Inside Soccer
Inside Soccer
US Soccer and USASA - John Motta shares with Inside Soccer
John Motta joins Bill Peterson to share his incredible soccer journey and the upcoming priorities of US Soccer and US Adult Soccer Association. Great insight into organizations most don't understand and what it takes to be successful. A great servant of the game. Join John and the Insiders.
Hello and welcome back. You're listening to another incredible episode of Inside soccer when your host bill Peterson inside soccer brings you a soccer fan expert analysis and opinion on the critical issues facing the game today. Awesome guests that have incredible stories and historical perspectives on the game. With soccer experience batting 20 A Rolodex is open to bring you the voices and opinions you want. Sit back at wherever you are in the world. And enjoy today's episode.
Unknown Speaker :Welcome back inside soccer listeners. My name is Bill Peterson and this is inside soccer Episode 18. This is episode brought to you by top sports solutions if you have a challenge, top sport has a solution. Today we continue our tradition of providing expert guest analysis and inside views no one else will bring you we've been saving this discussion. For a long, long time and previous episodes. We've discussed a beautiful game with founders, builders, executives, supporters groups, we've had three Hall of Fame players on this show, and much, much more Today, we're gonna go all the way to the top to the boardroom of US Soccer. I'm proud to have an incredible advocate for the sport and the United States. A person who serves a sport very well and a person I would consider a friend representing the US Adult Soccer Association, and the US Soccer board of directors. Mr. JOHN Motta. Thank you, john, and welcome to Inside soccer.
Unknown Speaker :Well, thanks for having me, Bill. Glad to be here.
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, we're honored to have you here today as well. So as I mentioned, we've been fortunate to have many great guests in this shows short lifetime, but I thought it was time to see the sport from the highest level in the country. And and and help our listeners understand the relationship between us soccer and the board. And all the things that are involved. I mean, I have to tee this up with, I don't think the average person even the average player, Coach parent has any idea just how big US Soccer is. So today, we're going to try to unpeel some of that onion and share some of the things that go on and understand a little bit more about yourself as well, which is incredible story too. So let's, let's start there. JOHN, why don't you give us a sense of how you got involved in this crazy sport. And and take us up to today where you're on what you do now.
Unknown Speaker :Okay, well, thank you again, Bill. And actually, I've been involved in the sport of soccer my entire life almost since birth. My dad, who is an immigrant came to the United States from the Azores in Portugal, and came to a little community in rhode island called the Bristol bus from Rhode Island. Bristol was pretty much 70% Portuguese populated, so a lot of Portuguese immigrants landed and and lived in Bristol, Rhode Island. Well, in the 60s, when my dad came over, well, he actually came in in the 50s. But in the early 60s, like in the beginning of the 60s, him and all the other party immigrants, you know, loved the game of soccer. That's all they knew from the mother country. And they got together and they said, We need to start a soccer club here in Bristol. And they all got together and organized and started what still exists today called the Bristol sports club. And it was a soccer club in the town. And they started their first soccer team. And actually my dad built the very first soccer field in that community, which still exists today at cold State Park in Bristol. And I can remember, every weekend every Sunday growing up, we had the traditional Portuguese tradition, which was you go to Mass in the morning, you have the big Portuguese meal in at noon, and then soccer the rest of the afternoon and that's what I did my entire life growing up as a as far as far back as I can remember, that was our Sunday ritual. So as I grew older, we didn't have youth soccer in our community until I was about I would say 14 years old or 14. But I was lucky enough that I lived in a community which was again 70% Portuguese populated. So anytime you went to the local park, we call it the town calm and they'd be like, you know, 3040
Unknown Speaker :Portuguese kids hanging out. And what do we do all day we play pickup soccer at the park almost every single day. So around when I was 14, they started the first Oregon youth soccer program in the town and I played in in the youth soccer and then I got involved with Adult Soccer then there was always Adult Soccer growing up in, in our, in our community, which was that Bissell sports club. I started my own amateur team. When I lived in Bristol when I was about, you know, 18 1819 years old. I became secretary of the Bristol Sports Club, which was the club my father Father when I was 18. So I was like, the youngest board member they've ever had at the age of 18. So I've been involved. And then when I moved to New Hampshire, in 1982, that's when I got involved with my business. And I moved to New Hampshire, I didn't do anything for a couple of years with soccer because I was trying to grow my business. But after a couple of years, I started attending the local high school games. And I remember one day to the New Hampshire Soccer Association president was at a game and he used to see me at the games and he approached me and said, Hey, I see you at these games every week. Do you have a brother or a son or somebody that's playing? I said, No, I just loved the game so much. I come and watch the high school play every every week when I when they go on game throws. Oh, really? We've been looking for people like you to join New Hampshire Soccer Association. Would you be interested? I said, Sure, I'd love to help out. So I became almost overnight, the registrar for New Hampshire soccer. And after two years, the President did not want to be present anymore. And then I ran for president of New Hampshire soccer. And I did that for for 10 years. And then as Maybe you remember, Bill in 1998, there was an opening for executive vice president of the US Soccer Federation. I ran for that position. Sunil Gulati ran against me. And in 1998, I beat Sunil to be the vice president of the US Soccer Federation. And that's my first step into the board of directors of US Soccer. So that's pretty much my, my history of soccer, being involved in soccer. So started as a kid roaming the soccer fields every Sunday to Vice President of US Soccer Federation, today, president of us Adult Soccer.
Unknown Speaker :So john helped me, you know, I grew up in western Pennsylvania, and we just did not have soccer until I actually left home. They started a young girls team. And so the one thing that I miss in my mind, and my life is, you know, how all of this got started. But from what I've heard before, and what you just shared. I mean, you were really at the epicenter. This was happening all up and down the East Coast, and maybe the West Coast at the same time, where people had come to this country, that was the sport that they knew they love, their family loved. They started playing, and it just started to sort of grow is that sound, right?
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, that's that's it. I mean, you know, you had all you know, all these immigrants, were coming into this country, and they all loved the sport of soccer. And they all started these clubs. I mean, you go to the Midwest, who got you know, the Bavarians, you got the Croatians, you go to New England, you got a lot of Portuguese clubs. Yeah. I mean, you just traveled throughout. And it was pretty much mostly immigrant clubs, that, you know, we're growing the sport in this country.
Unknown Speaker :And people forget, I mean, you're not you don't have wall to wall television and ESPN and follow your teams and all these other things. I mean, at the advent of the first NASL must have been a big deal for for someone like yourself and your community and, and and the players you're playing with every Sunday.
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, I mean, I remember the NA, I saw the old but we, you know, the closest team we had was Boston, it was a blessing team and then, but it was a two hour drive. So I think I went to one game with my dad, right. You know, when you live in Rhode Island, and you know, Boston, a two hour trip was like, you know, you had a plan that well in advance to go to go to Boston. But But I remember very vividly the American Soccer League in the 70s. And we had a great team of the Rhode Island ocean ears, and I don't know if you remember them, they pay in the American Soccer League. Now in fact, 22 Chico played goalie on that team and wow, Manfred shell Shrike was on that team and, and I was still in high school when they played and I couldn't remember. I shouldn't say this, but I used to work part time at Rhode Island hospital, which was like 10 minutes away from the soccer field where they played. And anytime they had a home game, I would sneak out and go to the game and then after the game was I'd go back to work, you know, and my boss would never really know I was missing home, thank God because I probably would have lost my job. I loved watching soccer so much, and I would skip out of work to go watch the Rhode Island ocean he has played when I was in high school,
Unknown Speaker :I don't know if that's an indictment of your boss, or you. He didn't know you're missing. But anyway, what his story that is, that is fantastic. And I can just you know, I can vividly see it in my head, the passion for the game. And that's, that's wonderful. So you've been on the board for a long time now. And what I find from my experiences, if I'm sitting around a field, a club field on a Saturday or Sunday, most parents and even some coaches, I think, really don't understand the role of US Soccer, the role of the board of directors, all of the different aspects that are affected by the game. I mean, you go to a US Soccer annual general meeting, and the enormity of it comes home, you start to realize just how many people and how big and how many different constituents and groups and things have to be sorted through and it all rolls up to you guys and women on the board. So tell tell our listeners a little bit about what your responsibilities are at the board level, and maybe some things they might not understand.
Unknown Speaker :Yes, well, I'm I am a board members via the US Adult Soccer Association, the Adult Soccer Association, we also which also encompasses the adult Council, so US Soccer Federation, the board is made up and really the entire organization is made up of four councils. So you got the youth council, you got the adult Council, you got the professional Council, then you got the athletes Council. So basically those four councils make up US Soccer Federation, on the board of directors of US Soccer via the adult councils. So the adult Council has a commissioners that are voted in by all the members of us Adult Soccer. Out of those eight commissioners, the group, the US Adult Soccer group, or we call them the adult Council, also, it's one of the same. They pick a chairman and a mean to board to members of the commissioners to commissioners get elected to represent the adult Council on the board of directors of US Soccer, they you pretty much do the same thing. The pros? Are they do it differently. I've you know, I guess it's it's voted amongst the professional organizations, which MLS has the majority of the votes than the athletes, by law must encompass 20% of the board. They also have 20% of the entire fold of the US Soccer Federation. And that is mandated by the United States Olympic Committee. And you know, and they dictate how national governing boards are pretty much supposed to be run.
Unknown Speaker :So, my
Unknown Speaker :my role and and the role of the board is basically you know, our our our slogan is make soccer the preeminent sport in the United States. And every time we go board meeting or we have committee meetings, we always have that in the back of our mind, how are we going to make soccer the preeminent sport in the United States. So, you know, we have their various committees in US Soccer, we have the board, we have a lot of board committees, which is something that was fairly new within I think, the last maybe three years, we started putting board committees and the board committees pretty much do the bulk of the work, and then they report back to the Board of Directors on you know, what their recommendations are. And then the board as a whole, you know, either accepts it or, you know, but pretty much we accept, you know, the the committee's findings, all committees work because, of course they've been working hard on whatever task they were working on. So by the time they come to the board, what sort of questions were asked also the eyes were dotted, the T's were crossed. So it comes to the board basically for final approval. So so that's pretty much how we operate.
Unknown Speaker :And I want to come back to USA essay in a second but but if you had to capture and I know there's a lot there's so many focuses but if you had to capture two or three, the top strategic focuses of the A federation of the board over the next 1218 months, what would you say those are?
Unknown Speaker :Well, of course, I mean, they're always focusing on on national teams, we've got the women's Olympics, that will be happening next year. So that is one of our biggest focuses right now, you know, getting them prepared. You know, the men will be kind of beginning to their qualifications for the World Cup. So that's definitely another big focus of, of US Soccer. Um, and then I mean, there's a few other, you know, other things that we do. You know, right now, we're working a lot on diversity on US Soccer. So that's a pretty, pretty big focus, they actually hired a consulting firm, to see how US Soccer could, you know, diversify even more than we have. So, there's also they're working on a women's in coaching program, it's kind of a new program to try to get more female coaches involved. And they actually surveyed like, 3800 female coaches around the country. And that to find out, you know, what are the barriers that are that are in front of them, and some of them were lack of awareness, lack of resources, lack of role models, for examples, those were the, I think the top three items that came back from the survey. The splitting department and steward is working on a Stars and Stripes guidebook for national teams. So phase one, they were reviewing the players profiles and the key qualities. Now they're working on phase two, which is basically what's the style of play? So that, you know, they're working on a variety of things. But I think, you know, by how to pick them, definitely the first, the top two focuses are the women's Olympics and the men's qualifying coming up in the next year, which, of course, are two huge events.
Unknown Speaker :Okay, you're listening inside soccer Episode 18, in case you just joined us, which I don't think people actually do with podcasts, but we say it anyway. We're here with john Mata from USA, say that the United States Adult Soccer Association, and he's also a board member with US Soccer, john, as we talked about, it's just such a big organization, there's so much going on. But let's focus on your organization. What's happening there? How big is it now? And and what are you all trying to accomplish?
Unknown Speaker :While our organization? You know, one thing that people probably don't know, which I you know, it's a very interesting fact, is, you know, if you look back in the 50s, and 60s, when Basically, there was no Federation, I mean, there was, but they were kind of like, they didn't have many people working there. So basically, soccer in the United States was run by the United States used to count the United States amateur Soccer Association. So years ago, pretty much the adult Association, which we call them today, ran soccer in this country, because of the Federation was kind of non existent at that time. So that's a very interesting fact. And I kind of always bring it up with people kind of like, you know, kind of dismiss Adult Soccer in this country, we know we're always kind of put on the back burner. So I always remind, remind them that, you know, when the Federation was around, the US Adult Soccer people were the ones that kept soccer alive in this country. So it's a very interesting fact. But it's a true fact. You know, some of the things we're focusing on, of course, we want to grow without soccer. And one area of growth, abuse potential is the Hispanic market. You know, we don't have the exact numbers, but I would venture to say there's probably over a million Hispanics playing soccer in this country. And I would probably say 75% of them are probably unaffiliated, they're just playing, you know, soccer, you know, somebody runs the league, or somebody runs a in organization, and they get together and they play games, but they're not part of, you know, US Adult Soccer, they're not part of US Soccer. And, you know, one of the challenges it's been trying to get them affiliated, it's, it's like, you know, pulling teeth almost because we know they love the game. They, it's just hard to get them to affiliate. So we've been trying to tell, you know, get together with us soccer and try to do something jointly where, you know, they would maybe fund a Latino task force or something like that, that would understand what the Latino organization's needs are and what they want. And then, you know, we could work with them to To try to put together programs that they feel that, you know, would benefit them. That is, that is the biggest growth potential out there. And, you know, we still haven't been able to crack that nut. So so that's one of our goals. One thing that was very exciting that was going to happen last this year, but because of COVID, we had to cancel, it would be the first ever, we were going to have our US Adult Soccer amateur Cup champion, which was the team out of Connecticut. And they were actually going to play the Amateur Championship from your way for this year in May. And because of the COVID, we had to cancel a we had US Soccer, USA, USA, USA, as a and UEFA had joined together to a group. And we agreed that, you know, every two years, the amateur amateur Cup champion, and the UAE for amateur champion. were with me, you know, when you would be in the United States Two years later, we go there, then two years later, they come here, back and forth. And so this year for the first one was supposed to be held here in Connecticut. Then in two years, we go there, and the team that we would be playing was from Poland, who won the Amateur Championship for your wafer. So you know, we postpone the game. So next year, we haven't had any discussions with us soccer in new April about that. But that was definitely something that was very exciting for us. Be the first time ever that you know us Adult Soccer and US Soccer. Together, we'll be playing a UEFA Team for an amateur championship.
Unknown Speaker :I've also have had discussions with Victor Monteagle Yoni from CONCACAF, the President to do the same way, Kaka Kapha. You know, as we, as we all know, Kaka cap is made up of a lot of small islands and small countries that don't have any professional leagues. So I've told Vic, I go, you know, I think you'd be a star if you could put together a CONCACAF Amateur Championship because most of your members have amateur clubs and not professional clubs. And they would see this as a great opportunity to play, you know, other countries without being a World Cup qualifier or something like that, you know, just go out and play in another competition of amateur soccer. With all you know, even if we got the winners, like the amateur cup from the United States, and Mexico, Canada, and what from other countries, and put it together in Miami, or Florida somewhere, and let's go out and have a little tournament, I, I've spoken to Canada, I spoken to Mexico, everybody loves the idea. We just need somebody from CONCACAF to, you know, organize it. And I told them, I helped them out to modernize it. But you know, some characters gotta decide that it's the right time to do it and get it done. So, you know, those are some of the programs again, you know, we're always looking at our soccer Festival, which is our big tournament every year, which we have from over 30, all the way up over 75. Now, last year, we have Well, yeah, in 2019, we had for over 75 teams competing in our tournament, including one from Japan. So that's one of our biggest tournaments. And like I said, we have every age group. And that's why you are saying face, our slogan is, you know, where the game for life. So we provide opportunities for players from, you know, 18, all the way through 80.
Unknown Speaker :So that's incredible. It's incredible. And, you know, for our listeners, I just want them to understand that you very discreetly exhibited your high level of intelligence, by actually pronouncing Victor's last name correctly. I would never try that in public. But you did it. You just nailed it. Very good. Very good. So that's at the top and a lot of exciting stuff happening. And I love all that. So john, a couple weeks ago, I found a group on Facebook here in Jacksonville that is a group of adult players. And it sounds like they just sort of organized their own league and their own teams and through Facebook. And it's it's I wouldn't say it's a pickup game, but it might be pretty close to a pickup game. What would you tell that group what the advantages are of joining your organization versus, you know, the Facebook trophy?
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, I mean, one of the one of the big advantages is, you know, you know, in today's world where there's a lot of people just looking to sue others to make a quick buck that we provide, you know, $3 million worth of liability insurance. We have some Secondary medical insurance. So right there alone, I mean, it costs $15 per player to be registered with us for one year, which also includes the $2 registration fee to US Soccer insurance. So we take care of all that stuff for 15 bucks, get that they have the, you know, ability to use US Soccer certified referees, you know, they have the ability to enter our amateur cup. And, you know, for those that don't know, couple of years ago, I had, I had an agreement done with the US Soccer Federation, that our amateur Cup winner every year gets an automatic entry into the first round of the Open Cup. So as you well know, the all amateur teams that want to enter the Open Cup, let's go to a phase in playing competition in the fall, before they get into the opening the first round of the Open Cup proper in the spring. So if you have 100 teams, they got to play each other off until we get to a certain number that would enter in the spring in the Open Cup profits first round. If you enter our amateur cup, and you win it, you skip all that and you get an automatic bid into the first round of the Open Cup. There's also a $15,000 Prize. There's also the opportunity to play in the high pressure cuff, which is a competition that I started years ago that encompasses the amateur Cup winner, the npsl winner, we also include the USL to amateur winner. And then we also have the past winner. But now that we have the upsl we might invite their winner. So you get all the amateur winners that compete in different competitions. And we win we do the Steinbrecher cup every year, which you pit all those champions. So you that person is crowned the actual national amateur winner, because now you know you have for amateur competitions, and they all claim to be the national champion, who is the real national champion. So that's why this thing that Hank sypro checkup was put together so we could determine which one is the overall national amateur winner selves.
Unknown Speaker :So get it. Go ahead. No, I'm sorry to cut you off, I was gonna say I'm very happy and proud of you named after Hank. he's a he's a great person, and very helpful for me early in my career, but really epitomizes all that's good about the sport. And the other comment I want to make is, people shouldn't miss the point you made about the insurance. So in a past life, I was chairman of a governing body. And one of the criticisms we would get was the only reason to be a member is to get insurance. And it was true, we didn't have the programs in place we should. But that insurance issue is is major, especially if you're an adult and you've got a day job, and you want to go out and play and you don't want to have to worry about taking care of yourself if you do get hurt. I mean, I have a daughter who blew out an ACL two weeks ago, my wife had no idea that the club carried insurance through us club soccer. Yep. And I mean, you could just see the relief when she realized, you know, we that was going to come back and help us both on the rehab piece, he's going to be rehabbing for a year. And it's the cost of the operations and stuff like that. So that is not if I'm an amateur adult player, that is something I would seriously consider, you know, is how do I get my group involved in yours and not be playing for the Facebook cup, as I call it?
Unknown Speaker :Yeah. And then you know, another example. In the last few years, we had two major lawsuits that cost tons of money. I can't say how much but now we had one player, which was it was at a tryout for the npsl li and a goalie went up to catch a ball and a player was underneath him and he fell and became a quadriplegic. And there was a lawsuit there which, you know, the insurance company paid a lot of money, right. Then we had the other one, I think it was it. I think it was in Michigan, where a amateur player punched a referee, and they actually ended up dying A couple of days later, which, you know, again was another lawsuit. So people have to remember that, you know, this is a sport, it gets heated and, you know, things happen, right things happen in the sport,
Unknown Speaker :and it's a big country. This isn't Belgium or Holland. I mean there's there's a lot of people out there playing every weekend and and the deer point things are gonna happen.
Unknown Speaker :Yeah. And if you don't have that insurance to fall back on it, you know, you can get a house, you can lose your business you can work out. So, you know, what type of insurance and I know, you know, some of these groups out there claim to have insurance. But if I were the teams playing in these organizations, I would, I would read the fine print to make sure that damage should, too, you know, I know there's another US Soccer group out there that does amateur players, and they have liability insurance, but it's for that facility only right? players, you know, it does, you know, injures another player may I'm not saying on purpose, but you know, does a slide tackle and breaks a guy's leg and he's, you know, he's not a word for so long on whatever, maybe, you know, like the goalie, he ends up a quadriplegic or something different, you know, those players are not insured, because they've only bought the insurance for the facility. So the players themselves are not insured. So, you know, if you're playing for uspsa, you can go onto the field now that we've got back 100%.
Unknown Speaker :Very good. Okay. So, john, let's move on a little bit. Let's talk about briefly the World Cup. You know, that excitement will start to build as soon as we can get back outside, I think, but it's coming. It's going to be here sooner rather than later. I think there's a misconception of how that is organized and managing the United States. And maybe you can just briefly clarify that so that people have a better understanding of who's responsible and and how decisions are made there.
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, well, you know, to be totally upfront US Soccer Board of Directors really not part of the that scene. I'm sure there'll be some things we might have to decide. But overall, the decisions about the World Cup, but the World Cup pretty much is handled now almost entirely by FIFA itself. I know we don't have a committee right now. I believe it's, it's run. It's it's headed by Dan Flynn, the former CEO of US Soccer, who are working on identifying the venues for the World Cup. But again, you know, that's pretty much I think there's another, you know, there was a group put together, which Carlos Cordero was representing the US and the Mexican president was representing Mexico and the Canadian president was representing Canada. And I know, that group is kind of the group that's, that's running the World Cup, I would say, I mean, I don't know if they're running. I mean, again, FIFA runs the World Cup, but they're kind of the local guys group that are making some decisions. But you know, at the US Soccer blood level, you know, we get a couple of updates, but we're not involved in the day to day decisions of what's happening.
Unknown Speaker :But your sense is even with COVID, that the planning and the preparations are still pretty much on schedule.
Unknown Speaker :I mean, I would imagine they would have to be, again, we don't get a lot of updates at the Osaka blood level. I know, the last update was that were looking at was, was overseeing that, that part of it. And we haven't had an update since then. So. Okay, so I would imagine that, you know, the selection of the venues are definitely ongoing.
Unknown Speaker :Okay, we're bouncing around a little bit, but I want to ask you about the women's pro game, I was impressed with the Challenge Cup, one, that they took the lead and and really were the first organized Professional League, the play, which unfortunately, they didn't get the credit they should have, because that's not easy to do, too. Because it was fun. I think a lot of people and myself watched more than maybe I would normally watch. And I found it to be very impressive. I found it to be the best iteration of professional women's soccer I've seen in years. And you know, I have nothing but positive things to say about it. We've been fortunate here on the show. We've had ownership groups on we've had Lisa, the Commissioner of NW, sl on what are your thoughts on on how well are they doing so far?
Unknown Speaker :Well, I you know, I agree with everything you said. I mean, the Challenge Cup they put together was the first professional sports group to actually organize and stop playing during this covid which, like you said, it's a huge testament to to their organization, and they definitely did not get the credit they deserve for being the first the first out there playing. Again. I thought it was well played. Well played tournament. I probably saw a couple of more games. I normally would have also only because, you know, they were on TV, and you get to see them. So it
Unknown Speaker :was refreshing. But I, you know,
Unknown Speaker :the ownership group of the Women's League has actually now taken the next step, you know, take complete ownership of their, of their league, which is something that, you know, US Soccer has been looking for them to do, but I, you know, they can return agreement that I believe they have on the fly next year, they will have complete control of the Women's League, which is, you know, good for them, you know, because now they will run it like dead business, and they will make the decisions that need to be done in US Soccer can, you know, sit back and, and enjoy the game?
Unknown Speaker :Well, I think us I don't think a lot of people may realize that. But US Soccer had a stake in a league. It sounds like they're gonna relinquish and within the next 1218 months or so, I thought that was a great step because and that's not taking anything away from anyone or the women's game. But to have that continuity, to have that sort of backstop, to have that support, all of that is just crucial when you're trying to start something up and, and attract new owners and investment. So kudos to the people and, you know, Neil and the rest who were there at the time, US Soccer and hopefully, you know, that that sort of backstop that they provide it is what they need to continue on. So good job by you guys. That's That's fantastic.
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, I mean, one thing that the board was always, you know, 100% in agreement was that, you know, we wanted to support the women's game, we could not let the women's gap game failed. So, you know, we were there to, to help them through some, you know, some very bumpy roads, as any new league has, right? Yeah. Nothing, nothing new to anybody. When you start something new, it's that's up as a new professional Women's League, there is going to be bumps in the road, but, you know, the border, you know, with two nails leadership, and, you know, definitely always had had the, the women's, they've always had the support of the full board that, you know, we did not want to see them fail, we wanted them to continue. And we did everything that we needed to do to keep them going up to the point where we are now where the ownership group will take complete control of them. And hopefully, they'll continue to grow the league. And, you know, we'll have the best Women's League in the world.
Unknown Speaker :So here's one of my favorite topics. And I'll turn this around in a second to lead with the women but the the constant conversation of whether it's a good thing for us soccer for young players to go to Europe, or not go to Europe, I've thoroughly enjoyed for a long, long time. I'll save my opinion for right now. But what has been surprising. And look, I've seen the women's game growing, you know, especially in Europe and other places as well. I mean, there was always China and there's Brazil, and you know, Sweden, and now there's, you know, throughout Europe, and I tell people I used to live there. And if you mentioned women's soccer in the 90s people would chuckle and go, you know, we didn't know that women played soccer. I mean, I'm sorry, but that that was the answer they gave us,
Unknown Speaker :you know, banned from Portuguese back on I totally understand,
Unknown Speaker :right. It just is what it is. But it is changed. And quickly. And I have a friend who's a CEO in the Premier League, and he's like, Hey, we're fully on right now it goes, there's no question about it. And and now we see this migration of us women into Europe, we see the the development of a lot of talent, in my opinion at a high level. On the men's side, what what's your take on that? How do you feel about that?
Unknown Speaker :Oh, I guess I got mixed feelings again, you know, you probably we know that, you know, at least on the women's side, and the men's side, you know that the compensation there is definitely better. So I'm sure that's an attraction. You know, I don't know if the competition they'll be better there's on the women's side than it would be in the United States. But a that's decisions they make, right. I mean, it's totally up to each player, you know, on the men's side, you know, it'd be great to have those players, you know, in our country, but if I'm looking at, you know, national team, you know, you know, challenging them challenging them at that level. You know, you saw McKinney starting off for Juventus this week. And so Raina do very well and his his game, you know, I mean, at the national team level, that is probably making them better players being challenged and facing that tough competition. You know, week after week. I'll not forget you No listening to Juergen Klinsmann when he was here in the United States. And I'll never forget, you know, he gave a speech to the, to the Board of Directors once. And he stated that if you look at the World Cup at from the quarterfinals on the quarterfinals Sunday, find it well, and then the finals, which is all the same teams, that, you know, probably 90% of the players that are in those on those teams are playing in the Champions League in Europe. Right. So that's always stuck to me, and in my mind that, you know, maybe that's where we need to get some American players to try to get him net, so, so we can be very competitive at the world stage. So, you know, I'd like to see him playing in our country, you know, but if it's going to make our national team stronger, you know, so don't let him get let him get the the the experience in Europe and bring it home to the United States with the national team.
Unknown Speaker :JOHN, you have validated my opinion, if we've done 18 episodes, I've probably mentioned that meeting, I was there probably six times. And basically you're spot on what he basically said was when our starting 11 is playing in the Champions League will have a chance of winning the World Cup. And I believe that I believe right now, you know, the competition there is incredible. And, and, and for the women as well going there. And so those players are getting better. But guess what, nobody's sitting on their hands back here either. And that's the part I think a lot of people don't really realize, is the coaches here, you know, Gio and Portland, he may have lost the player, he's gonna work even harder to develop the next player, it's gonna force technical staff to really do their job, rather than sit back and let a couple players, you know, sort of dominate their team. And I think that's what really, you know, when that all starts to come together, and we have 30 or 40 players that could do it now or cooking?
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, I totally agree.
Unknown Speaker :I'm so glad you quoted that. Because people
Unknown Speaker :you get mixed feelings. When you say, well, you're again told me once, you know, and but
Unknown Speaker :I remember I think I heard him say that twice at a meeting and then at another function.
Unknown Speaker :Yep. He told me two things I quote on here all the time. That was one. The second was and this was when I first met him. He actually did some work for me at ag in Los Angeles, back in 2000. He was helping advise some stuff. And we were sitting around the office one day I said Juergen, I said, How can we have so many millions of people playing a game, and we're not an international force. And in typical European fashion use for too structured, he goes in the game is too structured. Here he goes the best players in the world. And he included himself rightfully so I think we played in the streets, we played in the dirt, we played in the rocks, we played wherever we had to play, we played we played we played, and when he said I want, you know, that's how we played American football, where I grew up, you know, good out of my grandmother's back door and cut in and I'll throw the ball and hit you. Right, you know,
Unknown Speaker :you know, and basketball. I mean, you use go to parks, and you know, you have all these kids shooting hoops all day long. Right?
Unknown Speaker :Right. So anyway, that was great to hear. Okay, so we're starting to push up against some time. So we're going to go a little bit quicker, not quite quickfire yet. But you got to spend a minute or two and tell our audience what your day job is.
Unknown Speaker :Well, my day job if you want to call it a job, it used to be a job. But I am a Dunkin donut franchise owner and I own nine locations up in New Hampshire and I own 21 locations down in Virginia. So I got 30 locations total. It's pretty much what I've done my whole life I started in. I got married in 1987 and 19 No, no. I say 87. Oh, no, she's not
Unknown Speaker :gonna listen. It's okay.
Unknown Speaker :I know. You're not listening. Yeah. But, you know, like, I've been doing this for 40 years. And it's the only thing I pretty much done. And right now my kids, I've got four kids and three of them are down in Virginia Dave on my operations. I've got my married daughter, my son in law, they run my operations in in New Hampshire. So I pretty much sit back and and do developing now I do real estate development, which I own quite a quite a bit of real estate, commercial real estate. And that's what I do in the kids run the business of the donut shops, and when I do soccer, so
Unknown Speaker :that's pretty much your busy man. Now that I know you're busy man, I will share this and I'm not saying just because you're here I would tell the people and state of Washington this as well, but my children have converted me. I never thought that would be possible. I was I was the competition guy. They're like, no, we're going to dunk and dad we're going to dunk and I'm like well And all of a sudden, that's where we go now. And I will say not only is it is good, it saves me a buck or two every morning to so I appreciate it. So look, we're gonna we're gonna finish this off with a couple quick fires. But I know people want to hear your thoughts and opinions on this. So you can just give some very short answers if you don't mind. Here comes the first one favorite us player of all time and favorite Non Us player of all time.
Unknown Speaker :Oh, my favorite us player of all time is Michelle Akers.
Unknown Speaker :You're not the first to say that. I agree. You
Unknown Speaker :know, she may have got a lot of fame, but they'll never be another Michelle Akers,
Unknown Speaker :by the way, two of the three Hall of Famers I think, have answered that question the same way. And they were
Unknown Speaker :men. Oh, really? Wow. Non Us fair play. I'm gonna be a little bit biased. I'm gonna save a novel.
Unknown Speaker :Can't go wrong there. All right. Same. Same for coaches.
Unknown Speaker :And you got to think this one through.
Unknown Speaker :With the first one. The first one is for us. us hold is. I don't know. I mean, I'm kind of Tony the Chico I liked a lot. Yes, coach. Yeah. I mean, I look, Tony, I do him as a player. And then I would, you know, I was very involved with the 1999 Women's World Cup team, because I was the vice president of US Soccer then. Yep. And I traveled a lot with Tony, I went to Portugal with them. So I really respect a lot what Tony did with that with that team. So perfect. I like and a non us coach again, I'm probably a little bit biased.
Unknown Speaker :I don't know I'm pretty pretty
Unknown Speaker :hot on that. I will skip that one for now.
Unknown Speaker :Okay, if you come up with them, come back to us. Next question. Best stadium you've ever watched a match in the US and internationally?
Unknown Speaker :You know, I mean, financially, it's not the best. I mean, I watch a Champions League game at the pika Stadium in Lisbon, which I thought was incredible. But you know, I also went to the steca Stadium in Mexico and that was pretty pretty good because of the history there and you know, and everything that's happened yet so you know, I stuck it was was nice to go to and but you know, I again, I'm being biased though. I really enjoyed watching the champions game with a FIFA in Portugal. I
Unknown Speaker :haven't been I have not been to Portugal. 55 countries. I've not been the real Portugal. It's crazy. But Kobe and I talked a long time about Azteca it is it is a special place with USA versus Mexico.
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, yep. And that's where I went to watch World Cup qualifier there. So it was it was a special place. Yep. In the United States. I mean, it's, I mean, it's pretty much all the same. I mean, I don't know if I have a a favorite one. You know, I mean, I know when I went to Columbia school, when they first opened up this stadium was the first stop soccer specific. It's not my favorite, but that one's always stayed with me because I was there for the inaugural game of that stadium. So I mean, it's not like my favorite that I've been to but but but but it holds a special place in my heart because I was there for the inauguration game with Lamar Hunt. Yep. And and everything else that we know we saw. Always I remember that one.
Unknown Speaker :Yep. No, I agree. I went there. And I didn't make it until 2000. But it was something that you could feel the soccer community put their arms around and go, you know, this is just a start, but we love this place. So that was great. Okay, anything, any great stories you want to share?
Unknown Speaker :I'll give you this 119 94 World Cup. My job at Foxboro stadium was I was head they used to call it head of government which was like head of protocol there. So president the old President Bush, not George W. Be the father came to three games at Foxborough. And I was I was always his Escalade, or liaison or whatever you want to call it. So I used to meet him at the car, bring him to the stadium sit with him. And the very first game he came to, which was the opening game of the World Cup. Bob Kraft had just bought the Patriots. And we went up to Bob Kraft sweet to Meet Bob Kraft with with President Bush. And of course he gave him a bag of New England Patriots memorabilia, and he put a hat and gave the president a New England Patriots hat on a hat for him to put on which he did. And then of course we also had a bag full of you know, World Cup 94 memorabilia and We're sitting in the stands, and I'm sitting right next to the President. And I look over to him and he has the New England Patriots hat on game. Excuse me, Mr. Mr. President, but don't you think that you should have the World Cup? How do you know this is an American? This is not American football. This is soccer. And you don't want the American press to say you know, that's why this one doesn't go anyway. Here's the president he doesn't you know, when he's supporting Americans football not powerful off he goes, john, john, that's a great idea. So we immediately went through the bag and took off Dave knowing on patriots add on put on the World Cup 1994 head on. So that's great. That's a great story.
Unknown Speaker :Yeah. That's great. One day, I'll tell you my story about Robert and Mira visiting us in Amsterdam to see the answer. Amsterdam Arena. The ix home Yeah, it was. It was interesting. Okay, gang, we we have once again blown the heck out of the timeline. JOHN Mata, I want to thank you for joining us. This was an incredible episode. For all of our listeners, john mana from US Soccer board of directors and also the US sa the Adult Soccer Association. And what a great, great visit we've had with you. We appreciate it. Everybody listening. Stay tuned for more episodes coming your way soon. In the meantime, share this with your friends. And check us out. We've got spots on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. And I think that's all So anyway, again, john, thank you very much.
Unknown Speaker :Oh, thank you, Bill. I really enjoyed having this conversation and sharing my story with you and your listeners. So again, thanks very much.
Unknown Speaker :We'll get you back on in another day. So thank you all. Thank you.