline? Although I think we all wrote our later stories back to a hotel. You didn't have to find a phone booth and call it in, like dictate it? No, I've been around enough that I did that way, way back in the day of my early days of journalism. But, you know, it's funny when I've been on the road with the team when I was in a Mexico hotel, Mexico City and for a 1997 qualifier, checked in the room.

It was a very nice room. The first thing I looked for was could I plug in my computer to send back to the States? That was my main concern. I could care less. Well, I wanted a decent condition to the room. but I think you know what I meant. Yeah. I mean, if I'm down there, I'm not down there on vacation.

And, yes, I was able to go AOL to Florida. Somewhere in Florida or Texas or something like that. I ran up a ridiculous phone bill like $30, but you know something, you've got to do what you got to do. Yeah, for sure. Okay. Hey, have a great rest of your day. Thanks again. I'm glad I'm able to help out.