S1 Ep21 | GUUUZ WON THE WORLD CUP????

With the world cup over the Guuuz show returns to Atlanta as Brad and Joe recount their journeys through the tournament! From the story of Cape Verde's legendary World Cup debut to the hundreds of Argentine supporters taking over underground Atlanta, the podcasting duo have plenty to reflect on from the great North American summer of soccer!

Atlanta United joined Major League Soccer in 2017 and won the 2018 MLS Cup in just its second season, the earliest an expansion team has won the title since 1998. The club has set multiple league records including season tickets sales (36,000-plus), single-season average (53,002) and total home attendance (901,033). Owned by Arthur M. Blank, Atlanta United plays its home matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. For more information about Atlanta United, including how to purchase season tickets, visit: www.atlutd.com. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Burling Holland. This guy is hanging out, right? So cool. He gets like a pair of cowboy boots and a hat, custom fitted. He went home with did you see the holding the bottle of Jack Daniels? So good.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Welcome back to the Goo Zan Show. We are back. I'm your host, Breg Zan, sat next to me as always, Joe Fryhopper. Joe, welcome back, dude. It's been an amazing summer. So great to be back here in studio, on set, sat next to you, talking all things World Cup.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Man, what a summer. You just went around the whole world, it felt like. Insane. I saw you popping up in Kansas City, in Miami, taking flights all over the U.S., which, by the way, I just want to say to the world, thank you. That was the best World Cup I can remember in my lifetime. I know we had a different format. I know VAR was all over the place. I know the US MNT didn't go as far as we would have liked them, but dog, that for me, that's top two, not two World Cups. I mean, what do you think?

SPEAKER_01 1:03

It was unbelievable. Bro, in every in every aspect, football won. Football won, the US won in terms of the crowds, the atmospheres, the the fandom that was happening outside of stadiums. It was amazing to see, all because of the beautiful game. And so, yes, thank you to all supporters all around the world for tuning in, for attending games, to watching Fan Fest, to being at Fan Fest, taking part. It was amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

So I haven't seen you in a month and a half. And I walk in, and Brad's just sitting in there and I get the supersonic dap for usual. The whoopah! I think my hair flew back a little bit. Can you tell everybody, for those who haven't been up on your channels, which by the way, Brad's content is going to the moon right now. If you want to see some big Brad Guzani influencer, big TikTok trend guy. I told you. I put you on, dog. I love it. I'm proud of you. Where have you been? What have you been up to?

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Tell the people. Oh my goodness. Uh, I feel like I've been everywhere across the United States, constantly on flights. Um was doing the digital stuff for Fox uh during this World Cup. And so we were based in LA at the studio out in LA, but we were on the go, man. We were on the go. We were at all the best games, all the stadiums. Uh it was amazing. And so to be there in person, not once did I take it for granted, you know, be it the lack of sleep, be it the long flights, um, the the crazy travel and in cars and to and from stadiums, I I not once took it for granted and and you know was extremely appreciative of the opportunity. Uh big shout out to Fox. Um, but at the same time, it was just a surreal summer. And and dude, we were talking about we were at the final uh just a couple days ago. And so we were at the final in New York, and we were with our crew, uh, Melissa Ortiz, Sasha Kleshton, and um Bob Bradley as well. And and so we were just chatting, right? And we were in the car, we're like, oh man, remember when the New York Knicks won the uh NBA final? You know, insane, bro. And we're like, yeah, you know, that felt about four years ago. And I was like, we were in New York for Brazil-Morocco when New York won in San Antonio. Bro, yeah. So what were the streets like? Did you guys go out or do anything? No, because we were there for a matter of three hours before we were back on a plane leaving. Um, but from what we witnessed the next morning when we landed, I think we then headed to Dallas uh from there. But what we saw was chaos. And I was like, thank God we left the city because I don't know if we would have got out otherwise. But that felt so long ago. And so to be at the final and to think about, yes, we you know, that was I think day two or day three of the of the summer.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Super early on. I think I was thinking about this to myself too. I said the energy that the US has for soccer right now feels like New York Knicks energy everywhere. No, we got to keep it going. We got to keep it going. Yeah, and that was the thing for me. What do you think stood out to you of all the stadiums that you went to, fan bases that you saw? Is there anything that stuck with you most? Would you say?

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Yeah, I mean, I don't think you can say stuck with you most because I was fortunate enough to be a part of so many unbelievable atmospheres. Um I was at Japan, Netherlands, and Dallas. We were sandwiched between the the Japanese fans, and that atmosphere was electric. The game was unbelievable. Um, and then of course the tradition of them picking up their trash and garbage or around the stadium. I mean, it was it was beautiful to see. We were in Miami for Scotland, Brazil, and so the Tartan Army and the Tartan Army. No Scotland, no Paul. Oh, you know, like it was it was electric. And so did you run into Dax, by the way? He was down there, wasn't he? No, he was in New York. Oh, really? Nice. Dax was in New York. Uh actually he did. I did see.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Did he hit did you big time? Did he hit you up?

SPEAKER_01 5:04

No, he he made it in. He he was based out of New York all summer, Dax, uh Dax McCarty. Big shout out. Um true, man.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

He's been doing things on first take, right? Yeah, he was out.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

He was he was out of New York.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

Look what happens to you when you come on the Guzan show, you go, Hey, sky's the limit, Dax.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

You're welcome. You're welcome. Um but no, he uh he he popped into that game. Yeah. So he was there with uh with his uh with his boys and his wife and so blended in well. Got to see them. Um I think he picked up a a wig out of like a trash bin, and his wife's like, Dax, what are you doing? And he's like, Oh, I'm just part of it, you know? And I'm like, oh gosh, someone's had one too many drinks. I was gonna say, yeah. Was that after the pregame, bro? Correct. Um like, what's dad doing? He's like, hey, he's just looking for looking for a wake. But you know, Joe, you you said something interesting about just the fans of the US and and soccer in this country, and being at the US Games, it was unbelievable. The the first game at uh Los Angeles Stadium um was so cool to see all the red, white, and blue, all the celebrities there. Um, the support for the US team was phenomenal. And for me, as someone that represented this, this, this national team, played for played for that crest and and put that shirt on, to then see that support for the team, for the guys on home soil was was chilly.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

When I saw, did I see a clip of Sasha in tears?

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Yeah, it was for the clicks. He was doing it for the clicks, dude. Come on, dog. No, that's what I was saying, but you know, he he wasn't he was emotional. He was emotional, but it it was an emotional moment. It was an emotional moment. He just has no self-control.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Um, but yeah. What do you make of USMNT's run overall? What how was the impact for them in terms of expectation? Ponchettino being there. I know you were in and around the group as well, too. What do you make of what their 2026 World Cup was in total?

SPEAKER_01 6:54

Yeah, listen, and everyone's gonna look at the the final game, and rightfully so, right? Uh the the performance against Belgium. And unfortunately, it was nowhere near good enough. And that's the reality of it. The the players will be the first to admit that as a whole collective, they weren't good enough on the day. And to advance in the World Cup, you need to be, you need to have guys, you know, nine, ten, if not all 11 on the field having a nine out of 10 type of performance or a 10 out of 10 type of performance in in those types of matches. And unfortunately that wasn't the case. And and those guys, those players, they set the bar so high with their performances in the first two games of group play against Paraguay and Australia. And so I think as a country, you know, they were all over the the talk shows, they were all over the the media, and everyone was talking about how exciting this team is. And then to go out in that fashion, it was um, it was certainly frustrating as as a fan to watch it. Uh, I know they were frustrated as as players. And with all that being said, I still look back and and what this team was able to do and and galvanize a country and get this country 50-60 million talking about um, you know, we're tuning in and watching this this game, right? You've you've got astronomical numbers and data coming back of viewership and and tuning in. And so when you have that, they they certainly did something special. And that's a that's a credit and a testament to them.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

Did you see the trend online? I think it said that Telemundo started robbing English audience listeners just for how the calls are, right? So we have like Andres Cantor, who I know you hung out with some of the Telemundo people for a little bit too. I saw him. You met him? Yes, bro. The goat.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Unbelievable. He's like you know the most humble guy ever, too.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

You know the turtle in Kung Fu Panda that's like teaching him the the wu-shoe pinky hold and everything, too? That's who he seems like to me. Like the wisest dude. He has covered every match, and then you hear his voice when they not just when he calls Argentina, but the way that he called the the final of Spain Argentina, too, which we'll get to in a second. But just the that seems like it's a trend. I'd love to know if anybody out there, anybody watching the Goose An show, if anybody switched to that. Because for me, I watched the whole tournament on Telemundo just for that little difference in the even knowing that I was on box, I just take the second screen. Looking looking. And it was just like the the level of the way that they live that game in that font for me was just so cool.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Yeah, no, listen, and he's an unbelievable individual, you know. I think we saw him, we saw him the morning after Argentina, Algeria in Kansas City in the airport. Um, you know, and we were just we were chatting football. You could see Argentina's playing kind of in in the background of uh of the um the terminal. That's the word I'm looking for. Thank you. Uh in the back of the terminal. And you know, we were just chatting all things messy, all things Argentina. And of course, at that moment, you know, we didn't know how far Argentina could or would go throughout the tournament, and then they ended up.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

I thought they were going to, man. Yeah, yeah, unbelievable. Let's get into some of the specifics about uh Atlanta as a host city. We had Giannis Antetacumpo, newly signed with the Miami Heat, just chilling at Brew House downtown. I was like, How did Bro fit through the door? Did you see the videos of him coming in too?

SPEAKER_01 10:25

I saw I saw the video, I saw that, and I was like, you know what? Obviously, I wasn't here as much as I wanted to be. Same, same, man. And so I was I was bummed. And all the videos from the watch parties to the bars and the restaurants and just the hype around the city was phenomenal. And so Atlanta, I tip my hat to to each and every one of you that turned out to support the city, to support the game. Yep. And then to all the the city officials and everyone that put the the events on. It was absolutely tremendous. And I was fortunate enough, as I mentioned, to be in so many different cities. But to see the videos, I was like, I had FOMO. I was missing. I was like, oh my gosh, I need to get back there. Like, come on, guys. I was like, I know we're going to this game, but can we just stop off here for an hour or two?

SPEAKER_00 11:11

I just want to be a part of it. I think they have the most attendance for FIFA fan fests in all of the host countries. They sounds like for the Morocco Haiti match, I need to confirm this, and guys in the control room help me out on this. I heard that for Morocco Haiti, the crowd pop when a goal went in, I can't remember for who it was, was the one of the loudest registered decibel levels in the history of we calling it Atlanta Stadium still today? Is it back to Mercedes-Benz State? Mercedes-Benz Stadium is that. Mercedes-Benz. We're back, baby. We're back. The Benz is back. One of the loudest registered audio pops in the history of that venue. Morocco, Haiti. No way. Right? You have people staying hours afterwards on the concourse level. You had the the Argentinian fans climbing into the food concourse areas and like grabbing the tops of the trays of like the where they hold the food. Yeah, like taking the tray tops and like using them for instruments, bro. And I think more than just how it went for football, I feel like humanity needed this World Cup too, you know? Like life is hard. Sometimes it feels like you on social media one day and you're like, do we really have more differences than things we have in common? You know? Yeah. And it feels like we were together, whether it was just for a month and a half, whether it was for everybody showing their passion that they have for their nations, too. I feel like Kev Egan right now, he hit the nail on the head from the beginning of this competition of the beautiful game is not just about the game, right? It's about the people.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

No, for sure, man. It's uh it was so fantastic to see just everyone coming together. And the world's a crazy place, especially the world we live in right now. And so whether it's on an individual basis, uh a collective basis, um, and and every every country's going through their own challenges all across the world. And so to be able to have all these fans and supporters come together around the beautiful game, it was so beautiful to see.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

Let's break it down between the lines. Favorite goal for you that you can remember from the competition?

SPEAKER_01 13:09

Argentina versus Cape Bird. Oh, you're right.

SPEAKER_00 13:12

You're right.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

In the top corner for Cape Bird when he comes in off of the side. That's what it was. That's the goal of the tournament. So we were where we were. I was at that game. I was at that game in my army stadium. Yep. Uh, we're gonna call that Miami Stadium. Sure. Uh and um we were there. We were in the corner that was basically behind where you could we were in the corner flag behind where that goal went in, right? And so we had the perfect angle. No, and so we see him on the left side, and we're we're standing there. And obviously, I'm I'm I'm in my influencer life right now, in my my era. Still is I had my phone out, and all of a sudden he cuts in and then bang, smashes it, and then it just the the crowd, the Cape Verde fans were on the opposite end of the pitch. And uh in the second tier, and they were a small little pocket, they erupted. I think 98% of the stadium was Argentina fans, and I think they were just shocked with silence because they're like, oh my gosh. Not only did they score, but he scored an absolute banger of a goal against Emmy Martinez, and it was just and then at that point I think there was an appreciation for what we had just witnessed because their run throughout the tournament was phenomenal. Their their run, what they what they did as as a team, as such a small country to to go into this tournament. And so, yes, we talk about the format and the inclusion of 48 teams, but without that expansion of the tournament, a country like Cape Verde isn't gonna be involved in in the World Cup, right? And and it's it becomes a lot harder for them to qualify. And so for us to be able to witness those beautiful moments, it's tremendous.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

And a story like Bosnia too, right? It would have never happened. Like, what are you 30k followers on IG and he wakes up the next day? Five million? Like five million.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

I'm pretty sure he's over 20 million at this point. 20 million. He's over 20 million. The last the last I heard, I think it was like 17, 18, and that was that was a week ago. It's insane to me. It's wild. What was your favorite goal? Oof.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

I'm gonna have to say I thought Fernán Torres, just the the final. I thought that was amazing too. I thought it was a cool story of when he was here in Atlanta, I think he scored a mighty might have been against Saudi Arabia. He had one called back on himself and they cut to a tight of him, and he was talking to himself and he was going, please, please let it be a goal. I think he was just having a little, a little dip in form to begin the tournament. To see him have that moment, kind of like uh an Iniesta moment, too, you know, like everybody in Spain, around the world, will remember this World Cup for Ferran Torres having that final finish. That was insane to me. Uh Julian Álvarez also, top right, was just an absolute banger. That was insane. And the Cabo Ready shout, too. Like the belief that I think the Blue Sharks had too. Shout out Seiko Thornell here as well. He's proud uh Kate Verdian uh family right there, too. Love that. To see the stories like that, like you said, there's already chatter about them making the World Cup even bigger for the next one. I saw that. Did you see that?

SPEAKER_01 16:21

I saw that too.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Thoughts on that? Yeah, we're starting to get into like uh I mean, what are we gonna end up with? A bracket of 100.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

I'm not one there. Needs to certainly still be this appreciation for qualifying. There needs to be this prestige of going to a World Cup and we've we've made it to a World Cup. Um so if that's true, I don't know how I feel about it, if I'm being honest. Uh, I think this number, there were a lot of games. And as I can't even remember what as a as a football fan, I know. As a football fan, it was exciting. But this summer there was a lot of football, a lot of soccer.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

Um, so I don't know how I feel if they were to expand it even more. I think going back on favor goal, too, I was just thinking Gio Reina outside of the boom. Oof, ooh, so good. The the feeling that I think you will always remember, too, is how your nation plays in their first match. And the nerves I had, bro, for USMNT Badawai, not just for you know our nation against Miggy, too, just all the buildup that went in for him going into this competition, too. But I was nervous, man. Like U.S. had some of those friendlies. I think they played back in Nashville against what was it, Turkey and Switzerland, right? Where it did not go well. We didn't know what group was gonna show up for this competition, and they showed up Balogun. No, was he hooping? Oh, I'm gonna do that. Sebastian Burhalter, too. A little bit of just that MLS grid of I'm a dog, I'm here for a reason, and when I see a trickling ball come outside of the box, I'm gonna hit it on the half volley. And I'm gonna sprint to the crowd and just black out on passion. Like that's what you live this game for. And I feel like for somebody like you who has put in so many hours, years of your life into that crest, too, it's gonna feel real good to see guys like that caring for it and feeling for it that much.

SPEAKER_01 18:11

It was amazing, man. It was amazing. And, you know, going before the tournament started, right? They they played in Charlotte uh against Senegal, they played Germany and Chicago as the two send-off games. Yep. And, you know, there was a lot of hype. I saw the crowds in those two cities, and I was like, okay, red, white, and blue, everywhere. This is this is gonna be real. But there was always this little doubt in the back of my mind, just because I was nervous. I was nervous saying this is the world's game, it's on our our our soil, right? As uh a co-host with of course Canada and Mexico. And I'm thinking, man, I hope this summer is gonna be electric as I think it's going to be, just because I want the sport to continue to grow so badly. I want the league to continue to grow. And and I was just like, we need to have a successful summer in terms of the popularity of the tournament. Didn't disappoint one bit. No, all the stars showed up. The US, the fans, the supporters, they turned up. I was in Seattle for for both US games. Yep. Right. And obviously, Seattle's unique because the city is so close or the stadium is so close to to downtown Seattle, and you could just walk to walk to the stadium. The amount of fans in the streets, on the sidewalks, spilling out of bars and restaurants, yeah. I was like, where are we? I was like, I forgot for a moment that we were in the United States. And I was like, I can only imagine what Atlanta looks like right now because I I've I've seen and experienced, you know, here when when the fans are behind the team. And so to see that with my own eyes, I was like, this is this summer has been electric. It's going to continue to be electric as we get into the deeper rounds of the knockout rounds and and into the final. And going in and out of New York and New York, New Jersey stadium, and in the traffic and the chaos, and the fans and the people, I was like, it has been everything I expected and more.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

Yeah. I think when the host nations are playing well too, it gives you just an extra bit of magic. Like Canada getting their first ever win in World Cup history. When I was in Guadalajara, let me tell you, brother, the amount of like complimentary tequila shots that I've taken, like coming out of, I can say it now because it's over. Literally, we would go out of there, somebody would come up behind me with a full bottle and just be like, eh, and then you get picked up, and they start saying, Gire bola, quire vola, which means I want to fly. And all these people start pouring you. Dog, I got thrown. We have images of this at least 12 feet in the air, bro. There's a picture of skyscrapers in the city. I was above the buildings. Control room. We're gonna need to find this picture.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

We're gonna need to find this picture and run this. That is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

I got a just like a Baqueto Cowboy hat put on me out of nowhere. There was some guys in the middle of our hit when we were live in the stadium. Like the ma ECC. The magic of when a nation is alive and you have your whole country behind it for something that we've been waiting for for decades to happen, right? If you're the U.S., how do you keep this belief going? How do you keep this magic, this following of the game? How do we continue to take advantage of it? Not just for MLS, but for the next generation, that next kid that wants to be like Brad Guzan.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Yeah, I mean, listen, I think when you look at what the World Cup did in 94, right? Obviously, Major League Soccer was built off of the back of that. Um, but we didn't really feel the the full impact of of the 94 World Cup until 10, 12, 15 years later, right? And kids that are six, seven, eight years old, nine years old, now all of a sudden they're they're older, teenagers, early 20s, they're playing, wanting to be pros in the professional game. And I think that's when we're really gonna feel the effects of of this World Cup. And and that's gonna be 10 years down the road, 15 years down the road. And so I'm so excited for that. In the meantime, yes, we want, you know, major league soccer, uh, soccer in this this country to continue to grow. So go out and and watch your local MLS team. Yeah. Five stripes, turn up as you always do. Uh, you know, and get behind your your local team to say, you know what, I want to be a part of the game. I want to help the game continue to grow. And so I think this summer has inspired not only one, but two and three next generations of soccer players that hopefully will then go on to represent the United States at the highest level. I think that would be amazing.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Not only was your social presence unreal, and I want to say shout out to you for grinding for the fact that you're probably on two hours of sleep and showing up and you're like, hey, what match is it again? Like, all right, let's ride. Here we go.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

Being an influencer is a is hard work. You know, I I tip I tip my hat to all the social media influencers out there because it's not easy. Speaking of them, Erling Holland, this guy's hanging out, right?

SPEAKER_00 22:58

So cool. He gets like a pair of cowboy boots and a hat, custom fitted. He went home with Did you see the holding the bottle of Jack Daniels? So good. Like, was he for you between that the Viking road? Do you think that was like the I don't know if you want to say like heartthrob team, but just the one that stole everybody's hearts? Do you think it was Norway, would you say? I I think so.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

I I think when you look at Norway as a soccer country, yeah, probably not something that they're they're known for. But listen, when you have Arlene Holland leading your line, you always have a chance. And and Martin Odegaard, who, you know, the success that he's had with with Arsenal, and you know, you've got top pros playing around the world at big clubs, kneeling and goal coming up huge for them, you know, save save after save. You know, that gives you a chance. And and you know, I talked on earlier in the US Belgium game, right? We needed more guys having nine out of ten type of days, and and you know, for Norway, they had that. And when you look at Erlen Holland, yes, his social media presence was unbelievable off the field, but what he did on the field, his his charisma, his determination, his willpower to just find a way to put the ball in the back of the net was tremendous. And and you look at the the game against Brazil, two goals, and listen, going into that game, not many people in world football would have given Norway a chance. And not only do they have a chance, they they I would argue they dominated the game with their possession and their control and the tempo of the game. And so again, you then go and give the ball to Erlene Holland, you got more than half a chance to win a game. And and they did that in the row in South Beach where everyone's in the streets like uh yeah, I mean, it was electric. And so to see them kind of overtake the the American public was really special to see.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

I think that was just the stuff I love the most too is seeing the different fans of the different nations. Like you talked about Japan, you know, collecting the trash afterwards, too. There were other nations that were copying them afterwards, like the Argentinians afterwards, they were like pulling out trash bags and being like, La basura, like they made a chant and they were started cleaning up that for themselves too. Or the, you know, the orange army showing up for the Netherlands too. Like seeing just that blend of people in the U.S. too is surreal. The crowds that we got to have in Atlanta, I was only, you know, outside of it either at FanFest or at uh the Benz, of course, too, but it's just so cool to see Atlanta has always been this way. The 404 has always shown up for the beautiful game. To see people from all over the world come here and be like, I was interviewing people about it afterwards, like, that's the nicest stadium I've ever seen. Yeah. Like the food prices, shout out to Arthur Blank for keeping it that way for accessibility for the game, for how it should be and live for everybody. Like, I hope they come back. We invite you to come to an Atlanta United match, see what it's like here. Uh, and just like you said, follow your local club too, because that's how you can get it to stick, right? You hope the magic sticks around.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

No, for sure. And and it's only gonna help the game continue to grow. And you know, when I was I was fortunate enough to to come to the the the semifinal here in Atlanta uh at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with with Bree and the kids, and wasn't working, so I was able to come as a as a fan, and it it was awesome, man. It was so cool. Just walking around the the concourse, being outside in the fan fest. It was a little hot that day, a little toasty. Uh, did did a local hit uh you know for a couple of minutes and I was sweating like crazy. But it was it was so cool to see, and and we're fortunate because one, we've been there, we've we've seen it with Atlanta United, and and that's the norm, right? And and you know, to be able to have that in your backyard is so special. And so I agree, man. People would would say that that stadium is unbelievable. It is so cool that it's such a great place to watch soccer, um, to be a part of it in there. It was tremendous. And so, yeah, it listen, I've always said it's the it's the best stadium in the country, in the world, and it certainly did not let us down.

SPEAKER_00 27:10

Speaking of people you met on your World Cup journey, you met Coach Beer, right? When you asked for in Atlanta too.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

In Atlanta at the semifinal.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

Coach Beard, just chilling there a couple of years.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

He was a couple, he was a couple of times. Did he have the head on in the glasses? He did, he did. Um, you know, and I've I've met him uh a few times, and so he's he's a massive soccer fan of the US, he's a big supporter, um, and just such a great guy, you know, like you would never realize that he is one of the main actors on on the most popular soccer show around the world, right? Ted Ted Lasso. And so um to see him in the stadium just taking in the game as a fan with his buddy, who was so cool. And you know, we were just chatting about having the experience of being there and and taking in the atmosphere, and those are moments that you remember. And at some point I'm gonna forget about what actually happened during the games and certain plays and players, but moments like that, especially when you experience them with with good friends, with family, those are the moments that last.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

Control room. I know we got questions for this guy because he's been gone for what feels like six years. So goose is back home. Fellas, what do we think of the World Cup? What do we got to say to Brad?

SPEAKER_02 28:21

Well, it's good to have you guys back. Uh, first of all, we we just, you know, humbly watched the World Cup games in the control room here while you guys were out living all the different cities. We do think you missed the goal of the tournament. We believe it was the disallowed goal by Egypt. I was in uh they're talking about crowd pop. I was in the stadium for that one, and the place went insane, even though it was a lot of Argentina fans. And yeah, Joe, you're right. We definitely um have been to the stadium many times. I've been to a lot of Atlanta stadiums many times, and the uh enthusiasm and the crowd noise in the stadium, it's unmatched. So you're exactly right on that. I guess uh our question would be you know, we we were curious about did did you ever do a tally, Brad, of how many miles you totally went, how many flights you were on? Uh any any airport nightmares, any travel nightmare stories for you?

SPEAKER_01 29:19

Um I didn't calculate the miles. I I think I needed that that might take me a day or two to to add all these up. Um but it was in total, I think we came to the understanding it was 17 games. Um I don't know how many cities, and I'm not sure on actual flights. Um, but it was a lot. It was a lot. And what I will say is thankfully, there were no absolute travel disasters or or huge delays. Um, you know, big shout out, Delta. You know, they they they looked after after us, and we were fortunate enough to be towards the front of the plane uh when when traveling, so that made things a little bit more comfortable. Uh, but it was there as the knockout rounds approached, obviously we were then having to decide which games are we gonna go to and where are they gonna send us. And you're not able to book your flights ahead of time, right? And so now direct flights and you might have a connection here, a connection there. There were a few red eyes with uh with an early arrival into say like the Midwest or or the East Coast to then turn around and go three, four hours back the other way to get to our final destination city. And that wasn't the the easiest or the or the funnest, but you know, it had to be done so we could be there.

SPEAKER_00 30:44

We made it, we made it. A guy told you, didn't you say right? You were waking up once and he was like, Man, you were out, right?

SPEAKER_01 30:51

There were numerous times, numerous flights. As soon as I'd sit down in my seat, I would I would fall asleep. I'd pass out. I was just so tired, so exhausted.

SPEAKER_00 31:00

What is your sorry to interrupt you, what is your sleep technique on a plane when it comes to different seats? Like if you're a window seat and you like using the window for a little headrest.

SPEAKER_01 31:10

It's it's the same every time. Cross arms, air, uh you know, air pods in, yeah, cross arms, and that's it. Because if I don't, if my arms aren't crossed, I I twitch, right? And so I'm I'm I'm a I'm a twitcher.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

You're making saves, bro.

SPEAKER_01 31:24

Usually exactly. And the amount of times that I've been on flights where I'm just sat with with my arms kind of on the armrest, and next thing you know, it's like boom. And I'm hitting either a random person or like my wife. She's like, What are you doing? Um, so yeah, I I've got to sit like this. I sli I sleep like this, but I fell asleep straight away. And again, this this happened more than once. And we'd land, and and all out here is like boom, boom, boom, you know, and it's like, okay, we're here. So I'd start to wake up and I'm like, okay, what city am I in? What time is it? It's five o'clock in the morning. Just took a red eye to Miami. And next thing you know, the guy's like next to me, like poking me. I'm like, yeah, you know, I take my my AirPod out, and and he's like, Man, you were you were sleeping hard, huh? And I was like, I don't even know how to respond to that. I'm like, what did I do? What? And I'm just like, What did you say? I don't, I was just like, I'm exhausted. Gotta go, you know, and it's like grabbing my stuff off the plane. Um, yeah, at one point Sasha was in the seat in front of me, and I had my you know, my feet under the seat and again sleeping. We land, he turns around, he's like, What's wrong with you? And I'm like, what? What what what is your problem? It's five o'clock in the morning. What's the problem? He's like, You're kicking my seat like crazy. I was like, I've been sleeping. He's like, Yeah, I know. I turned around and you were sound asleep, but you're smashing my seat, you know, with your foot. I was like, sorry, dude, my bad. But bro, are you like dreaming about the floor? I don't know. I think maybe I was that exhausted. I was that exhausted that we were always on the go that I was just sleeping when I could. And then when I was sleeping, I was just I was out. Good thing it was Sosh in front of you.

SPEAKER_00 33:02

If that was just a random guy and you're like, Yeah, he's like, what the bro, if you don't Oh, Brad Gozan, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:08

Hey, nice job on the stream yesterday. Hey, love that. Love that. I mean, listen, you got I learned you had to catch your Z's when you could. It's true.

SPEAKER_00 33:15

A lot of times it was on the plane. It's true. I want to shout you out, uh, Matt Moore as well, for predicting that Argentina would come back against Egypt. I was at the fan fest. We had our cameras there. Um, we didn't even talk about that. I was in Argentina for Argentina Cabo Verde. Insane. You were in Argentina?

SPEAKER_01 33:32

I was in Buenos Aires for Argentina, Cabo Verde. No way. Unbelievable. I was in I was in Buenos Aires, Florida. I was in Buenos Aires, Missouri, Buenos Aires, Texas, uh, back in Buenos Aires, Missouri. I mean, these stadiums, there were Argentinian fans everywhere. Everywhere. Buenos Aires, New York. I mean, did you see all the stadiums in Atlanta?

SPEAKER_00 33:55

They invaded underground.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

It was unbelievable. Everywhere. It was it was unbelievable. The support, the fans turned out in huge numbers every time an Argentina game finished, either that night at the airport or the next morning at the airport, just jerseys everywhere. And you know, whether they were going home or to the next city, phenomenal.

SPEAKER_00 34:15

At any point in the tournament, did you guys say there's no way for this team? Like, I I understand it's messy that that group of the national team might be one of the better national teams in recent history, but it seemed like every match they played, I went, Oh, that's it. When Egypt scored their second, I think they had one call back. They scored again to get another second. I was like, there's today's not the day. I was emotionally preparing myself to say goodbye to Leo Messi. And I'm sure you were you were already ready. But like, did you think that was it was it for them ever?

SPEAKER_01 34:50

Or did you never count them out? No, you know what? At the beginning of the tournament, right? He he gets his hat trick and it's like, okay, it's a messy show, and it's like no, you know what? That was I think the the biggest doubt I had because I'm like, there's no way this guy is gonna be able to do this game in and game out. Yeah. And then he does it again. At 30 minutes. And then you look at the the game against Switzerland, Julian Alvarez comes up with an unbelievable banger of a goal to the far post. And so, you know, of course, the the the the rest of the the team certainly showed up and and popped up with some really important goals for them. Um, but it just felt as if there's no way this guy could keep doing this by himself. But at the same time, he proved us wrong time and time again. And so, yeah, the the final was always gonna be an exciting one. And and you know, full respect to Spain because the way they played in the final against Argentina was the way they played against everybody they faced throughout this tournament. And there's a reason why I think it's 38 games now unbeaten, uh, and and they've just been so dominant.

SPEAKER_00 36:01

Yep, what a performance, what a managerial job too by Luis de la Fuente. Amazing stuff from them, and um, yeah, magical stuff. I got no complaints. That was in my lifetime, I gotta say it, my favorite World Cup.

SPEAKER_01 36:13

By far, by far. Listen, it's gonna be hard to top that World Cup, and and obviously we're a little biased because it was on home soil, so uh, but it was amazing from start to finish.

SPEAKER_00 36:27

All right, guys, let's get into it now. We're gonna, after a long time coming, dive right back into our Home Depot mailbag delivered on time always by the Home Depot, which, by the way, shout out to them for the swag here today. We got the cups. Hey, big shout out. We got the scarves, always putting on for the Goozan show. We want to say thank you so much to you guys for everything you do for the show. Let's get into it. Good one here from a member of the show. Ravi Moody would like to ask you, Brad, what's your favorite meal that you ate during your World Cup travels?

SPEAKER_01 36:56

Oh, my favorite meal. Oof. You know what? Honestly, so going to and from stadiums at crazy times, we had quite a bit of concession food, uh, concessions from from different stadiums. Um, so the odd night when we were able to go out and enjoy a um nice dinner, a normal dinner, if you will, uh, we tended to uh we were tended to often go for sushi. And so we were in Miami, I would say, and we were which hotel? We were at the hotel, went to the rooftop of the hotel. We were able, they had TV set up for us, all this sushi, watching the the other, the late games. Uh so it was good, man. Dang, bro.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

I don't know why, but I guess I didn't expect you to be a sushi guy. You got a favorite role?

SPEAKER_01 37:54

Uh no, I don't have a favorite role. Um, but uh I'm uh I'm a spicy tuna type of guy, you know. So yeah, it was but it was just it was not I think it was nice because of what we were eating. It was constantly on the go. We were Ubering Eats. Um, you know, don't know if I could say that in terms of sponsor, but you know, we're gonna go with it.

SPEAKER_02 38:16

We were we were saying that we think this question should really be for Joe because we figured Brad was getting the catered meals. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

Uh big difference anyway.

SPEAKER_02 38:26

And Joe is probably going to the street vendors, you know, and getting the stuff.

SPEAKER_00 38:30

Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I would say for me, one of them would be uh it was something called queso fundido, which is just like a tray of cheese, and you can pick any kind of meat you want. So it could be it could be chorizo, it could be uh carne asada. You throw that in there, and then you literally take a fork. Uh we went to a place called Tacarilla Tomate. Big shout outs to anybody who's going to Guadalajara, hit me up. I got all my breaks for you. Uh you take a fork and you stick it in there and you pull this thing out, dog. And it's like it's like pasta noodle length. Like it's just stringing everywhere. You plop it onto a freshly made tortilla. As you're eating in in Mexico and Guadalajara, they are bringing up freshly made tortillas that are piping hot in these beautiful, just like they're just kind of like fabric um holders for them, basically. So you pull them out and it's like steaming. It's nice and warm, too. After a long day standing the whole time, too, rehearsing at the stadium, you sit down and you're like, boom, they're just feeding you with 15 tortillas at once. So you pull them out, plop them down, you stick your fork in with the cheese and string that thing on there, and then you load it up with like some lime on there, some onion, a little bit of cilantro, um, spicy sauce too, and then something that gets you. Watch out. When you get the bill in Mexico, okay, they're gonna give you something that looks like it's like a mint, okay? Or it looks like a like a Jolly Rancher or something like that. You open it up and you throw it in, and it tastes like you're like, oh man, that's like super sweet. What is that, raspberry or something? And when you crunch into it, the whole thing is filled with the hottest like chili filling you've ever eaten in your life, dog. And your whole phone like catches on fire. You're like, I need water right now, bro.

unknown 40:10

What?

SPEAKER_00 40:11

So they're famous for sweet and spicy flavor combos. So you could be having a sucker, for example, it could be a strawberry sucker, and on the outside of it, it's covered in like it would be like how tahien tastes, pretty much, or just like some spicy covering on the outside. So that was super good. Um basically basically sounds like a homemade quesadilla. Pretty much. Yeah, and like I could eat it every day, all hours of the day. Uh they have nachos for breakfast to chilaquiles. Okay. Insane. But like if you're, you know, you go from the regular American.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

That story is a lot better than my sushi, you know, but I think I'm gonna stick to my sushi.

SPEAKER_00 40:47

Fellows in the control room, did you guys uh get any cool eats either around Atlanta or when you were traveling around for the games?

SPEAKER_02 40:53

Uh once again, we were here in the control room uh working while you guys were out working as well. Yeah, having what you're I love that Joe described. That was great. Uh so you had a quesadilla. And then Jackson's gonna be like, man, I had this thing. It was uh it was a shell, and I put meat and cheese in it. Uh it's called a taco. That's good. No, we uh no we we just stayed here. We we uh nothing nothing too crazy. Um when when Uzbekistan came here, they uh they brought some uh cuisine from from Uzbekistan. That was pretty cool, and it was very delicious.

SPEAKER_01 41:31

Yeah, how was that having them here?

SPEAKER_02 41:33

They were awesome. Uh they were it we we had Uzbekistan, we had Egypt here, and we had Argentina here training, and they could not have been cooler. And uh Uzbekistan was fun. They brought us uh some flags, some bears, some uh some homemade, or no wolves. They brought the white wolves. White wolves, okay.

SPEAKER_00 41:53

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 41:54

Uh they were they were great. It was awesome having them here and and uh being able to host them. So that's that's what we did.

SPEAKER_00 42:01

Love it. Next one comes from Ethan Mg underscore YK, who would like to ask you, Brad, if you could play with one player of all time in football, who would it be?

SPEAKER_01 42:12

Oh my goodness. That's a big question. Welcome back, huh? Yeah. Um you know what? All right. Listen, being a goalkeeper, um, defenders, my best friend. Fortunately, uh, when we were in New York for the final, was able to go to a few parties, uh, a few different uh different different places leading up to the final.

SPEAKER_00 42:37

This influencer lifestyle, man. Honestly. Sushi.

SPEAKER_01 42:41

Sounds terrible. We ended up at this party, and there's going to be a QA with some absolute legends of the game. Like hosted by Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Gerard Piquet, uh, Ronaldinho, original Ronaldo, R9. Um I think Kaka was there too. Um I think that was it. And seeing seeing Ronaldinho and just his swagger and coolness in person, I was like, Yeah. You're the real deal, dude. Like, I was like, okay. Um I mean, all those guys. I mean just just OGs, you know? And so to to see them, there's also another party. There was Lata, there was Beckham, Mr. Zizou. Zizu was there. Uh and so I mean listen, could I pick one one to play with? Oh man. Uh I would say, you know what? Give me Ronaldinho. The the magic, the just the the the crazy step over.

SPEAKER_00 44:07

What about you? If you had Ronaldinho in your squad, what are you doing? Are you just pinging one on a rope to him on the counter and he just chests it down and sombrero flicks somebody and you're on the counter?

SPEAKER_01 44:15

No, because my ping to him is not going straight to him. It's probably going like about way too high. It's taking 15 extra seconds to get to him. And then at that point, he's got to run 40 yards to his right and go pick it up out of the air after it's you know not on target. So um, and then at that point, I'm just sitting back and watching him do his magic. Insane. Yeah. What about you?

SPEAKER_00 44:35

Insane. There's one player. I would I would love to say Maradona, maybe. Yeah. I feel like the way that he was able to just invent, kind of similar to just like larger than life personality. I feel like as a teammate, too, he'd be insane for the stuff that you would live with him would be nuts. Um, I feel like I could go to war for a dude like Stevie G, Steven Gerard, too, like old school box to box. Just like get stuck in on every tackle, too. Somebody like him would be super cool. For sure. Super cool. Control room? Anybody you guys would most love to play with? If you could pick one legend?

SPEAKER_02 45:06

Talking uh while you guys were talking, um Ronaldo, original Ronaldo, we were that's not who I'd pick. I guess I'll pick my uh yeah, maybe I'll go a funny story. When we were we had Men and Blazers here and um we were helping them get um the their guest on, and it was really funny because it was um Mario Balotelli and he he didn't tell anyone that he had left the uh United States. So they all thought he was on United States time, and he was actually in like I don't know where he was, he was far, far east somewhere. So his agent called like really upset saying, like, why did you give him such a late call time? And they're like, It's not, it's like 3 p.m. Uh, so it was really funny watching him get on in the middle of the night somewhere and do the show. Uh so there's a behind the scenes of Min and Blazers, but I think uh Mario Balotelli would be hilarious to play with and be on a team with.

SPEAKER_01 46:16

Disappointed you didn't say me, Maddie. Oof. You know, geez.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

I almost said my second favorite goalkeeper. Love it, Jorge Campos.

SPEAKER_00 46:24

Oof. Oh, legendary jersey. Unbelievable. He was at the stadium in uh Guadalajara when we had Mexico, South Korea. Pretty cool. Unbelievable. That was just different aesthetic back then. Do you think you would have liked that playing with a jersey that size? Like how much it weighed?

SPEAKER_01 46:38

I mean, it was yeah, I don't know. Different graveyards. That or getting up off the ground, one or the other.

SPEAKER_00 46:48

That guys has been the Home Depot mailbag, always delivered on time. We want to say thank you so much to all you guys for tuning in to the Goozan Show. Goose on the back of the most magical World Cup of our lifetimes, at least post-plan. I know for you you've had some magical moments, but for me, that was unbelievable. We missed you. Thanks for coming back. Uh, thanks for all you do for the club, for what you were doing away. We're proud of you for what you did for the city, too. Any parting words now that you're back with us?

SPEAKER_01 47:11

No, I appreciate it, Joe. Great to be back. Great to be back in studio with the control room. Missed you guys. It was an amazing summer. It was an epic summer. Thank you to all the fans, all the supporters. Thank you to the game because the the game has given myself and so many others so much. And so to have the experiences that we had this summer will absolutely last a lifetime. Absolutely amazing.