S1 Ep15 | Roger Bennett: WORLD CUP COUNTDOWN BEGINS

This episode on the Guuuzan show the crew ventures into the dangerous and unpredictable realm of cyberspace to welcome Roger Bennett of Men In Blazers, the first virtual guest on the show! Roger brings on a brand new level of analytical expertise from leagues across the globe, giving us his greatest insights, anecdotes, and hopes for the 2026 FIFA World Cup coming to North America in a couple of weeks. He also talks through his journey with Men In Blazers, coming to the United States, and his love for the world’s Beautiful Game.

Transcript

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It's a remarkable moment for football. And this World Cup is going to be all of that. And the football will be in the spotlight. And the 60,000 um Dutch fans marching down the streets of Kansas City in their orange before the game will be in the spotlight. And thousands and thousands of fans learning what lemon pepper wet is for the first time will be in the spotlight. And it's going to be magnificent. Welcome back to another episode of the Goozan Show. I'm your host, Breg Zedden. Sitting next to me as always, Joe Feierhoffer. And we have a very special guest today. There are very few people more fluent in football than today's guest, known to twindle together words, much to the likes of even Ray Hudson's level, combined with a presence that has captivated crowds by the thousands. Please welcome Men and Blazers, very known Roger Bennett. Roger welcome to the show. How are you, my man? It's great to be with you, Brett. You beautiful human being. It's really, really lovely to be with you, babe. Nah, we appreciate you jumping on. We know you're a very busy guy. We're less than 20 days out from the biggest spectacle in world sport. How are we feeling? We've been waiting for this moment for so unbelievably long. Since 2018, when the US won the bid. It feels surreal that we're this close. We're speaking a day after the uh the team was revealed, the squad was revealed, the great gunnar concert where the team stood awkwardly uh behind uh behind the one of hip hop's burning stars, not quite knowing whether they should dance or just look on solemnly. Joe Scaly, huge gunner fan, obviously. Um I'm so excited. I really, really am. This is a moment that I think we've all dreamt of. Um, where we've laughed on our show. Soccer, America's sport of the future, as it has been 19 since 1972. And please God, this World Cup will finish what '94 started and and make America uh what we always dreamt it would be, which is just a proper football-loving nation. Where where can this take us, right? We know what '94 did in in terms of the league, but where where can this take us? Look, I think they're so inextricably connected. Um, you know, 94 is meant to make America overnight uh into a football-loving nation. Um, and it did, but just not overnight. And I'm almost glad that it it took so long, Brad, because if it had, it would have been like um a fad, you know, like the NASL Pele, let's all go and see him. Okay, we're bored now. We'll move on to hula hoops and yo-yos and pogo sticks and leave soccer behind. What's happened is inextricably connected to '94. Obviously, with 1999 and the women winning, playing such an important role in the rise of the game. And then the you know the Premier League starting to be beamed by NBC in 2014 and the internet connecting the American fan base to you know the global game in a in a way that didn't exist when I moved here in 1994. Um, you know, ultimately, you have incredible fan cultures now, uh, deep, authentic, rich, like Atlanta, um, you know, like Portland. When you go and watch a women's game in Kansas City, it's ecstatic and and transcendent. Um, and so what can happen now is just that magnified deeply, uh, powerfully. The number of memories that are going to be made ecstatically within families this summer, uh, the World Cup is really just going to build this audience to the level. Look, the economists just um did a study where it revealed soccer is the third biggest sport in America. When you were a kid in Illinois, you never dreamed that would be the case, Brad. So ultimately, the World Cup doesn't have to do that much. That would everything that has been done has been done by the likes of you uh and the people that came before you since '94. I see this World Cup as really just capping off the job. I love that. I mean, that's such a great perspective to be able to, you know, we don't want it to be a fad. We need this to be long, long term, and and to have that, you know, that outlook, I think is beautiful. I think already, too, all the fans at home are seeing that this man, Raj, is an absolute wordsmith. He's just putting together football and passion perfectly together into this masterful tapestry. And Raj, I want to go back to that first thread of this tapestry. I'm trying to do my very best impersonation of you here, so let me know how I go. Let's go all the way back to Liverpool, England. What is your very first footballing memory, if you could pick one? Um, I mean, football, um, grew up in Liverpool. Brad knows because he played there and probably barely survived, right, Brad? Um, you know, it's in the blood. It's like I I remember football, like I remember, you know, the the early diaper days. It's um it's just there alongside music. And Everton um you know, was was a blessing given to me by my dad, like his dad. Um, and it's always there. Yeah, I've I'm I'm not here to plug my book, but I wrote a book about this. We've got we've got it, Raj. We're gonna talk about that as well, you know. I love you, but you know, the the the first game I ever went to, um, Everton, Derby County, 1977, was was profound um and ecstatic and just a moment of deep commitment. But that first World Cup, and this is what I'm excited about about this World Cup, you know, in those days we didn't know about foreign football. We kind of knew the Brazilians were amazing. We'd never seen them play. You know, France was a place, it could have been another planet. Um, Argentina, where the World Cup was in 1978 when I was seven, suddenly it's on live. You get to see it all. Um, you know, the opening game. Um the Argentinian team took the field. Thousands, thousands of toilet rolls just flung from the top of the bleachers, thousands, confetti exploding. In England, England was about fighting and you know, beard, you know, um balding men, um, you know, kicking each other on muddy fields and then trying to get off at halftime for a cigarette and a pint while the fans beat the crap out of each other. Watching this football in Argentina, ecstatic. I was like, oh my god. My mum was like, my mum, very practical, is like, who take a toilet roll to a game of football love? But I turned to my dad, I was like, oh my god, dad, who knew football could be fun? And that was the moment, you know, watching World Cup football above all else, playing well, you know, you you've played, uh, you've been there, you've you've lived this narrative. Um, it's ecstatic, and the power of the memory making ultimately my whole life feels like some of the most vibrant moments, it's very sad for me to say this. And I'm glad my my wife might not listen to the goose podcast. Many of my most ecstatic memories do revolve around football and that shared sense of of memory making with family, friends, loved ones. That's amazing. I I mean, you're so so so right, and it's so true. The the the passion around the world to to see the game, to be able to experience it as you know, as a young English fan and grow up in in that country with with football where it is so diehard. Um, no, no knock against the balding, by the way. Um, you could be you could be my son, Brad. Exactly. But I mean, you know, then you obviously as as as you grow up, you then you're on this tours visa, you're you're in Chicago, and then you fall in love with with you know, arguably uh another great city just outside of Liverpool, uh, but Chicago, Illinois. And and and talk to me about that transition to be able to then move to Chicago, where football slash soccer is is not the the the priority in the city, and and sport was just slowly starting to to take off with with our Bears and the Bulls and all the sports. Yeah, it's amazing. Thank you. Um yeah, again, 1994. The what the book I wrote is World Cup by World Cup, just the memories. Um, you know, ultimately all the World Cups layer upon layer, and they are alternate ways of narrating your own biography when you've lived so many. In 1994, I did move to Chicago. I loved this city. Um, you know, I'd watch John Hughes movies, I'd watch the Chicago Bears win the Super Bowl. My family myth was that we were meant to move there when we left Eastern Europe. My great-grandpa, but the boat docked in Liverpool. My great-grandpa saw the one-tour building on the Liverpool skyline, was like, Oh, I'm in New York, and was one of the low IQ people to get off. And so we're stuck in Liverpool. Our whole family were constantly, oh, we should be in Chicago, we should be in Chicago. And so I was just like, you know what? After university, I'm gonna move there. So I did. I just flew in, um, landed, never left. Um, everything was as I dreamt it should be. You know, the RB's tasted absolutely electric. Um, you know, I came in White Sox fan, uh, just when they were an ecstatic Frank Thomas team. Um, you know, watching the bulls the night. I the second night I was there, Michael Jordan retired the first time. I felt so guilty. But I watched the Bulls battle the Knicks. I still have PTSD from thinking about John Starks and Anthony Mason, Patrick Ewing. Yeah, absolutely battering the the the quite um admirable, audacious Tony Kukotch and Scottie Pippin led bulls. So it was fantastic, but it had everything, but it what it didn't have was soccer, as you say, and I missed it terribly. It's how I understood the world, it's how in Liverpool we announced ourselves to the world. Um, and so much of the story of the rest of my life has been trying to find football, finding football here, uh communing with the audience, um, and luckily recognizing that the audience it did exist here, it's always existed here. There's always a proud history. I don't know why we don't talk more about 1930 when we got into the bloody semi-final of the World Cup. Watching watching the 94 team swagger onto that field did change my life, Brad. I'd never seen you know an American team play as a collective before. Um my television was crap. I'd found it in the alleyway outside uh in my apartment and in Rogers Park. And uh I the television was crackling and I squinted and said to my mate, I was like, Oh my god, it looks like they got like stonewashed denim jerseys on. And I thought it was just the television was bad, uh, was a bad signal. And then the commentator goes, and the US are wearing a stonewashed denim jersey, and it just blew my mind. I fell in love instantly, and it's been the story of my lifetime watching this team. I thought it was an irrevocable rise, like it did feel you know, 2010, uh, 2014, it felt like we were just we're going, you know, we're going the moon after the the World Cup in Brazil, even the English press pat what I write this in my book, Henry Winter, the the journalist, the journalist at the time in England, wrote that uh amongst the winners of the World Cup were the American fans who charmed everybody, um, you know, with their chanting and just their general joy. There is no doubt that the America will be a powerhouse in the future of football. And ultimately, the thing I do love about football, we don't know anything. It always teaches us we're wrong. Um, and it's been more of a struggle, I think, than we than we imagine. But that American story has been the story of my life. Your love and chasing for football, how did that lead to the creation of Men and Blazers? We read online it took you all the way back to 2006. Is it true that it was on the back of a wedding boat? Tell us the story of how MIB came to be. Yeah, there's two things happened in 2006. The first is it was the first World Cup ESPM really invested in broadcast, you know, they realized there was nothing else up against it, they may as well lean in big time and they broadcast the whole thing live. It was amazing. But they had baseball commentators kind of jerrywig rigged into uh into broadcasting it. And when England took the field, it's really a moment that changed my life. The commentator goes, Um, and the world's most famous soccer player, Charlie Beckham, takes the field. And I was like, What? I screamed, I was like, Oh my god, if only they had people who knew what they were talking about in this nation talking about it, it would go like this. And my wife's just like muttering away, she's like, Why don't you do it, love? And I was like, wicked, all right. Um, it was a little more complicated than that. I wrote an article about how bad it how bad the commentary was. If they had good commentators, it would be more accessible. Um, and ESP, I wrote ESPN's customer service number in uh in the article and said, call it if you if you want to complain. And enough people evidently did because I got a call from ESPN being like, Can you stop doing that? And I was like, have good people, and they're like, We don't have anyone. Um, and so that was the beginning, and then I was on a boat um in the final, my wife's friend was getting married. Um, it was the Zidane headbutt final, and I was watching it. Obviously, it's like holy sacred time. Um, and I my wife said, We gotta go. I was like, What are you talking about? It's a World Cup final, we go nowhere. And she's like, The wedding is on a boat. If we don't leave, the boat will leave without us, and I'm still feel shamed. Um, I left uh Matarazzi Zidane final in extra time uh to get to this boat. I was in a disgusting mood. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I was pretty because the Americans on the boat and no one cared. I was I was like, I was like, it was like being a um, you know, having oxygen uh, you know, you snapped when you're doing a moon walk. Like I couldn't breathe, I was not palpitating. My wife's like, get it together. I was like, we're missing the World Cup final. I was pretty disgusting. I didn't want to talk to anyone. Um, and um I went to the bar to get a drink. There was another man being equally disgusting, and I went up to him um and I said, Man, you missing the world cup final? He goes, Yes. Um, and another Englishman, it was Michael Davis, and we started chatting. Um, and ultimately those conversations became the beginning of the Men and Blazers podcast that became the beginning of the of the network that we built. Um, so I just say when your wife says go to the wedding, even if you don't want to go, go, because it might just change your life. Oh, that is an amazing story, Raj. I mean, listen, we can I I could listen to you to speak all day about the just the the journey throughout football, um, your joy and love of the game. Um, you know, and you've we've been fortunate that you've put those thoughts and and memories in books, right? You've you've got your your most recent one, We Are the World Cup, uh, a personal history of the world's greatest sporting event. And you've written so many, and and whether it's articles, whether it's books, but to be able to put that passion and love into writing, you've done all of us as fans of the game an absolute service. And so I just want to say thank you because to hear your passion shine through, it's amazing. And we need more individuals like yourself. You know, you talk about the beginning of Men and Blazers. I was telling Joe, way back when when you guys first started, we were, I don't even remember what uh what city we were in, but we were in a hotel, we were up in in a room somewhere, and you know, the press officer from the national team said, Hey, you're gonna do Men and Blazers. I said, Okay, great. And you popped down where you sat down on the table, popped up a little tripod, a little camera, and and there we were. We were just chatting away, and I'm thinking, what are we doing? What is this? And then we fast forward 25 years and you're absolutely smashing it. And so um, I just want to say and take this moment to say thank you. You're a beautiful man. I remember that it was in Connecticut. Uh it was a hen begok. Yes, and I I wish it was 25 years. It's uh it was, I think it was probably about 14 or 15 years ago. Uh fair enough. Um, I mean, ultimately, the stories are yours, man. Uh, you know, I w I went pretty quickly after to Birmingham and made a film with you uh and Kasper Schmeichel, um, and a couple of other goalkeepers about the goalkeepers union, and I love being with you, listening to you talk about your story. What you did, you know, was that we for we think about you in the modern parlance as Brad Goose and the joyful Atlanta United um you know winner uh in that ecstatic early days of uh of Atlanta United. But what you did when fewer people were watching week in, week out with Aston Villa um was so tenacious and so you know consistent and so impressive. I've got um in the corner of my office, I've got a t-shirt from um Aston Villa, the Wellwash, which I love. I was laughing with you before I came on. It says, you know, a third of the world is covered in water, the other two-thirds is covered by Brad Guzan. It's got a great silhouette of you. And I'm laughing. I do think like, God forbid, my house burnt down, but I do think if I was allowed to take three objects um and just rescue them, including my wedding album sent out for my wife's benefit, my banjo, which I'm trying to learn and have not got there yet, and it would be that t-shirt because it is an artifact of your you know tenacity, your perseverance, your consistency, and all of these. I've just interviewed Brendan Aronson, who I feel very similar about man. Um you know, you talk about tenacity going back to Leeds after being you know booed roundly and winning the fans over with his audacity. Um these are the things that it's an honour to be able to cover. Tyler Adams, it's an honor. It's a joy to cover his story. This you know, Wappingers Falls, one Chris Richards we just filmed with. To go from Alabama being a big dog in Alabama, football, soccer, to going over to the you know, buying Munich where you're nothing, you're suddenly just a tiny fish in a massive ocean. Um, you know, succeeding, failing, struggling, and fighting forward and becoming this incredibly soulful man. Um, I find it really, I mean, it's humanly inspirational. So all I'm doing is listening. It's your stories, really. Well, I appreciate that, and I'll send the check in the mail. Um, I appreciate the kind words. And by the way, we need uh all of us here on the show. We would like some of those t-shirts too. If there's any extras back there, aren't you just the the brag who's dang covering the whole world? We'd love that here for the program. I think Brad Dwight printed them. We're telling them outside Villa Park. We know how to get in touch with everybody, that's for sure. You talked about it, tenacity, fighting for something that you believe in. I have to imagine as somebody who has been chasing after this dream that you had on the back of that wedding boat, enjoying what was a bit of a lackluster crowd there for that World Cup final that you've been chasing, what has become Men in Blazers. Was there ever a difficult day when you said, Man, I'm just not breaking through to an audience right now? I don't know if this is going to work out. What fueled you through those moments to get to being the storyteller that you are today? Uh man, it's so hard. Again, in the book I write there were years, 2006 when I started to 2010. Um, when, you know, I'd go to meeting after meeting after meeting. You know, I'd be invited to be interviewed in some documentary or you know, do some kind of small project or whatever. And I'd rush home to my wife. You know, we had four kids. I'd be like, babe, I'm gonna be in a movie. Um, you know, they're making a documentary about blah, blah, blah. And she'd be like, Great, how much are they paying you? And I'd be like, Um, it's uh it's a lost leader. God bless that that hug when my wife would like hug me and be like, she'd always say, Oh, great, another lost leader, great, well done. And it felt uh, I mean, it was heavy, man. It was hard. Everyone kept saying there's no way you can make a living covering football in this nation. You know, it's a hobby, it's not a real thing. Um, 2010 did change everything. Um, you know, the the the there's the story of the rise of football, and there's the story of the of the emergence of uh of cheap digital technology, um, you know, the podcast. What is that? Uh what it does, it builds community out of deeply connective, emotional um content and builds a community, a two-way conversation with your audience, you know, and then YouTube and digital content. Um you know, when by the 2014 we were covering the World Cup in Rio with ESPN. Um, you know, I made a documentary with Jürgen Klinsman, that squad, uh, where I first met Brad and uh we did the hard knocks. I directed the hard knocks for ESPN. It became like an eight or nine part uh series. It was really profound, uh that that period of uh of really growth in the game, the popularity, the investment in it. Um, but there were so many times, you know, I'd go to meetings thinking I was gonna this was gonna be the one that would that would find some kind of a way to pull it off, and I'd come home shattered, getting that hug from my wife. Uh it's another lost leader. So um it's really, really, really hard. And you have to keep working hard. It's not there's not a time, there's not a moment when you can coast or glide. Um, you know, ultimately the stories are more than ever. Um, the the way the sport is lived is is consistent, persistent. Uh, you watch Arsenal win the title, they didn't just win the title, um, it's suddenly just micro waves of content that come out, you know, the team celebrating in the locker room, then the individual messages from the players, uh, then the celebrity fans starting to post, then incredible images from Kenya, Uganda, from across America of Arsenal fans communing and convening, then the players are suddenly in a club, Mikel Arteta's appearance. You know, we what we experience this football in 24-7 um spigots of content now. Um, and so the it's fairly overwhelming. Um, it's a remarkable moment for football, and this World Cup is going to be all of that, and the football will be in the spotlight, and the 60,000 um Dutch fans marching down the streets of Kansas City and now orange before the game will be in the spotlight, and thousands and thousands of fans learning what lemon pepper wet is for the first time will be in the spotlight. be magnificent. Raj, I mean, how how much football are you watching? I mean you you are so knowledgeable. You are up to date on everything that is happening in the football world. I mean that in itself is is a 24-7 job. And then the the network is is absolutely smashing it. Um you know you're you're taking the the time out of your day to to join our show. You know how are you watching all this football? How are you following all this content? How are you knowing everything that's happening around the world I've got the conference league final on in the corner. Let's go. I thought I saw that eye drifting off to the corner every once in a while. I mean Chris Richards I'm so happy for that man the um I mean how do I do it? Um I mean it is a crazy time to be alive. I don't need a lot of sleep um that's a blessing. Um I mean the World Cup is crazy. We're about to um we have a bus a Home Depot bus that we're going to drive across the nation starting in LA uh up to Seattle back to LA and then across Texas and into Atlanta. We'll be in Atlanta for an entire week and I can't wait. We're doing kind of college game days uh before the big games uh in each of these cities and heading out the east coast um so it's a wild time to be alive um I mean I'm very blessed to work with you know a slew of incredible human beings a women's game we have a whole platform covering that in the United States and in um and in Europe um with so you know uh incredible storytellers led by Sam Mewis who is one of my favorite if I if I have a moment to listen to anything I listen to her shows um you know we've launched a a a platform for second and third generation Hispanic fans uh Vamos um you know with a it's a growing slew of talent there um so it's now more than me you know um we've got I think 20 uh talent doing something like 40 regular shows um so I get to you know watch what I need to watch at the weekend I watch a lot a lot of football um but football is like where I feel things Brad it's where I feel connected I feel alive I feel joy I feel meaning I feel defeat uh I feel failure you know I feel all these wonderful panorama of human experiences most of all I feel connection um which is a really precious thing in our world um and by the way I want to say I love coming to Atlanta um I'm lucky um to have to come to Atlanta a lot um for work I can't come there enough I enjoy it greatly um the the the end of my book ends in JR cricket um the the end of the World Cup you know just just after the the final just wow um and so I'm very fond of that city and I find it deeply energizing um the football culture there um you know the passion um yeah we did we made a f a film there um well I mean we just made a film there about uh Vero the Vera the Tifo Queen but one of my favourite things we've ever done was um with one of the fan groups uh the capo Reggie McKee uh gentleman who who built this incredible fan group um who took the sound of Atlanta the hip hop sounds and resounded them uh so they became football champs and to watch that crowd at its peak at Atlanta United you know thousands of thousands of people taking the sound of Atlanta resounding it within that football realm you know watching Joseph and Miggie um and yourself um it was really really powerful um so I I find it energizing man I find it really really energizing and an honor to watch this stuff Raj we're on the brink of the biggest World Cup in history now we got some some heaters here to close it for you because a lot of people have been saying is it coming home who can beat Laminamal can Messi repeat it with Argentina what are your early sensations about what could unfold in this 2026 biggest ever World Cup I think Leon Messi's going to win the World Cup uh mostly because he's in every single commercial so you know God bless by the way the ones he's not in David Beckham's in that man is is the why are we even competing for the for the trophy because David Beckham is I mean he's almost clean sweeping and I think it's fantastic. We don't know ahead of a World Cup this is just filling the air with with conjecture until you get and you go you know this Brad from your US experiences until that squad cements particularly this squad they've not played our US boys have not played a serious game in years we've had a steady diet of essentially NFL exhibition games you know um so it's so hard to tell what we're like but you can't tell about any team yeah the Germans have a have a a notion about a team that finds they even have a word for it um uh tourniermanschaft and my German's terrible um but it means like a team that finds itself in the tournament a team that finds it you know you can lose that first game like Messi did last time yeah um and but you find your rhythm you find your starting lineup you find yourself secondly like how do the boys like being together it sounds so stupid but you know that in camp you're going crazy what's the spirit like in that camp what's the energy like what's the culture like you know Spain were massive they won everything and then they had a terrible camp where just ego completely destroyed the thing um and so there's so many variables and you know we can talk about who the favourites are Spain undoubtedly um France is so deep and so motivated England always um found a way to um you know almost torture their nation in new and novel ways by going deeper than they ever did when I was a kid which is um which is which always raises hopes and then and then shatters them. But god it's a massive World Cup. I think there'll be some real stories of you know Moroccos when there's this many teams in there there will be a couple of incredible stories. I was on a show this morning um at one of the morning television shows and the host had Haitian roots and wanted to know about you know how Haiti are you gonna do are we going to beat Scotland and I was like well it depends whether it's at football or at you know drinking beer you may get you may get one on one um but there's so many stories and and I don't know who you guys fancy when you think I can't wait to see Norway by the way I can't wait to see Erlinghaal and Martin Erdegaard it's it's it's gonna be amazing. I I'm excited for the stories I'm excited for the stories of of the expansion of the tournament the expansion of of the opportunity for these smaller countries to cursao right to to to see them come into the tournament um you know I'm I'm excited by the US I'm excited by the the the roster and what they can do and and hopefully they're able to move past these NFL exhibition games and and move on to you know some some exciting moments because if we can re recreate a a moment such as Landon's goal in South Africa and have that fandom and and chaos here in the States anything's possible and so crazy man it doesn't take much it doesn't London's goal the crazy thing about London's goal and again I was on another show uh I did a show Morning Joe this morning and I watched London's goal with those guys back in 2010 we're actually out uh we watched it together the whole staff of Morning Joe and they just flipped tables over beers went everywhere we were laughing about that memory and all it did was get us out the opening group you know what I mean it was like when we we talk about London's goal as if it won the world cup for the United States America it got us out of the group against Algeria and then we lost um and that's the crazy thing that we have to change we have to change is um I'm actually looking at a 2010 World Cup poster which is below the television um the SPM poster beautiful one um crazy thing we've got to check we've won one knockout game in our nation's history Brad why does that always happen man how Morocco go to the semi-final if South Korea can go to the semi-final Iceland can go deep in the Euro why not us why not us why do why not more than one game I'm just asking sincerely what happens to us I don't know I don't know um but I'm hoping that this summer we change that and and we not only win one but we win a few and and why can't we go to a semi-final and imagine that imagine what that would do for for the sport in this country it'd be phenomenal it's gonna be massive either way though Brad that's what I do want to be clear is like 1994 World Cup was massive without the US the game that set that off was Ireland playing Italy in the Meadows and the whole of New Jersey reclaiming their roots and going mad for it you know the whole of Italian Jersey whole of Irish Jersey there and um and I think we'll have to say that this World Cup is going to be massive a lot of people are worried that no one's talking about it. It's just the way American sports work we're so busy suddenly last weekend we were all like yo we're into the indie 500 now now we're like sorry did I say indie 500 I love the clay courts of France and the Open and the French tennis hang on a minute I am obsessed with the NBA we are so overstock with sports everything breaks so late this is gonna I think this is going to be massive and I just hope the US boys because they're so amazing Chris Richards amazing Tyler Adams amazing Brendan Adams uh Brenda uh Brendan Aronson amazing I mean I could go on and on and on um I just hope that they have this moment to write themselves into this narrative no absolutely and Raj you're amazing absolutely simply amazing so uh listen we're excited by the summer we're excited to hear you tell your story your jour journey throughout this summer you're gonna be having uh a few a few listeners here in Atlanta I know that um but we're excited we're excited for the future of the of the sport and and with gentlemen like yourself leading the way uh we can't uh say thank you enough and so thank you for not only coming on the show but thank you for what you do for the sport of soccer growing this game telling the stories the way you do the passion love you have for the sport we appreciate you man goose had a little bit of Englishness left in me I don't like nice things being said to my face but I will say you're a legend you are such a remarkable human being everyone who watched you play in your later manifestation in Atlanta uh your earlier manifestation knows that like a humble noble ferocious competitor uh and it's always a joy to be with you thank you thank you thank you for having me on man appreciate you Joe what an unbelievable guest man Roger Bennett joining us uh for our first virtual guest um I mean he was fantastic the way he describes his love and passion for for the game his journey um it was amazing to hear it feels like he's a human encyclopedia you know like his his mouth mouth starts moving you're just like where's this gonna go and he starts just winding with these poetic insane metaphors and then you realize just his deep passion actually for U.S. sports too like when you guys started talking about Chicago and he's talking about that fuzzy TV that he pulled out of an alleyway at some point too like his story to greatness it's really cool to see somebody who's he is really self-made MIB is just an incredible program travels all over massive shout out to Brew House right here in Atlanta uh for having one best soccer bar in all of the U.S. And it's it's all started by a magical dream that you had one day on on the back of a wedding vote told us right here. He's he's living the American dream. For real living the American dream and just doing it telling soccer story after soccer story um spreading the the the interest and love of the game and and for that I'm forever grateful because we're all fans of the game and we want this game to continue to grow and he's he's doing it every single time he's he's in front of a microphone in front of a camera and his ability to do it is phenomenal. He's magic the way he says too he's like you beauty nice to meet you Joe you beauty like he's just I love all this so genuine force. Alright guys we're gonna get into another edition of the mailbag delivered on time by the Home Depot. Thank you so much to our presenting sponsor Home Depot for everything you guys are doing on this show for the World Cup too the juice can be felt right here in the 404 uh and you guys the listeners have always provided it on this segment first one comes from Albert make sure I get these pronunciations right Lagrange Georgia good on that great sounds sounds great yeah sounds I'm having it if you could add one holiday to the calendar what would it celebrate a new holiday holiday calendar um you know what we're in a year of of soccer madness I'm I'm gonna go down the route of just just a soccer holiday celebrating it could either be the start of the season right and MLS is as we all know is we're about to um we're about to change calendar and have a calendar shift and we're gonna be on the the world soccer calendar and so maybe it's that first day or or that first weekend maybe it's a Monday afterwards so that you can just have a a full weekend of of the start of of different seasons. Or maybe it's you know just around the Champions League final maybe it's you know what I mean it's for all the gunners to recover heart and mind too true sorry but I'm gonna go I'm gonna go with a a soccer holiday on a Monday after the the first weekend of world soccer starting back off that bro I've always kind of wondered like I'm a big nap guy. I could take a siesta every day if I had to you know so I'm like bro what would what would America be like if everybody had a balance of you could work a four-day work week yeah for a month of the whole year right like you could pick July and be like hey guys just letting you know I'm taking my siesta month this week I'm only coming in four days a week for the whole month right so middle of the summer that Friday comes you're like man I'm getting up today I'm not doing anything sleeping in you take a nap for the whole day too like it it would be everybody would be so much healthier too you know like I mean time to that slow down. I'm with you but I've no I've got a little bit of a problem with that what's that because I know you don't have kids but but when you put kids into the mix kids kids don't they they don't abide by siestas they don't oh I'm gonna sleep in today oh I'm gonna I'm gonna sleep till 1030. We're we're in the middle of summer right now and well we've just started summer for for for my kids and you know they're up earlier now than during the school year. It's because they know they've got nothing to get up for and they're like yeah get me up I want to watch TV I want to start the day and and I'm like go back to bed I was like you don't need to be up for school but yet when during school year hey time to wake up we got to get up for school we got to eat breakfast let's go let's go what's the dog's name again Teddy does Teddy sleep in Teddy's sleeping in he's he's no kidding but didn't he wake you up the other day like big shout out two in the morning he did he was like yeah I was like what's going on yeah I don't I don't have time for this right now I've been trying to get some Z's you know um but yeah I like I like where your head's at though I like Riley from Stone Mountain Georgia what fictional product would you love to buy fictional product okay so something that we have to like invent a yeah that's a tough one that's a deep question um a fictional product maybe just I mean it's not really fictional it's already it's already out there something something that allows me to just put like a hair piece straight on fully done no no questions just like oh I go from bald to full of hair pieces so you're saying like you can pick it up with one hand and you just go like yeah just like you don't have to comb it it's already it's already taken care of I have a follow-up for you yeah what trim you going for bro Mullen I mean I'm I'm looking at your waviness right here I'm looking at your waviness and sunroofs got me a little I'm looking like a dandelion today dog take it easy um I'm I'm liking the flow you know revive you as a kid as a kid I was always uh I was always a buzz cut you know short you know the easy though or like did you command just no no by choice I I loved it and to be fair the boys about a week ago they were they were asking and they uh they both went for buzz cuts now we we put like a like a six guard or a five guard on the on the on the trimmers um but yeah they just they they went for a summer buzz now all their friends are doing it a bunch of their friends are dying their hair um you know all that and our boys were like yeah I want to I want a buzz cut and I was like that's the best thing one once once you do it like you're never gonna go back I tried it for the 2024 season when we made the run in playoffs too I just I was like FEA I'm shaving my head it's all coming up I fell right I remember walking down to training that morning and like I was dapping all you guys up before we left for the trip. You and me we went in for the dap and you did like a triple tape what's up man what like bro I don't know what it wants. Yeah I just woke up one morning I was like so did you used to do it to yourself? Some of you would do it when I was younger like grade school middle school my bro my older brother would do it in in the garage just like bang and super simple and then obviously I got older and then just do it myself. Yeah easy just hope hope hope you didn't miss a spot in the back somewhere it's like uh that feels a little bit long back there what's going on just stare into your camera and hold extra still right now we'll photoshop a little a little buzzcut trim on you right now correct correct put put that on um yeah I don't know yeah that's such a tough question I mean fictional product there's a million things I think I would like they'd probably have this but if I could have like I spend a lot of time picking out the fit in the morning you know so if I could have something like a if I could they'd probably have this hang up my tops and my bottoms and my shoes all on one thing and press a button and it like conveyor belts past my bed, you know it's like I can be like, oh yeah fit number two swip those swap those pants real quick and it would like I could design a fit off my wall you know? Yeah and it would just like I would stand by and it would like boom boom. Or like a personal stylist that's like AI generated where it's like you press the button be like uh this is this is what it chose for me or something. Yeah I don't know bro I feel like just something where I could like if my closet had a full on button where I could press it and it would like the shirts would cycle around for me. You know? That'd be sick. I like it. I feel like that's probably existing. I like it. It might oh question from the studio yeah from the control room what's happening guys on um the talk of AI what would be one thing that you guys would want to use AI for in your day-to-day life to make it easier or better or hope you do something oh go you ready yeah meal prepping meal prepping I am the worst at meal prepping I I I find it like having to find different recipes every day dog I'm making I'm making rice three day supplies worth of chicken same flavor just Thai sauce on top like mash it up all together a little bit of veggie in there too some asparagus some broccoli easy money and I'm eating the same thing three days in a row dog like you'll see later today I'm gonna open up the fridge Thai chicken with rice and I used to do this in previous seasons too where I just have steak and broccoli every time. So if I could have something like yeah just like something that could program in recipes for me you know be like oh right good morning Joe today we're gonna go with a lovely you know I don't even know bro just just something to where I could wake up in the morning and be like that sounds fire. What do I need for it? Boom. And then groceries would be so much more affordable too bro it'd be crazy. It wouldn't have to do anything. Yeah I think it's funny you mentioned that the the word groceries I you know you go to the grocery store and I try to not I try not to go to the with the kids because you go to the kids you end up buying or having to say no to 25 different items that you don't one need but then two the kids don't need you know whether it's the candy aisle or chips or or whatever it is cereals that you know they're so strategic about where they place all these sugary cereals right in the eye line of the kids. Right right at the eye line of the kids. So they do that they place it down lower they place it lower next time you notice they place it lower strategically knowing the kids are going to see it and be like, oh I want these, you know? So something AI where yeah they pop into the grocery store and listen I know you can order your groceries online and you can go pick them up and all that I'm not into that. I'm not no I live for a whimsical day at Publix Pro when I just pick out the basket I'm like I don't even have a list today. I'm just going off a vibe. That's dangerous. Ooh that new kombucha right there let's try that that's dangerous let's try this new flavor of Thai sauce for this chicken tomorrow. Then I'm about to eat them all over again like you just yeah you freestyle it bro I mean it's about the simplicities of life. But it's dangerous as as you start you're you're preparing meals for for what? For one. For one. And you guys yes for six seven for ten yeah it seems it seems like it seems like twelve you know but like you're there and next thing okay we need this and we need two of these and four of those and start adding these up and next thing you know you check out and all right grocery bills $400 and I'm like excuse me excuse me you you're you're dropping $400 wild for a week probably bro if if you're lucky and that's it that's for the things that the kids are like oh yeah I really want this they get home they try like one oh this is disgusting I don't like it and I'm like well that's wonderful we've we've got a million of these now so now what you know would you guys ever give Teddy human food like growing up I had a the moms are one of my best friends she would make their pug steak yeah rest in peace Louie by the way Louis was a great pug just built like a bowling ball this dude was probably easily 35 pounds. She would feed him T-bone steak yeah no we're not we're not there yet he he's getting dog food he's getting dog food um you know sorry Teddy it's you you got you got to earn that buddy um yeah it's uh it's a it's a tough go it's a tough go we gotta get teddy in the studio at some point that'd be a vibe I think we need to we need to work on potty training a little bit more before we allow him into the studio otherwise we got some people that aren't gonna be too happy you know Robbie and Chris are not gonna like that exactly that has been the Brad Guzan Home Depot mailbag always delivered on time by the Home Depot massive shout outs to them and everything they've done for the show creating a lot of special moments with Unified right here with all the listeners as well and guys the reason we got the USA top right here why not us Brad we got a very special episode coming up next week to talk all things World Cup 2026 the biggest FIFA tournament in the competition's history. It's here it's here Joe uh rosters have have been announced teams are now starting to to arrive in North America whether it's Canada the U.S. or Mexico obviously um you know we've got all of our eyes on uh on the U.S. and and how they're gonna do but yeah we're gonna give a glimpse into the World Cup um you know to have that here on home soil it's gonna be an exciting time and exciting summer ahead we've also got a very exclusive guest that you guys will be able to listen to on YouTube only Paraguay's number 10 Miguel Almiron stopped by right here in the studio you guys can catch on that exclusive interview with Brad from right here in the Guzan show studio right there on YouTube