Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #315: Jimmy Conrad joins the pod

Episode Date: September 13, 2022

The former USMNT defender discussed how to cope when your goalkeeper might be match-fixing, beating out Gregg Berhalter for World Cup minutes, getting nutmegged by children in pickup soccer, and managing disputes with coaches and teammates surnamed Bradley. Some of that is in the second half of the interview, which is for patrons only. Interview conducted by Watke and Belz.Get the second half of this interview, plus the Monday Review each week, plus the historic recaps, by joining the Scuffed Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/scuffedCheck out In Soccer We Trust, Jimmy's main project right now: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh4tni-ICN9z0eMIPcf2r2g 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 Scuff podcast, where we talk about U.S. Soccer. Today, our guest is Jimmy Conrad, the former national team defender and a guy who works on a lot of stuff. He's making in soccer we trust a quite good and often insightful soccer podcast and YouTube channel. He's also got his own larger, long-running YouTube channel, which is just called Jimmy Conrad. And he organizes pick up soccer games in lots of places and is technical director for the San Francisco Glens, a U.S.L. League 2 team. Jimmy, thanks for being here. Wow, thanks for having me. That was a great intro.

Do you want to be my publicist? Where do we have conversation about that? It depends. How much you pay me. That's fair. That's fair. No, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me on.

And I should mention Waki is here. Chris Russell. Hi. How's it going, Chris? It's going great. One thing you left out of Jimmy's resume is he played in a World Cup, which I have some questions about. I'm excited to hear about that experience and what he's kind of taken from that through

his career. Far away. Well, my first question. question is I've been reviewing kind of the documentary footage of the tournament in 2006. And one thing that jumped out to me is you didn't listen to music on the bus or before the games in the World Cup against you played against Italy. You came on for that and then you played against Ghana. But no music in the buildup. What's your thinking there? Has that something, I mean, it's sort of unconventional. Controversial. Yeah, that's a great. Yeah, I guess in some

ways, it's one of those things where even when I would run, I didn't like to listen to music when I ran, you know, when you're going running distance or whatever it is. Because I just thought, if I'm going to suffer, I need to learn how to cope without listening to my favorite jams. You know, I don't need to hear, we will rock you by queen. You know, that's not going to solve my problem for me in the 57th minute of a game when I'm dead tired and I've got to track somebody into the corner. So, so I tried to put some things in place that allowed me to, you know, cope and develop these coping mechanisms without music, which is, I don't feel like I should need music to inspire me or to get me focused or whatever it may be. Now, that's me being pretty

hardcore about that side of things. And when I got on the bus, I just wanted to, and as it pertains to the World Cup, I wanted to soak up the experience. I wanted to see the fans when you're driving past and they're hitting the bus, you know, when we're really going slow up into the law. I wanted to feel what that was like. I didn't want to waste that by listening to music. And that's how I wanted to absorb that experience. Now, others, for sure, there's no problem. I'm not saying you shouldn't listen to music. You should do whatever helps you find peace in some ways, right?

And helps settle you down during the amazing amount of expectations that you're feeling. And then, of course, the ones you want to live up to based on representing your country at the highest level. You mentioned trying to take it all in. It all happens so fast when you go to World Cup. Is your memory of it kind of a blur? Or how much of it do you feel like you took in? That's a great question, too. Before we left to go to Germany,

so we were in Kerry, North Carolina for our pre-World Cup camp, and we got a video message from Clive Charles, rest in peace. And Clive said exactly what your question is, that it goes by so fast. So make sure you take moments to look around, to smell the grass, to look at the faces of the people, in the crowd when you're playing, if you have a moment, right? If the ball's out of play or somebody's

hurt or there's a sub, just really appreciate what you're doing and how hard you've worked to get to that moment and absorb it in a positive way. It shouldn't feel like additional pressure. It's just so you don't forget that you were there and that you experienced it. And so it's real for you when you want to revisit it later. And so I did that multiple times, both on and off the field. And what's funny is to settle me in the Italy game when I came in as a sub and we were down nine men and they had 10, so we're down a man, which is crazy in itself. There's a lot to unpack just with that whole situation. But I had to figure out a way to really keep this, this experience from being overwhelming. My dad didn't like to fly. He had flown over to come to

this game. He's got some social phobia. So he's sitting in this. I know he's super uncomfortable sitting in these little tiny seats. He's six foot five. He's just a giant of a man. And he was there. It was Father's Day. I get to play. There's just all this. emotion that's easy to get wrapped up into and I had to leave that emotion to the side and really kind of see it practically and that was a way for me to handle that big of a moment and all I said to myself was this is just a glorified mensly game no big deal you know this is it this just what the glorified mentally game with millions of people watching and some of the world's best players on the other it doesn't matter just relax and make place like you're out here because you're very good at making plays and

staying focused and I would say that one of my proudest moments in that Italy game which is going to be so geeky for some people, but I was very good at holding a good line, not too high, not too deep. And I think we had them, Italy got offside six or seven times in that second half. And every single time I was so proud of myself because we found the sweet spot. They were getting a little impatient. We weren't just sitting on top of our box and absorbing the whole time. And that's something I'm really, really proud of that will never come up on a stat sheet and 99.9% of the people, or maybe even more than that, almost 100, 100%. Well, won't even care about that. But for me, it was a point of pride and something that was one of the reasons why I was on the team, I think. I was catching up on

that game yesterday. And that is one thing that stick out. You're playing a pretty high line. And you came in, you were kind of thrust in the game suddenly because Eddie Pope got a red card, right? That was why you came in. Right after, yeah, got a second yellow. Right. after half time. And so you had no warning and you came in and you kind of went to a back three and your push job. Was it a back three? But anyway, Italy players are running behind. Yeah, yeah, right.

We had Trondolo, I think, on the right and Carlos Bocenegra on the left, at left back. But it was, you know, when you have nine players, it kind of morphs. Everybody's just trying to like plug holes, you know, at that point. But for me, it was, it was really important. And another moment in that game, I remember I took a chance and tried to tackle, I think I Aquini on the sideline and I missed. but I did enough to kind of make him take a bigger touch and Carlos came over and swept it up. And I think it went out for a corner,

went for a throw in. And I gave him like that, kind of like what you're seeing in Manchester United do right now. Every time there's like a great defensive play, there's this high-fiving, everybody's pumped up, you know. And I remember Carlos's dad coming up to me after the game saying he never does that.

He's not a rah-rah type guy. He doesn't give high-fives. But I think that's also part of what I brought to the table. So when I talk about stuff on in Sockin-We-Trust podcast and I appreciate you giving us a plug there at the beginning. We try to bring in that type of insight where can you get more out of the guys around you? And I really am locked in on the intangibles. And I really look at body language and how other players respond to each other.

And are they getting the most out of each other in every single situation? It's not this whole overall thing. It's where we're holding a line and what we're doing and how the guys are reacting to the types of communication. Now, obviously we can't hear, but you can see it in action. When good communication is happening, you can see it in action based on the team shape. It was a big high five moment, too. It was, it was. It was very good.

It was very noticeable in the telecast as well. I think there was a close-up of it. I think you're right. Jimmy, who do you, when you watch the current US-Meds national team, who do you think stands out for their communication and getting the best out of the other guys and intangibles? I would say Tyler Adams is probably the obvious choice. You can tell he's vocal. You can tell that he cares in a way that his passion, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he,

He forces you to be better, right? You can see it. He holds himself to this high standard. And guess what? You're also going to be held to the same standard he holds himself. And so I like that about him. You can see it also permeating to his time at leads, that everybody's starting to pick up their game that, hey, this guy's doing the work. And when you have a guy that's doing the work and then he backs it up by making your job easier, it's really easy to buy into that type of mentality and to also want to match it and to play for him. So I think he's got that in spades. And that's why I think he is our obvious captain. Now, there might be some conversations that we can have about why Christian Pulisic's a better choice. Maybe you elevate his

game if he feels like he's wearing the armband and some players do respond to that in certain ways. But whether he's wearing a piece of cloth around his arm or not, Tyler Adams for me is the captain of the team. So I think that he brings something. Now, for me, the big concern is the centerbacks. I think Walker has, Walker Zimmerman has those qualities. There's something there in terms of putting out fires before they start that I don't think that Aaron Long maybe has as much of. And that's why I tip Walker to probably have the edge over him. With Chris Richards, not playing as much, that's what gives me a little bit of concern. It's less, he clearly talented and could be starting for our national team, but can he bring some of that gravitas that I think needs to come from

the position that I think comes from playing, right? You can do it in training. You can play against world class guys, but are you out there putting guys in good spots and having that ability to communicate and own, kind of own your decisions? Are we stepping? Are we dropping? Are we dropping? How are you talking? It can't be feeble, right? It's got to be with confidence and these little things that only come, I think, when you play in regularly. And that's why that gives me a little bit of concern with Chris Richards. It has nothing to do with talent. A guy is clearly talented and probably as more talent in his pinky than I do in my whole body. So I respect his game a ton. But I think that's what the playing experience comes. And then when I think about Cameron Carter Vickers,

you know, it's the same thing. He seems, I can't tell how much he's communicating. He's one that I can't see. So the centerback position gives him. me a little bit of concern because we need definite leaders there that are putting guys in good spots to cut out things in passing lanes and all that and building that rapport with Tyo and everybody else in front of them. I could go on and on and on. I'm like, you just wind me up. I'm like an energizer bunny over here. You just cut me off whenever you're wanting to start talking. I interrupted Waki's flow. So, Chris, go ahead. Okay, so you let's go back to your, the world, you were playing the World Cup. You go into the

Italy game, you end up starting against Ghana. How much time do you get heads up? I guess you would imagine you're probably going to start, but do you know? And what's kind of the protocol for when you find out that you're going to be starting a World Cup? Yeah, great question. I mean, I think every coach is a little bit different. But in that game, I just assumed that I would start, given that Eddie Pope was out

and because I was the first off the bench. Now, when that World Cup cycle started, or excuse me, when we got. the roster to drop. Greg Burrhalter was an alternate. He wasn't even on the team. It was Corey Gibbs. And then we played Morocco and a friendly. And I think we had a three in the back. We went three centerbacks maybe with Toronto kind of being in between her at the right side. So he could be winged back. He could drop into a back four to pace depending on the situation or where the ball was. But Corey got hurt and he hurt his knee and he was out. So then Greg got called in. And I remember Greg joining us before our last friendly, our sendoff series against Latvia.

of all opponents, Latvia, probably wasn't the best opponent to get us prepared for World Cup competition. But that was who they could get. And I remember Greg being around for that night. And I told him, I'm happier here with us, you know, and even though we were direct competitors, that I was glad he was there

because he just was a good outlet to talk to. He really loved the game. And I think that's, he's a student of the game too. So, yeah, go ahead, jump in. But you did beat him out. I did. You beat him out. So he got alternate in 98 too.

So you got bookended by two, barely not making the World Cup. That's got to be hard. But that's not what we're talking about today. You were the, is that the game you were the captain in, the Latvia game, right before the World Cup? I was captain in the Venezuela game. Oh, okay. Yeah, so it was one of the send-off series. It was in Cleveland, I think, and we played against Venezuela.

And Bruce had made the decision that you're going to rotate the squad and get some of the other guys some minutes. So everybody was trying to guess who Bruce was going to make the captain. And it was me. And I could not believe. I still cannot believe it because. And he didn't tell you, right? He didn't tell you. Didn't tell me at all.

I just walked in the locker room and there was the little flag and arm band near my jersey. So I knew that it was me. And yeah, I mean, I don't know. Was he kind of a rogue operator in that respect? Or is that kind of normal for coaches? Do they, most of them tend to keep stuff tight until they have to tell people? I imagine there's just so many people to manage. It's the communication has got to be complicated.

I think he could have pulled me aside and said that, but I think he wanted to surprise me. I think he knew that I would be thrilled. It was his gift to me in some ways to have that moment of, and pride. I just, I didn't even, what do you even say?

This is something I was a, walk on in college. I didn't get drafted into MLS. I had to play in the lower leagues in this country. I didn't get my first cap until I was 28. And then when he has the opportunity, when Claudio's not playing, or even the vice captains aren't playing,

that I'm going to make me the captain. It's, what an incredible honor. And yeah, it meant a lot to me. And Bob Bradley also made me captain for four games as well. And it never got old. It was an incredible thrill to be given that responsibility to not only represent your country, but to be the captain as something else.

You mentioned you were a walk-on in college, and it was not an entirely straightforward, walk-on process from what I can tell, because you mentioned at some point you got a letter from UCLA where they told you you were not good enough. They don't know who you are either. Bastard. So Todd Saldane actually was the assistant for Ziggy Schmidt at UCLA at the time.

And I'm friends with Todd now, but at the time, I had the grades. I had the SAT scores to warrant getting in. And they basically said, hey, if you do get into school, then we'll give you a tryout. But we don't really know who you are. I mean, I'm in Southern California.

There's plenty of talented kids. in my age group. And I didn't do enough to, I didn't score like 50 goals or anything. I played attacking mid. That's why I go by Conrad Dino, because I live in my glory years back of the day. And I think I had like 15 goals and 15 assists my senior year.

Those aren't bad numbers, but we didn't win anything. We didn't even win our own league. We didn't win our levels. So there was no reason for me to be seen or any of that type of stuff. So I fell through the cracks. I wish I would have kept that letter. And I didn't.

And ultimately parlayed my coach, my youth coach's belief in me who called a lot of schools on my behalf. Here's the fun story is that he called Ziggy Schmidt at UCLA and told him that I would be twice the player that Mike Lapper was. Okay, Mike Lapper, All-American, played at Columbus Crew forever. And Ziggy loved him. And Ziggy laughed at my coach and basically laughed him off the phone. What's funny is I probably became twice the player that Mike Lapper was, which is pretty awesome in a lot of different ways. So shout out to my youth coach for having that type of belief and vision in what I was capable. of. But I ultimately went down. He convinced Chuck Clegg, the coach at San Diego State to give me a

chance. So they gave me a book scholarship, basically $300 a semester. And I'm like, all right, Division I can tell everybody I'm on a D1 scholarship, even though it's $300 a semester. Nobody has to know the details. And I went down there and played 30, 40 games at the Division 1 level. And then the coaching situation, I didn't feel like I was getting better. I wasn't learning. I mean, the experience was helping, but the environment wasn't great and the culture wasn't great. So there was 10 freshmen that came in with me or nine other freshmen and eight of us left after our sophomore year because it was just, it was a shit show. So that's what I called Ziggy Colt and they gave me a chance. My grades were good enough to get in. And they said, we'll give you one week to try out.

I said, I'll take it. And got to go play at my dream school and won the national championship my senior year. And now you've moved up north the state and you're coaching. What have you learned coaching that you didn't know before about the game? Great question. I would say that, that when you're sitting there and talking and you're trying to get your message across, your philosophy, your ideas, that the 20, 25 players that are there in front of you, they're all absorbing this information in different ways.

And so the trick to coaching is how quickly can you get, or one of the tricks, how quickly can you get everybody on the same page and rowing the boat in the same direction so that when you do want to move as a group, either with or without the ball, all 11 players are switched on and they know exactly what it is that they need to do.

And you don't have people working individually or people working in pairs or five players going, we're going to go high press. And the other five are like, no, we're dropping off. But that is something that is, that's how it's hard. It's not easy. It's just part of the challenge of being a coach. And so that's been something that I've learned

in terms of making sure that everything that I'm saying is understandable and that I go over it a lot of times. to make sure that we're all on the same page. And then once it gets executed on the field and the guys see that it works, then the buy-in is pretty immediate at that point. But it takes a while to get there to convince. Even though I have plenty of playing experience

and I played at a high level and played against some of the world's best players, you still have to convince them that you know what you're doing as a coach. That's one. The second thing is I actually have a tough time with relating to the players that don't commit because my talent wasn't really anything out.

outrageously physical, right? I wasn't going to outrun you. Probably wasn't going to outpower you, but I had some grit and my talent was commitment. And so when I have these players come up to me and say, I want to be a pro, but they don't back that up with the actions of what that should look like. I have a really tough time relating to those players. And I need to work through that on my end because some of these kids are super talented. And sometimes they need to have their handheld to a certain extent. There are going to be a point where sink or swim time, but you have to make sure that I have to, this is hard for me, but I have to give them some room to develop the process of what that means, that the habits and disciplines to become a pro. And that's a lot of things that they don't know yet.

And so do I have the time and patience to teach them that? Or do I just move on to the kids that already have the growth mindset and are already ready to go? Stuff. I don't know. What's the pithiest tough love one liner you've given a kid? as you can tell I'm not I'm not uh brevity is not an art form I have mastered so so I'm not as concise with the one liners per se but I will give them the sink or swim time yeah you're getting to a moment where we're going to you know we've given you plenty of chances and now you have to come good on these chances otherwise we have to move on to other people and it's hard because you can see their heart you can see their hearts break in front of you when they don't perform well

And what am I going to do? Like at some point, that's the game, right? You either show up when it's time or you don't. And that's what I learned at the World Cup as well. When the whistle blows, it doesn't matter if you played in Europe. It doesn't matter if you play before or if you play in Europe afterwards or you play MLS. Are you ready when the whistle blows? That's the number one thing I learned at the World Cup in 2006.

We had a ton of guys. The tournament was in Europe. We're coming off of the 2002 success. Same core of guys. And we're not going to sneak up on anybody anymore. so it's going to be a little bit harder in some capacity. Are you going to be ready when the whistle blows? That's all that matters.

I don't give a shit if you play a Chelsea. I don't give a shit. Are you ready when that whistle blows? I don't care if you play an MLS. That's what matters. We can talk all we want. We can speculate all we want. But are you going to be ready when that whistle blows?

And that's what I learned at the World Cup. Because at that point in 2006, only me and Clint Dempsey had MLS experience. And when you come back and look at all the players that were the highest rated from those three games, me and Clint Dempsey are near the top. And it didn't matter that we played an MLS. It was just we showed up when it mattered.

Is it being ready in those games in that short window? Is it a matter of just being focused around the games? Or is it just something that switches on when it starts? Like I guess one thing I always wonder about is when you go to a World Cup during this sort of hermetic thing. Are you thinking about the rest of your life while you're there? Or is it so intense that it's just like I'm only. I will say, and I love this. question. I will say that being thrown into the Italy game without having time to think was probably

the best thing that happened to me because I just had to go. I had to go in and make plays and not think about anything else. When I had to prepare for the Ghana game to kind of circle back to a question you asked earlier, I knew that I was probably going to start. And I had some of my worst trainings for the national team leading up to that so much so that the coaching staff came up to me and asked me if I was all right, which is like, the kiss of death. And I said, I will be fine. But I was getting into my head. I was getting into my feelings at that point because you understand and realize,

for me in particular, like, I knew this was probably my only World Cup that I was going to play in. I would be 33 for the next iteration. And that was just going to be a difficult ask, especially when we had some up and coming guys behind me, looking at J. DeMerey in particular, who were kind of in the same boat as just like, all commitment and grit. So, but I left that aside.

I just knew that these are the games that people are going to always remember you for. And I wanted to make sure that I wasn't timid in those moments. I wanted to put my best foot forward. If that led to making mistakes, so be it. I didn't want to have that regret when I came home. I just wanted to make sure that in the times that I was making plays, that I was making the best decisions that I could in playing with confidence. I just didn't want to be out there and be timid.

and that was really important to me and I think I accomplished my goal. I remember after the Ghana game, even though we lost, Josh Wolf came up to me, he was my roommate throughout the process and he played with me at the club level. He said that was the best game I've ever seen you play against Ghana. And that meant a lot to me, right?

Getting that feedback from your peers is incredibly important. And it really validated how I thought I performed. Sure, I made some mistakes, but it wasn't due to me being timid. It was me trying to make decisions. trying to be proactive and not being reactive, which is what I thought we felt like through a good portion of that tournament, which was a little, us going into the tournament, like the number three ranked country in the world was a little, you know, I don't think that helped us at all,

but, um, is it a little, is it a little weird between you and Burrhalter because you played all, you played and he didn't in that World Cup? I didn't think about much of it at the time. We had played in a friendly in Germany against, excuse me, in March. of 2006 in Germany. It was me, Corey Gibbs and Greg in a back three. And what I'll say is that it wasn't always fun to play with Greg.

But I knew that he'd be a good coach because he had a clear idea of how the game should be played. The problem was, it never felt like he listened to the, maybe the information that I was trying to give. Like he had already had it all figured out,

which is totally cool, man. Like, I get it. Like, from a coaching, like that's why I thought, this guy's going to be a good coach because he's got a clear vision of how the game should be played. He just has to get everybody

to buy into that vision and it should be fine. but it didn't always make him fun to play with. And to add to the fact, he knew and I knew that we were both competing against each other for one or two spots on the roster. And he probably felt that he was entitled to it, given how he performed in 2002. And I would have felt the same way. So it must have been really heartbreaking for him to not make the roster initially

and then to kind of have to come in just as an alternate when Corey Gibbs got hurt. There's never been any beef between us. I have a ton of respect for Greg and what he accomplished, both as a player and as a coach. but he just did that interview with Andrew Weeby and he mentioned he basically just kind of shit on 2006 team and I was like, hey man, what are you talking about? I was on that team, you know? So I obviously couldn't.

But we didn't, we underperformed for sure and we obviously were hoping to take steps and do better than we did than 2002. But that's always tough. We had a really tough group and I think losing that first game, the way that we did against Czech Republic, didn't do us any favors.

Well, it's like he had every opportunity to get playing time in the 2006 World Cup. Same coach as was there in 2002. I mean, it seems like it was a fair battle. I'd like to think so, but he might see it different. And now that I'm remembering exactly what he said with the Weeby thing, he just said we didn't have the right collection of guys. And I didn't know how to read into that.

I mean, yeah, that's an easy thing to say. But I want names, Greg Berhalter. Put some names out there so we can understand exactly who you're referencing. scene. And I don't think he's talking about me per se, because I always felt like I was a good locker room guy. But yeah, I would like to get some more insight on where he's saying on that. But, of course, he was going to, you know, we didn't do well. He didn't get to play. So I can understand why there's some residual bitterness about it. Of course. Yeah. What's the experience of finding out you're going to a World Cup or not going

to a World Cup? Like, maybe just in terms of how it works, is it a list they put up on a wall, like in middle school tracks or something? Or like, how does this go? Well, every coach is different. So under Bruce, I didn't know leading up to the big announcement, he went on ESPN Sports Center and was going to announce the team. I didn't hear anything. I assumed that if I wasn't going to be on the team or if I was an alternate, they would have got ahead of that because that would have been a really evil way

to break somebody's heart and not have like a proper conversation with that player prior to the announcement. And I had Landon Donovan about three hours before the roster dropped. send me a little DM on AOL instant messaging. Shout out to AOL instant messaging. And he goes, hey, hey, I got some great news. And I'm like, oh, man, what is it? I just assumed, you know, Landon's the golden child for the program.

And he's going to know for sure. And he goes, oh, man, I can save you a bunch of money on your car insurance by switching to Geico. And I'm like, he's this fucking bastard. You know, he knows that I'm waiting for, you know, this type of news. And he set it up perfect and he got me. What a jerk. And I'll never forgive him for that.

But I think he knew deep down that he could joke with me because I think he knew that I was going to be on the team. And getting that news was I was walking on clouds, absolutely walking on clouds. And one of my favorite moments. How did you get the news? Through SportsCenter. I waited and saw my name on SportsCenter when Bruce Arena announced it. By myself at home, my wife was at work, didn't have any kids yet, done with training

with Kansas City at that time. And like you want to celebrate with somebody. You want to give some high fives, some fist bumps, you know? But it really didn't matter. my phone blew up. Only a few times in my life has my phone blown up like that. It was that moment. And then also when we didn't qualify for the World Cup in 2018 and I was in London and my phone had basically melted on the ground because I had fallen asleep because I didn't think it was possible

that we could not go to the World Cup in 2018. And this was back when a bunch of people watched SportsCenter. So that had to just be crazy. Yeah, it was a big deal. It was a big deal. And all the fun stuff that happened on the side, you know, we got a big ride up and every newspaper, you're on SportsCenter. That's great. But for me, it was more of a validation of all the hard work and sacrifice that I had put into it. By making the World Cup roster, I achieved something that I never thought was entirely possible.

Did I hope for it? Of course, was I working my ass off to put myself in a position to make that happen? Yes. But that was, I can't even describe the feeling. It makes you want to continue to chase that high because there are only a few things I think that can match, especially when you've put that much type of work behind the scenes and all the sweat and tears, being told you're not good enough in a lot of different ways by a lot of different people.

And really, that's the biggest middle finger of all time. What's interesting, though, is, okay, the haters can be like, all right, fine, you made the World Cup team. Well done. But can you play in a World Cup? Can you hold your own in a World Cup? You know, you're only an MLS player. Let's see what you can do there. And so for me, then, I not say the novelty you making the World Cup team wears off,

but it does in some instances because you have a couple weeks and you're like, I don't want to get hurt. So you're basically playing one or two touch for the rest of the next three weeks. You get into World Cup camp. And then you start doing some crazy fitness. And the trainings are 100 miles an hour. And everybody's really good. And everybody's at the peak of their game, trying to be as sharp as possible.

So those trainings were awesome. And then you start to, you know what? It was cool to be named to the World Cup team. I kind of want to play in a World Cup now. And that was the next step in that. So for me to have that opportunity and to be able to prove that I could hold my own against the best in the world. with the highest stakes with so much pressure on it,

is something that nobody can take away from me. And I love that I have that in my back pocket. You mentioned the training camp. The one this year is going to be, I don't know exactly, but maybe five days long. Yeah, that's a joke. What do you do as a coach there? Do you just narrow the number of things you're going to cover and focus on them?

Or what's the approach in that? Yeah, I think you're probably cutting out fitness. You know, that was something we addressed in our camp, which was like three weeks before we left for Germany. It was a pretty long camp. And there was an assessment, right? You get assessed on where you are at physically. What's your load of, what can we put on your shoulders right now physically?

And then also because the seasons are kind of just finishing or just stopping abruptly with your clubs, it's trying to figure out what should we work on. To your point, if I was Greg and the coaching staff, I'm really just working on foundational stuff. How are we moving as a group in certain situations? We know we're playing Wales and England and Iran. We can kind of worry about England and Iran a little bit later because there's five days between each game. Each game. So what are we doing for Wales in particular?

That's essentially what we're focusing on. That's what I would be working on. How are we moving as a group? I've identified my 11 getting them on the field together as soon as possible to continue to get those rapport and those reps together. I'd be doing a lot of passing patterns between you and I, a lot of set pieces. And you're trying to work out because it's not isolated to us. every country is going to be doing the same. But I think you want to get all those foundational pieces in place so that when the guys are

up against it, because they are going to suffer in every game, even against Wales, when we're up against it, are we still resolute in terms of how we're moving as a group and that there's no drop off in terms of focus and responsibilities and accountability of where people should be moving based on the situation? That's going to be of the utmost importance. And I think those little details do end up making a big difference. Let me jump in and say, let's take a little break and I'll come back with more questions. about playing in a World Cup, a question about Bob Bradley, one about getting megged by a middle

school student, a few other questions, but only for patrons. You can subscribe for as little as $2 a month by clicking on the link in the show notes. Unless you are a patron of the scuff podcast, thank you for listening, and we'll see ya.