Welcome to the GP Soccer Podcast! (S14 E7)

                           Welcome to the GP Soccer Podcast!  (S14 E6)

Proud member of the Sports History Network and endorsed by the National                                                  Soccer Coaches Association of Canada.     

Host Giovanni Pacini welcomes his worldwide audience to yet another exciting show. Don't forget this season will feature World Cup "bonus content" throughout the season and beyond!

This week's "Conversation with the Coach" is with author Mark C. Franek who wrote- "American Soccer Nation". "Coaches Corner" features Giovanni Pacini where he talks about the importance of children playing outside. "News and Analysis" will feature Giovanni Pacini with World Cup news and Ralph Ferrigno checks in with the European Soccer Report where he talks about the Champions League Quarter Final First Leg. The "American Soccer Revolution" features an audio clip from Beast Mode Soccer where the topic is youth players getting enough touches on the ball.

The GP Soccer Podcast features new shows every Wednesday and can be found anywhere you listen to your podcasts. Listeners are encouraged to "Like" and "Subscribe" the GP Soccer Podcast and share the show amongst those within their social media network! Those interested in advertising on the show can contact host Giovanni Pacini at gp4soccer@yahoo.com. And be sure to check out the show website at www.gpsoccerpodcast.com. 

                    GP Soccer Podcast enjoys continued support from-
United Goalkeeping Alliance - Music Meets Sports - National Soccer Coaches Association of Canada - The Sports History Network - Feedspot.com - GP Voice Over Services - Zone 14 Coaching

GP Soccer Podcast welcomes a new sponsor- Zone 14 Coaching! Check it out at Zone14coaching.com. Use promo code GP20 for 20% off!

To purchase a signed copy of Dr. Joe Machnik's book- "From the Sandlots to the World Cup: 7 Decades of American Soccer", e-mail "Dr. Joe" at joemachnik@no1soccercamps.com. Be sure to mention the GP Soccer Podcast!

Enjoy the show!

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 1:21

Well, hey there, everyone. Giovanni Piccini here, your host of the GP Soccer Podcast. Bongiorno Bonasene, benvenuti a tutti. That's your Italian lesson for today. Basically, I'm just saying hello to everybody, basically in Italian. Listen, I don't know where you live, but where I live here in the New England area, just outside of Boston specifically, boy, the weather has changed. I took my dog out for a walk this morning, and uh I was in shorts and a t-shirt. I think Winter might be behind us. And I'm kind of happy about that. And there's a part of me that's not so happy about that. If you know me well, you know that besides soccer, I'm an avid skier. I've been skiing since I was two years old. Thank you to my parents for having the wherewithal for slapping the boards of my feet when I was a youngster. Uh, and it's been all downhill since then. Yeah, uh, that's that's the joke. Uh yeah, so I have hung up the boards. Uh ski season is over, and uh, but no, it's nice when I hang up the boards, and I get to look forward to throwing a shorts and a t-shirt on and getting outdoors and enjoying this nice weather. So I hope wherever you happen to be, you're enjoying some nice weather as well. So you know, each and every week, you know, I I try to get into the uh what I'm going to refer to as the GP Soccer Podcast mailbag. I might give it an official uh uh designation, if you will. And I, you know, I I may not do it every week, but you know, as regularly as I possibly can. If I think something moves me or uh an email or emails I think might move you, I will share them with you. And uh, you know, this this past two or three weeks, um, I've been getting them uh with with some regularity here. Um the latest ones I have, I'm gonna share with you three uh emails that I got. Uh, and it's regarding my comments last week where I said that the U.S. men's national team will never win a World Cup, and our women may never win another World Cup. And uh I stand by those comments. I stand by that position. Um I noted to all of you, uh, you know, when I made that statement, the reasons why, none of them are, you know, nothing of them, none of them are new. We all know about the obscene pay-to-play situation in this country, the the youth sports industrial complex, which is just obscene, just to say. Um less than adequate coaching uh at the appropriate levels, particularly at the grassroots level, uh, it goes on and on and on and on. If you listen to the show, you know that that's uh pretty much pretty much the DNA of uh of this show. So I want to share with you um some three uh three uh emails here. A couple of them that disagree with me, and that's okay. That's okay. Pleasant, civil back and forth is is very, very cool. So uh and then the last one it agrees with me. Uh so let me share with you uh these these three emails. Hi, Giovanni. I listened to last week's episode and had to chime in. I strongly disagree with your assessment that the United States will never win a World Cup. The growth of soccer in this country is undeniable, and the talent pool just keeps getting deeper. While the pay-to-play system is an issue, we're seeing more investment in youth development and MLS academies than ever before. Give it a few more ye few give it a few more years, and you'll see the U.S. making serious runs at the title. Well, thank you very much for that. Um listen, I don't I don't deny or push back that we've seen extraordinary growth of the sport of soccer in this country in just in my lifetime alone. It's it's just been absolutely extraordinary. Um yeah, the talent pool does keep getting deeper. There's no question about that. So quantitatively, I agree with you that the talent pool keeps getting better. But qualitatively, it's not not getting much better. It's marginally better. I think I said last week I talked about on the men's side Christian Pulisek being our maybe our best American soccer player ever, ever. Um and if we can only bang out one, then that's a problem. So yeah, I I agree that the talent pool keeps getting deeper quantitatively, but qualitatively, no, we still got a long, long way to go. And we will never get there for as long as this, again, obscene pay-to-play system uh you know stays uh stays in uh stays in effect. Um yeah, youth development, sure, there's a lot more things going on in youth development. So yeah, quantitatively, I don't I don't disagree with you. Um all the uh major clubs out there and all the pathways, uh the MLESS Academy, sure, there's a lot of things going on. But just because there's a lot of things going on doesn't mean they're really making an impact. And does it really mean that it's that it's any good, any good. And uh, if you want to use the development of our of our players as a litmus test, and I keep talking about Christian politics on the men's side, um then we're we're way behind. We're we're way behind. Second email here. Let's see here. Giovanni, I appreciate your honesty, but I don't share your skepticism about the U.S. women's national team. They have the infrastructure, mentality, and resources to stay competitive globally. Sure, other nations are catching up, but the U.S. has consistently adapted and found ways to win. I'm confident we'll see another World Cup trophy in their hands soon. Well, listen, so do I. So do I. I, you know, I hope they do win another World Cup. And heck, I hope that the men win a World Cup in my lifetime. They better hurry up and do it. Um so again, uh, you know, I I I appreciate the the the uh you know the feedback here. Um yeah, there's infrastructure on both sides. You know, we've got infrastructure, but you know, is is it the appropriate infrastructure? Do we have the infrastructure that that uh will allow us to produce better players, both men and women? Do we have the infrastructure, you know, uh, you know, at appropriate standards all across our country? Maybe maybe not. A mentality, sure. I don't I don't deny that. Um there's the U.S. spirit uh that uh is part of the the DNA of every American athlete, not just our men's and women's men's uh national soccer teams. But that um you know, that never say die hard work uh mentality, that that is part of our DNA. That's that's what gives us our you know our our edge oftentimes. Um and the last one here, let's see, he agrees with me. Hey Giovanni, I just wanted to say I agree with your points on last week's show. The pay-to-play model does limit who gets access to top-level coaching, and until that changes, I don't see the U.S. winning a World Cup anytime soon. Morocco and Japan have shown incredible progress, and I wouldn't be surprised if they win before us. The U.S. women's team is facing the same challenges as the men, and it's only getting tougher for them. Thanks for keeping it real. Well, I appreciate that as well. Uh so you know, you get it. Without me beating the proverbial, you know, dead horse, you know, each and every week, as you know, you listen to the show. I do the American Soccer Revolution where I tackle some of these issues, and it's gonna be an ongoing thing, an absolute ongoing thing. Um, and I guess I'll kind of close that out by saying I don't I don't do this just to be provocative. I don't do this just to be you know hyperbolic. I do it because I'm concerned. I'm do it, I do it because I I love this game. This game has been part of my my entire life, and I want to see us do better in in the sport of soccer on the men's and women's side, certainly. Um and you know, until these things change, a lot of these things change, and it's not gonna be easy. Uh, it's gonna be the status quo. It will just still be the status quo. So I'm just doing my little part here on the GP Soccer Podcast, uh, lending my voice uh to the masses out there and say, you know what, let's let's uh blow things up, let's change things, let's alter things, let's re rethink. Because the way it's been going, yes, we have made progress. Yes, we have grown, like I said, in my lifetime. But um if we can't if we can't produce world-class soccer players year in and year out, or you know, World Cup cycle after World Cup cycle, well, there's a problem. There's a problem. That's my pontification for the morning, or as I record this. Great show today. Conversation with the coach is with author Mark Franick, and he's the author of The American Soccer Nation, the remarkable 150-year history of Yanks on a roll from mob football to the modern game. I'm gonna tell you what, I've had the great honor of interviewing a number of guests on this show. Uh, authors of the sport of soccer seem to have found their way here, and I'm super happy about that. This is a terrific book. This is this is a classic history book that is written in such a wonderful storytelling uh uh way that you're really gonna want to pick this up. You're gonna enjoy my conversation with Mark Franick as we talk about uh you know some of the highlights that uh have taken place uh here in the United States of America. Uh so American Soccer Nation with Mark Franick will be my conversation with the author. Coach's Corner will be with your uh able host, Giovanni Piccini. And I'm gonna be talking about the importance of children going out to play. Soccer news and analysis, again, from you with yours truly, it'll be news from around the World Cup. Our terrific Ralph Rigno will be talking about the Champions League quarterfinals first leg. Uh, he'll be offering an overview on that. And in the American Soccer Revolution, it's from Beast Mode Soccer. I found this on Facebook. I really like it. And I'm going to share with you some audio from Beast Mode Soccer. And uh, it's about how many touches should youth players be getting. You're not going to want to miss that. Checking boxes, checking boxes, checking boxes. I want to share with you a local story. This is terrific, and this is something that, you know, I think should transcend or permeate um everyone across the U.S. landscape and abroad as well. This is a global, global show. Um, and it's about uh the uh U.S. Soccer Foundation uh that has just granted uh the city of Brockton, which is a community just outside of the Boston area,$100,000 to build a mini pitch at Mulberry Park. Uh local gentleman, local coach by the name of Filippo Pinto, helped put together the plan. Uh he talks about he said that the new court will be, quote, a breath of fresh air, giving young people a safe place to try soccer or work on their skills with friends. Uh that investment in them shows that they matter more than they think he said. Um, the mini pitch or the mini field would be similar to a to a you know uh a soccer setup, but it'll be obviously in a smaller space. They're gonna be putting it over a an existing basketball uh court, and they'll be utilizing sport tiles, which is gonna make it a bit softer than the normal outdoor courts. And this is a great opportunity for the city uh that Tim Carpenter, who is the superintendent of parks, uh super important for the city, and um the city council accepted the$100,000 grant at its March 23rd meeting. Um so what is a mini pitch to those of you who might not be familiar with that is the U.S. Soccer Foundation. So they they've been installing these courts or pitches uh nationwide for quite some time. Um another local community, New Bedford, put one in at DS Park last uh last uh uh last year. We've had other uh installations uh in Boston, Roxbury, East Boston, and Central Falls, Rhode Island. Um the nonprofit U.S. Soccer Foundation, uh it grew um came out of the the last time the U.S. hosted a World Cup here in the United States of America. And um the milestone 1994 tournament laid the fo it laid a foundation for soccer's expansion in the United States, especially at the youth level. So this is a great story, a great story, and I and I hope that those of you who listen to the show and you you think you might um like to be part of an effort to put in mini pitches in your in your parks and in your schoolyards, well, U.S. Soccer Foundation uh, you know, is is a source that you might want to look into uh in terms of uh getting a grant to put in mini pitches. Listen, the more opportunities we give kids to play soccer on their own, street soccer, street soccer, you've heard that from me uh once or twice or a million times, it is money well spent, money well spent. So great, great, great story. So let's um let's have a little bit of fun here. I did this uh the first couple of episodes I hear, and that's a little bit of World Cup trivia. This is we're in a World Cup cycle for the men's side. So I'd offer up, I thought I'd offer up uh this season some some light fare, if you will. So let's start with uh what happened to the original Jules Remette Cup. If anyone knows, they aren't telling. In 1983, the original Jules Remette Cup was stolen from a display at the Brazilian Football Confederation headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, and it is believed that it was melted down by the thieves, the Brazilian Football Association, who had earned the right to keep the trophy in 1970 after having won it three times, ordered a replica from Eastman Kodak, who commissioned Wilhelm Geistenson in Hano, Germany to recreate the trophy. Three Brazilians and an Argentine were arrested for the theft but were released. Eventually, they were tried and convicted in abstention. Well, that's that's sacrilege, you know, to burn to melt down the World Cup. Um a couple of brief ones here. Um the lowest attendance match for a World Cup, for a match between Romania and Peru in Monte de Velo on July 14, 1930, only 300 spectators attended. My goodness, that's like a that's like a high school soccer match. And uh which teams competed in the first World Cup? Well, France beat Mexico 4-1, and that match held at Monte de Velo in Uruguay again on July 13, 1930. And then lastly, you hear oftentimes this idea of a player earning a cap. Well, well, what is a cap? Well, a cap is a term given to an appearance a player makes in an international match, particularly at the senior level, whether it be a friendly or it's a competitive match. Uh, the term also originates in the 19th century England. The England national cricket team, in a practice that's that uh goes on to this day, awards a physical hat or a cap to a player for each test match they participate in. The practice was adopted by the England national football team and several other clubs in the 1880s. While the giving of a physical cap varies from club to club and nation to nation, the term has widely become accepted across the soccer world. The most capped player in the history of international soccer actually resides here in Massachusetts, where I broadcast from, two-time World Cup champion and legendary United States international forward midfielder, Christine Lilly, a midfield Massachusetts resident. She made a a FIFA record, 354 caps for the U.S. women's national team between 1987 and 2010. Lilly, who retired um with a with the now defunct Boston Breakers of the NWSL in 2011, currently serves on the Athletic Advisory Board for Boston Legacy FC. So there you have it, folks, a little bit of trivia. And those of you uh who are from the Boston area here, we can take a little bit of pride knowing that our very own Christine Lilly uh holds the record for uh most caps, that being 354. Well, there you have it, folks. The opening block of the GP Soccer Podcast, another exciting week of soccer talk. We're gonna break for a couple of commercial messages, we'll re-engage on the other side. 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SPEAKER_07 18:11

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SPEAKER_01 18:59

Hi, this is Phil Weddon, Director of the International Goalkeeper Coaches Conference and Goalkeeper Coach for the Philadelphia Union. You're listening to the GP Soccer Podcast with your host, Giovanni Picini.

SPEAKER_06 19:57

I've been looking forward to this conversation. And I guess it is Mark Franck. And looking forward to this conversation with Mark because he's written a terrific book. And I and I do mean that, not because he's on the show today, but he has written a terrific book, which is entitled The American Soccer Nation: A Remarkable 150 Year History of Yanks on a Roll from Mob Football to the From Mob Football to the Modern Game. Now, our guest, Mark Frannick, is an American sports writer, former attorney, and educator. He holds a jurisdictor from Temple University, direct doctor of education from Penn, a BA, and a Master of Arts and Teaching from Duke. And over his career, Mark has published more than 50 opinion editorials and articles in major American newspapers and magazines on a variety of sports and human interest themes. He currently teaches English classes in a series of electives, including the History of U.S. Soccer course at YSC Academy, an independent school fully embedded with the Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union franchise. Freenick also served as an English teacher and dean of students at the William Penn Charter Quaker School, one of the oldest independent schools in the nation. Now, over nearly three decades, Marcus had the privilege of teaching more than a score of student athletes who went on to play professional soccer in MLS in Europe. His former students include Olympic and World Cup players. Others, after hanging up their boots, went on to become coaches, technical directors, general managers, part owners of professional teams, or professionals in fields unrelated to soccer. Their DNA and dreams are certainly in this book. Well, Mark Franick, welcome to the GP Soccer Podcast conversation with the author.

SPEAKER_10 21:33

Thank you, Geo and audience. It's great to be here, and thanks for that illustrative and illustrious opening. It's embarrassing that I've racked up all these degrees, as my wife likes to remind me every so often. So I'm glad to be here and to share for a few minutes some stories that might be of interest to the listeners.

SPEAKER_06 21:53

Yeah, and as I note, I've been I've been looking forward personally. The book is terrific. And if you're a s a soccer junkie or in my case, the A bit of a history buff in general. This combines the best the best of both worlds, that being, you know, history of the American American soccer. And then, you know, if you're you're into history as well. So, Mark, here's where I'd like to start with all of my guests. Uh, let's go way back in time when you were a kid growing up. Where did you grow up? Was soccer always part of your DNA? Did you play other sports? Take us through the Mark Franick story as a as a youngster growing up.

SPEAKER_10 22:23

Sure. I grew up in York, Pennsylvania, South Central PA. And uh soccer was not part of my family's DNA growing up. So I came to the sport late relative to other soccer aficionados. For example, my father had me playing gridiron football for my first six years in baseball, and I didn't transition into soccer until my early teens, which makes me late to the game. And um, so I really didn't get started until early teens, like I said, and uh long after some of the DNA now that I've come to know, because my son is involved in high-level soccer. Nobody these days gets started in their early teens and makes it anywhere out of recreational ball. So I managed to do pretty well though, coming out of York, Pennsylvania, coming late to the sport. So it wasn't part of a family and it wasn't part of a soccer hotbed. But what I found in my teens is that I had a certain aggression and a certain athleticism, maybe that was hewn or hewed from my six years of playing football that did help me later on as I edged into college and beyond.

SPEAKER_06 23:33

Now, was there anyone along the way that, you know, inspired you to kind of take a path uh more towards soccer? Because you did play at Duke, correct me if I'm wrong.

SPEAKER_10 23:42

Correct. Yes, I did have a I did have a stint at Duke, and the partially a story about that was I went to a ninth grade soccer camp at Duke University, and I met there a coach who had my group for the week, and he really enjoyed my play, and he happened to be a friend of Coach Rennie at the time. So what happened was at the end of every day, he would choose, or the coaches would choose their best players to invite to the showcase on the varsity field every night. And Coach Hackett always chose me, and I must have made an impression on some of those quote unquote all-star games because I got I got on the radar of Coach Rennie at the time. So I was kind of one of those young people that got to be uh noticed at a at a college camp, if you will, in the mid to late 80s, which is which is not rare these days, but you know, the mid 80s there wasn't a lot of soccer going on all around the country. But I I got noticed just because I was attending a camp.

SPEAKER_06 24:44

Let's let's take a look at your book. And I and as before I hit the record button, you and I had a little conversation about the process. Uh as in terms of writing a book, the the actual process, what was your process? Having interviewed Mark a number of authors on this show, I've always been fascinated by you know the approach that authors have taken. Some are very streaky writers, some folks really dedicate a certain period of time to write, to the morning or the afternoon. I I interviewed one guy who didn't, you know, went through the process process, it was almost seven years of his life before he finished the book. What was your process in writing this book?

SPEAKER_10 25:21

Yeah, great question, Gio. If I could, I'm going to start with the genesis of the project. Sure. If I could, and then get into the process. So the the book started not as a book, but as a class. When I got hired at YSE Academy, which is this high school that's completely embedded within the Philadelphia Union and runs in tandem with the youth academy of the MLS team. I was charged by my boss to create and then teach a U.S. soccer class. And that was three, three or four years ago. And I jumped into it by reading everything I could get my hands on. Even though I had followed soccer for half a century and loved soccer, I wasn't keen or knew that much about the history. And what I discovered after reading chapters and trying to teach from books is that it was the books that I was reading remarkably dull, to use my students' words, fragmented. It's not a word that they used, and negative. And, you know, even though the writing was great, you know, and I know that writers don't get to choose the names of their books. I mean, imagine trying to teach a book called Why, quote, why the U.S. Will Never Win a World Cup, end quote, to a bunch of 15-year-olds. I mean, it means they want to run to the to the nearest corner flag and stab out their eyes. So I it became clear to me that the stuff that I was trying to teach and slide into their ninth and tenth grade English classes was not going to work. And it it chart it caused me to start writing my own. And Geo, to get to the writing process, what I could do as a writer before I took this major book endeavor, what I was good at was writing for the paper. For years I wrote for the Philadelphia Inquirer and had a column that would appear every month or so. And I would write about school issues or athletic issues or sport issues from around the building. So I was confident that I could write 800 to 1,000 words on spec, but I had never tackled a book-length manuscript. So to go back to the original Genesis, I started writing because I didn't have a book that I felt that I could teach high school kids that were as inspiring and confident, and um, you know, that was about their journey and a journey that they could see themselves in the pages. And then it led me to start writing chapters chronologically, and I basically tackled each chapter as an extended op-ed. Hell, if I can write a thousand words on spec, then I can write 10 pages per chapter. So that got me started.

SPEAKER_06 28:03

You know, it's funny you you talk about the number of I've written numerous articles uh for a number of different soccer journals. And I I I, like you, felt very comfortable putting, you know, 800 to 1,000 words in an article. And having just recently finished my own book, I said, well, I think I'll just take it the approaches I uh as I have with with my articles. Just think about 800, 1,000 words, 1,500 words as a chapter, and then take it from there. And then lo and behold, each one of these mini articles, if you will, became full-on chapters, and then 15 chapters later, I've got a book. I've got a book. Um really fascinating, fascinating stuff. You know, you mentioned uh the the uh the uh the negative connotations of of so many of these books. I have your book in my hand right now and in the introduction. Um you list uh you list all these books that you talked about, and it is doom and gloom. It is doom and gloom. Um so with that said, you you consciously rejected that doom and gloom narrative. What were you know some of the moments in your research where the pessimism felt almost unavoidable? And and how did you decide what not to include?

SPEAKER_10 29:10

Right, great question. I mean, I think if you're gonna tell the American soccer history, which I attempt to do, of course you're gonna have to cover many of the dumb things that we did when we argued. I'm talking about our own ambassadors and our own predecessors in the game. Yes, United States soccer history is littered with own goals, if you will, and that we have to be apologetic about our past and um critical about where we are and where we're moving. So I tried to stay away from that while still being, of course, honest about our own history. And I tried to keep my students in mind. I mean, here I am in a front row seat with 80 to 90 young men from 9th through 12th grades. They're all at this school because they aspire to be professional soccer athletes. Now, they know that the odds are stacked against them, but the school where I'm teaching has remarkable odds. 15% of them will sign a pro contract by the time they get to high school graduation, and a full 30% will sign pro deals by the time they get to age 22. So back to the negativity, I think that that was the thing that I tried to keep in mind. Listen, I want to teach our history, and I want to err, if you will, on the side of being optimistic. There is wonderful stories of grit and perseverance and diversity that's true about the American soccer history that I don't think was covered, has been covered adequately. It doesn't mean that there aren't some great soccer historians and wonderful soccer writers. There are. And particularly in the last 10 years or so, they've been getting more press. You know, we we we soccer writers too often seem to have gotten benched by the mainstream press. And I think that that's changing somewhat in the last decade or so. But back to the endeavor that I had. Okay, we have soccer here for 150 years. It was fits and starts, it had some successes, and it had some near fatal crashes. But the story is remarkably positive if you keep to the theme of how we never gave up and we kept trying and we kept tinkering with it. And now, for example, I firmly believe, and and this is not based on my own opinion, if you look around what other people have written about and the investors and where we are in certain endeavors, we're really on a full-field press into a more optimistic future. And that's what I try to stay true to to this book. Can a fan pick it up and can a pro in training pick it up and find information that tells the American story without misrepresenting the facts and divorcing it from the international game?

SPEAKER_06 32:02

Mark, why did it take so long? Why did it take so long to for us to discover, and you certainly with this book here, that there are good stories. And I would argue that the DNA of American soccer is indeed positive for the very simple fact of the lumps that we have taken as a collective soccer entity. Um, but we have risen from those those lumps and bumps to to the point where we're at today in 2026. Why did it take so long?

SPEAKER_10 32:30

Yeah, that's a great question with not an easy answer. I think, you know, there's several different ways of answering the question. I think first and foremost, there aren't that many soccer books that attempt to tell the whole story or a large part of the whole story. For example, Gio, if you look at the 20 to 30 books that have been published on American soccer, the, and this is not the fault of the writers. This is probably more the fault of the American publishers. They do not want a general approach. They want a niche argument or book. They want to hear about the NASL. They want to hear about the early years of the MLS, they want to hear about one part or several series of the U.S. men's national team. They eschew trying to take on a larger project that looks at the entire history or maybe a century because they don't like that approach to selling books. And frankly, you know, soccer, I mean, book publishers are remarkably conservative and they have too many football, gridiron, baseball people. I mean, I could tell a brief story about that if you would like. I just, it's just remarkably funny that they just don't, they're not necessarily soccer people, if you will. And what they do tend to publish, they just love people to complain about soccer because they think it sells. So I gave you two answers there. It's part of the publishing industry, and then it's part of the fact that we just haven't had enough room and enough airtime to tell our own story because for too often soccer's been given the short shrift from people in power.

SPEAKER_06 34:09

Let's let's focus on your students. Um, did writing for the students change how you handled you know the complexity or contradiction or a failure in American soccer history compared to writing uh for a general adult audience? How was did you handle that?

SPEAKER_10 34:25

Yeah, great question. I think that I it was it was a wonderful test, test tube, if you will, or a beaker for me, because I could write a chapter and might take a week or two after, well, first go back to you. You did ask about the how I went about this. You know, probably like most writers, listen, who knows what's going on in the 1850s, 1860s, 1870s. There's not a lot written, although there's more written now in the last 10 to 15 years as newspapers and yearbooks and colleges have become digitized. So there's more stuff available now for authors and historians. That's true. But when you go back and read it, particularly the old stuff, I define subjectively the modern era of soccer from 1980 onward. That's a lot easier to get your hands on. So to go back and talk about the old stuff, what I would do is spend a you know, a week or two. No, I would spend several weeks to a month after reading stuff, and then I would start crafting my chapters. And then when I was ready, I would give the students um the chapter, and then give we would talk about it, and I would give them quizzes on it, and I would be able to see literally some sentences that they didn't understand, or some words or phrases that I thought should be relevant and easily understandable for a 16-year-old elite male soccer player that they just didn't get. So then I would tweak it. But I don't think that my audience from the beginning was young adult. I just don't want your readers or listeners to think that that's what it was. It was, I wrote the book for adults or for bright high school high schoolers, if you will. You have to put energy into this book. I mean, this is not a picture book. I mean, you have to sink your teeth into the chapters that move quickly across the landscape of soccer history in 10 to 15 pages. It's it's not for the faint of heart, but I stay away from statistics and try to tell each chapter tries to tell a story about a certain epoch, a certain decade or two from the history. But the students were wonderful because they didn't get it or they didn't understand it or they were bored to death. They were very quick to tell me.

SPEAKER_06 36:33

So, what were some of the aspects of American soccer history that excited or inspired your students?

SPEAKER_10 36:38

Yeah, I mean, there are many. I'll just pick one. Like, and this is one that I didn't know that much about, even though that I myself held myself out as a person who loves soccer. I would organize vacations around soccer. You know, I have a son that's in the program. So most of my daily, weekly life away from my job, even if it was just about teaching English, was all about soccer. I didn't know that from 1921 to 1931 in the United States, on the northeast part of what I call the four corridors, basically from Baltimore, Philadelphia, on up through into Kearney, Kearney, New Jersey, Brooklyn, New York City, Paul Tucket, Rhode Island, Falls River, right on the border between Rhode Island and Massachusetts, up to Boston. That corridor, for a decade, 1921 to 1931, hosted a professional league. Started 10 teams, and at one time there were up to 14 fully functioning professional league. Now, that does not mean that every player on every team was drawing down a full salary. Certainly there are people that were employed by textile factories and the like that may have been getting bonuses or paid under the table, but the top players on each team were making a bona fide salary that were inching up towards what the baseball men were making. And some of these games, up and down the four quarters, were drawing 10 to 15,000 fans. And this, of course, was before really the advent of the baseball, the NBA, the NFL, and the hockey people. Soccer was on par and not nipping at the heels of the baseball people. But if you take a look at the baseball, if you take away, if you take away um the top two to three teams in the league, and you just look at the bottom half of the baseball people, the ASL of the 1920s was drawing more fans than half of the baseball teams. And it was on its way to be a verified, consistent, professional soccer league with really cool names. And I think when the kids read about that, like, wow, did they ever think that for the in the night for 10 years we had a basically a fully functioning professional soccer league that was on its way to be internationally respectable? There were many other stories like that. That was one. Another thing that my students really enjoyed learning about was that the soccer people, the soccer communities of the early 20s that stemmed from the textile companies and then after 1910, really were being inspired by all kinds of companies, American companies like the tire companies or the steel companies or Hat Company, if you want to talk about the Hatters of St. Louis, they were producing players that were, in some cases, homegrown players that were remarkably diverse in comparison to what was going on with the NFL and the baseball world. When you take a look at the rosters, if you will, and if you take a look at who was playing soccer, it was always more diverse in terms of socioeconomics, even racially and ethically, ethnically, when you compare them to the other top four American team sports. And that is something that we should celebrate, and it's not talked about enough.

SPEAKER_06 40:09

Well, all of that resonates quite significantly with me living in here in the Boston area. Folks don't realize, unless you're from the Boston area from the pot of geography that you described, that you you could make an argument that the most significant uh historical aspects of the game is right here in this area. Some people say St. Louis. St. Louis is the place where you know soccer was you know not so much born, but that was the hotbed of soccer. But I would I would counter by saying, as you just described, no, it was in this neck of the woods here, uh, you know, in in the Boston, um, in the Boston area, and in in particular southeastern Massachusetts, where as you noted, you know, the textile mills, there were a lot of um you know ethnic communities that obviously love the game. And uh yeah, it was um it was indeed the hotbed of soccer uh here here in the United States of America, you know.

SPEAKER_10 40:55

So yeah, I think um, geo, in 1884, I'm not sure how many people would know this, but Thomas Watson, he's the former assistant to Alexander Graham Bell, the telephone's inventor, he founded the Four River Shipyard in southern Boston, which led to the creation of Four River FC. And Four River FC, it was a it was a town of boat builders, and some of them doubled as soccer players, was well known not only in the area, but in the region, and went on to win some of the early AFA and some of the early national cups, if you will, right there in the Boston area. Certainly, it's got roots. Boston has roots, one of the original roots with Philadelphia and St. Louis and a couple of the other towns and cities on the East Coast, has roots almost as old as baseball and putting out a wonderful soccer product and enjoying crowd support that would only have been eclipsed at the time by some baseball teams. How remarkable is that?

SPEAKER_06 41:55

The Four River Shipyard, as you noted, is about, I'm gonna say, about a mile and a half where I'm situated right now here in Quincy, Massachusetts. Great. I know the Four River Shipyard. I don't know it as a as a as a uh way back in those days. But yeah, I I when I was a kid growing up, uh, it was a very, very vibrant shipbuilding uh area, and it has since closed, obviously. But uh yeah, I I know the Four River Shipyard quite well. I'm about a mile and a half, not a mile and a half away. So, you know, kind of on the same uh manner, if you will, sharing with your students, you know, these great stories. Uh what I do uh in similar fashion is I will bring to training every once in a while, Mark, uh the soccer ball that my father kicked around and the boots that he wore as a kid growing up in Italy. And then I would bring my first soccer ball and my first set of shoes to the kids, and they would look at it and they would just you know, how could you play with those boots? How do you how could you kick that ball? And I'm I'm guessing that when your students read these stories and their eyes light up and have the proverbial, I didn't know that. Well, I can I see that firsthand when I bring that stuff to the kids on the training ground, like, well, how how did you play? And it's wonderful, isn't it? When you see it Yeah, it is wonderful. It's wonderful.

SPEAKER_10 43:11

Do you have um can you tell the maker of the shoe or the uniform when you bring some of that stuff? Or is that you know what I mean, the actual logo? Does this predate Nike Adidas and go way back in your your father, your grandfather's?

SPEAKER_06 43:24

Oh goodness, yes. These are Neanderthal leather balls going back. Well, my father was born in 1929, God rest his soul. Um so we're talking about he was he's a he was a young man. Um so we're maybe 1940, maybe uh 40, 45. Um he was still in Italy. And then the with the ball that he had was this, you know, the uh the old school leather, the leather panels that were physically sewn by hand with the rubber bladder. Not anymore, no. Uh what look this is wonderful. When I was a young kid growing up, I he would bring it to the field, and it was the bladder, the rubber. Bladder was still kind of uh you know intact and we could blow it up. And I was able to knock the ball back and forth with my father using the very ball that he had used as a young kid growing up as well. Wasn't that wonderful? Absolutely. Absolutely. So when you I hear you tell the story about uh you know the stories that these your your students are learning and really they them enjoying it, I I could not help but have the similar flashbacks with my father on the equipment and the athletes that I coach now and I show that to them. They just uh it's just amazing. Just absolutely amazing.

SPEAKER_10 44:27

Uh yeah, I wonder if any of your uh listeners have have heard of Charles Goodyear, not the company, but the man.

SPEAKER_06 44:34

The man, yeah.

SPEAKER_10 44:35

The man, the inventor who invented um the first he's given credit for, of course, the vulcanization process that eventually led to the rubberization, if you will, of products that still exist today and billions, even trillions of dollars if you add up everything that has a little bit of rubber in it. But what many people don't know is he created the first inflatable vulcanized rubber round ball and showcased it at the 1850 World Fair, if you will. And that that ball then at the time, this is pre-soccer. The laws of the game were not set down by the English until 1863. So here you have a decade and a half or so, an American of all people inventing the first quote unquote modern, round, inflatable, rubberized soccer ball.

SPEAKER_06 45:23

And you compare that now with the ball that they'll be now be using in the upcoming World Cup. The$200 one, right? Yeah, the$200 one, yes indeed. Uh it is absolutely mind-boggling to see the difference between the balls, the soccer balls that we're talking about with the ball that is being used now at the highest levels, and as I said, at the upcoming World Cup. It's just it's extraordinary. Absolutely extraordinary. Um, shifting back here, you you've argued or discussed in your book that learning soccer history helps develop winning habits of mind. Can you share a concrete example of a moment when a student's perspective or behavior shifted because of this course?

SPEAKER_10 45:59

Yeah, I mean, here's an example. I uh I'm not sure it's kind of hard to summarize, but I'll I will do my best. I mean, some of the soccer players, okay, they're student athletes. They're here to get an education. You know, 10 or 15%, and one out of 10 might go pro. The other 90% are going on to college, and in some cases, some wonderful places where they're going to continue to pursue soccer and hopefully maybe try to sign pro, but the vast majority of them are not going to make any money playing professional soccer. Here's what's curious about them, though. They sometimes get a negative attitude about the very sport that they are doing, and yet they are on the front lines, the tip of the spear of a top MLS program geo. So let me try to put it in perspective. I teach some of the best elite American footballers, soccer players in the country. Yet, before my class, some of them, maybe a lot of them, have a negative attitude about the sport that I think is inherited either from their parents or from the lack of the celebratory stories that have been told. I mean, people don't tell them. So they come into my class and they're grouchy. They're grout like, okay, United States just lost two games here in the last international window. So they'll say, oh, we suck, or you suck, or MLS. That's awful. I mean, guys, you're a part of the pipeline. You guys should not be negative. You are part of the pipeline that leads to the promised land. So stop the knee-jerk reaction about complaining about soccer because it's really, frankly, underscores a lack of understanding of our own history. I am not an MLS lover, but I am certainly not an MLS hater, for example. So, what the book does is it tries to give a better, deeper appreciation for the four times on American soil that soccer started, shot itself in the foot, and nearly and expired and nearly went extinct. And they start to realize why the MLS is structured the way it is, as a single entity structure nowadays that has a lot of more individualized parts going on. They start to realize the struggles that the United States national team has been through and how difficult it is to be consistently ranked in the top 20 and a legitimate top 20 country in all the federations. So I think what the book does, there's never really perhaps an aha moment, but what they realize after getting done reading about our remarkable story is they have a deeper appreciation for where we were, where they are, and where we could go in the next 10 to 20 years. And I think that that's part of the thing that I've enjoyed because I see that cynicism in September that gradually falls away as they start to see and appreciate our long story.

SPEAKER_06 49:11

You know, I think part of their reaction has to do with the fact they're young, obviously. These are young, young, young men. Um they haven't had to live through, you know, the the downs and the challenging times. I'm I'm old enough to remember to have seen the demise of a number of professional soccer leagues here in the United States of America. The the single biggest flop, I guess, for the lack of better words, was the old NASL. That was supposed to be the league that was going to really push soccer to a whole other level. And, you know, and we all know the story of the NASL and the financial challenges that uh eventually caused its demise. And then for us to go without, to go without soccer. And if you know if you were a soccer fan, a player, an aficionado uh back in those days, to not have a professional soccer league that you once had, it it stays with you. It stays with you. And and then when you get another league back, like we got MLS back, then you have a deeper appreciation of what MLS now has afforded affords us, and now over the course of how many years MLS has been been in uh in existence, you really have a deeper appreciation. They don't have that, they're still young. And hopefully your book, and I think it does, can kind of fill that gap of you you don't really know, but maybe now you do know after um having read your book. So um you kind of touched upon this point already and part of your answer earlier. If you could add an uh American soccer history to one part of the U.S. development pyramid nationwide, coaches, parents, players, administrators, where would it have the greatest impact?

SPEAKER_10 50:41

Yeah, maybe you could you could give me a little bit more give me a sense of what you mean. Impact, you know, heck, I'd love everybody to read this book. You know, reach out to me, I'll give you a deep kiss count. But can you be more specific about where you what you're what you're saying? Just give me a sense of how what the context of that question is.

SPEAKER_06 51:00

So again, if you could just take you know uh any part of American history in the United States, one part of it, and in and put it in the U.S. development pyramid, in terms of player development, um, where would it have the most impact? Would it be amongst coaches? Would it be amongst parents? Would it be amongst players? Would it be amongst administrators? What group or what demographic, for the lack of better terms, would it have the greatest impact, do you think?

SPEAKER_10 51:23

Yeah, great, Gio. So I'm gonna give you the the the writer answer. And it and it may sound like I'm I am like I'm being disingenuous, but I'm not. I wrote this book with the idea that it could be picked up and read by an elite United States national team youth player in my class that's on the cusp of signing a professional contract. And he could read it and he could understand his history and our history, and so that when he's wearing the badge for the national team or the crest on his club team, he would feel comfortable in learning about our story. I had in mind the Austin, I'm gonna name some players that came out of the Philadelphia Union that may make the national team for the World Cup this summer. I had in mind the Brendan Aronsons, the Mark Mackenzie's, the Austin Trustees of the World, the Cav Sullivan's, that they could read us a book and they felt confident that they knew their own history. At the same time, I wanted to write a book that would be appealing to the soccer dad, like me, prior to reading 50 books on the subject, who thought he knew everything there was to know about soccer. I had him in mind. And I had the soccer mom in mind, those soccer moms and soccer dads, if you will, that are too happy to cheer on when someone scores a goal, when some fast kid puts his head down and runs fat past a smaller kid and scores. Those people that cheer without knowing anything about um, you know, total football competencies. I wanted the book to be appealing to them. I wanted it to be appealing to a person who gets hired on a front office or the back office or an MLS or USL team. Okay, you're hired to do sales, but you don't, you were a lacrosse player growing up in college. You don't know the first thing about soccer football. I wrote it for them as well. For somebody who is gearing up for the World Cup Cup that may be half in and half out of the tent, who may have a grandkid, a sister or a brother or a cousin, or maybe even a kid that's starting to get really good at soccer, who's only six, seven, or eight. Hey, I want to learn more about this, this sport. So, yeah, I tried to write it to be appealing to a wide audience. I stayed away from statistics, I stayed away from charts, I stayed away from graphs, it doesn't have any footnotes, it has end notes. So I tried to make it appealing. Can you read 20 chapters and come away after a few sittings to say, okay, I get it? This sport is almost as old as baseball in this country. It is incredibly diverse relative to other sports, and it has a lot of passionate people, and it's growing. Maybe not by leaps and bounds, but it's growing and it will continue to grow, probably even faster now after this summer's World Cup. And it's here to stay.

SPEAKER_06 54:23

Let's fast forward because we go chapter by chapter and be here all day long, and I I could stay here all day long. But let's kind of fast forward to uh chapter 20, um, total immersion. Uh, you introduced this idea of total immersion. It's late in the book, like I said, chapter 20. What's the one part of that concept that people tend to underestimate or even uh misunderstands when they first hear that, this idea of total immersion?

SPEAKER_10 54:49

Right. So let me define what I mean by total immersion and then talk about how certain clubs are getting close to it, and then perhaps talk about why I think it's important. So total immersion as a concept, the way I define it, means that the American elite, male and sometimes and and coming up, female athletes, are totally immersed in the game. And what I mean by that is both the athletic component, of which the United States is in is doing pretty well on, is combined with the social academic component that nearly approximates what will be going on on a soccer mad country. And that flywheel effect by wrapping the athletic component around the social academic component, where the boys' and girls' dreams are fully supported 24-7, five days a week, on through their middle and upper school career, leads them to fall in love with the sport and never feel like they're a second-class citizen. And that's where what I mean by total immersion, and I think that the clubs that have found a way to do that are creating data and statistics that bear out and prove without a doubt that American soccer people and educators, when they're working together, can create these really unique atmospheres and environments that are really putting our kids in a pre-professional and then a professional environment. And if more people did what a couple of the clubs at the union, I'm sorry, the MLS level are doing, imagine how good we could be. So if you want me to plumb some of the depths in that, I feel very strongly about it. And um, yeah, I just think it's a remarkable opportunity of where we could be going if more clubs and more MLS and USL teams could look at the whole aspect of training as not just soccer specific. It has to be holistic.

SPEAKER_06 56:59

At the risk of oversimplifying your point, it's like we had one, but we didn't have the other. The one being we're playing the game of soccer, and it ended there. Is that a safe analysis, a safe way to kind of look at your response there?

SPEAKER_10 57:15

Yeah, let me try an anecdote for the listeners. Imagine an MLS team, an unknown team. We'll just call it Memphis. They don't have an EMLS team. But let's say MLS comes to Memphis in two years, and they hire the best soccer coaches by far from U8 on up to U18. Their whole academy has the, they're all Pep Gordiola and Pep Gordiola's brothers. And their academy director is the best director out of the 31. Now it's 30 teams in the MLS. But let's just say the entire soccer side is firing on all songs. So for 90 minutes a day, Gio, your son, if you had any, or my son, is getting the best soccer instruction for 90 minutes a day. And then on the weekends, they come in and they have games, either at Memphis fields or they're playing Tennessee. Okay, they have the best, they have the best competition on the best fields with the best coaches, right? Imagine that scenario. But here's the thing: on Tuesday, at the end of practice at 7.30, the kids on that team, say that's the U15 team, those 15-year-olds at 7.30 go home, shower, do some homework, go to sleep, get up, and go to their local high school. And that local high school has a bunch of sports, all kinds of sports, but I guarantee you that soccer isn't first. There's cheerleaders, nothing wrong with cheerleaders, there's gridiron, baseball across, the whole array of um of sports. And nobody understands their dream. And they go through the whole day. And that school doesn't have to be imagined. It's the school that you went to, Geo, or where many of our listeners went to. It's just a normal high school. And then they come back at five o'clock to train for that 90 minutes with some of the best coaches in the country. If you will, let me shill. It's going to sound too much like Philly Union, but I got to explain what my son sees every day. And he's very lucky. Imagine another school, say, YSC Academy, where I teach. Briefly, let me describe it. And I just mean this sincerely. My son and I get up because I teach there. We get up at 7 in the morning. We spend 50 minutes getting there. My son will knock out his homework and then he'll look through his social media feeds and watch, you know, his Liverpool and Yamin Yamall. Or, all right, we're going to go to practice in the morning. He will get dropped off at the Union's Fields for morning training at 8.30 in the morning. And for 90 minutes, he has his first session from 8 to 9.30. 9.30, he'll shower in a multi-million dollar facility. And then he'll walk five minutes to class. He will come over to the academic building with the other 85 boys. He'll get breakfast and he'll hang out and he'll talk. And then he'll come to class at 10:30 in the morning and he'll have his academic classes that are crunched into the middle of the day, where he's surrounded by 15 caring adults. He has a soccer coaches meeting where they're doing videos up in the conference room. He'll meet with the first team's nutritionists who come down every two weeks to give the boys lesson. He'll meet soccer coaches that come back to the school that are really keen to recruit from YSE Academy because they're trained in a professional environment. And then at 3:30, his last class is over, and my son River will walk to his 4.30 session. And he'll do that every day, every week, every month for four years. And oh, by the way, on the weekend, the first team tickets, union's not doing very well this year. I know that. But what I'm saying is that at the weekend, half the school's kids will end up going to the stadium because the tickets are easy to get. And the school and the academy both have boxes that are connected by a sliding glass door. So every given home game, he might see half of his peers in the stadium or in the stadium box as they're watching Cav Sullivan and now this kid, Malik, who's getting a lot of playing time, who's an 11th grader in the school. So the dream is reinforced. He's totally immersed in soccer, and these kids do not know how lucky they are. And the union is lucky that they're able to create this total immersive environment. They're not the only ones doing it, but they're one of the few that are doing it. Immersing students in a holistic environment where the dream is palpable every day, where you can see a line from a U12 team on up to the first team in the stadium lights. And by the way, 90% of you who are not going to get a pro contract, congratulations. You're going off now to a Division I college where you're off and on scholarship. So it's a win-win situation from many of the parents' perspective. Not perfect, but remarkable. And if you look at the statistics for what the union has been able to do in the last 10 years, it can't fight with the statistics.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:22

You know, I'm a retired school teacher, so this resonates with me regarding the the educational aspects of what you you speak of. What these young, what these young guys are getting far surpasses, and you know the answer to this already, far surpasses that, and I'm not knocking any other, you know, our educational system in the United States or you know, good teachers or good students, a good class, that type of thing. But what these guys are experiencing far surpass what the regular kid in a non-soccer, more traditional education environment are getting. Um, because it it's it's every aspect of it is is fueling um this idea of community, fueling this idea if I work hard, I can I can achieve these things, fueling a dream of heck, I may not play MLS, but I could go to college. Um they have such a tremendous advantage um versus their counterparts in the academic sense. Does that make sense, Mark?

SPEAKER_10 1:03:18

Yeah, it does. And let's just let me share this other anecdote because it's genuine and it's real and it's timely. Here's an example. There's a U-18 team that uh last week did not go to what we call the Generation Adidas Cup. If your listeners may know that, the Generation Adidas Cup is not just for the MLS teams, although it's easier for them to get into it. But it's really the showcase tournament in and around the country this past week. And many of the top teams in America and some top team, U teams from around the world attended that. But guess what? They don't have a U18 version. So our U18 team, okay, our U18 team went to the Dallas Cup. Now listen, the U18 team does not have the best players because you know where the best players are? They're already pros. They're already playing on the first team or they're already sold. Like these U18 kids who have been together for a decade, they started at U8. And yeah, they had some people drop out and some people come in. But the Bevy, the vast majority of the kids on the team, like 15 or so, have been around for a decade. And they've been at the school for a decade, and they played together for a decade, and they've been living the dream for a decade. They just won. Their top five guys aren't there. The top five guys are already pro. Cav Solomon, the Pierre, I could just name the six kids that the union has bought and then sold to other MLS clubs in the USL. So you take the top guys off, these are college-bound kids, just won the Dallas Cup, which is not easy to do. Why are they able to do that? Well, yeah, they're really good soccer players. But what they have that others don't is a community sense of following the dream within a caring environment where they're able to see their lives as a continuum where they're trying as hard as they can to become pro, and they understand that most of them won't, but they have soccer in the DNA from the moment they wake up in the morning until the moment they go to school. Now, I understand for some of your listeners will say, that's crazy. You know, you don't have band, you don't have chorus, you don't have high-end art class. That's true. That's true. But what they do have is football for three or four hours a day, classes truncated and put into the middle of the day where they have their five core academic classes and no study hall, and they're around pros in and around the building, in and around an athletic environment. I've never seen a kid vaping or a cigarette anywhere near campus. These kids are hyper um hyper focused on a dream and they and they just want to grind every day. And they're gonna be just fine, I would be willing to. To suggest when they go into other careers that may have something to do with soccer, and for the vast majority of them, it won't have anything to do with soccer. They understand what it means to be a team player, they understand that winning takes hard work, they understand teammates, they understand how to talk to different kinds of people, and they understand roadblocks, injuries, faster players, not getting playing time, but they don't quit. So, yeah, the schools that have been able to do what we're doing, and there are many in the Boston areas, some in the Boston areas and all over the United States that are figuring out a way to combine academics and the social environment with high-level football training are producing some remarkable student athletes, and more need to do it. More need to do it.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:48

I would be remiss, Mark, if I didn't uh ask you on just a couple of things before we close out our conversation here. Um I've been watching and listening with great interest. Landon Dunovan's uh uh recent uh comment comments about the the game here in this country. He's on a bit of a crusade um about changing the game. He talks at length about player development, he talks at length about pay-to-play, he talks at length about the corporatization of youth sports. And I know that this is a big question, uh, but what are your thoughts uh on those those elements that I that I just described? What are some of the things that uh you know that that need to be tackled here in this country regarding the sport of soccer?

SPEAKER_10 1:07:27

Yeah, I mean, this is hard to to to to go into the ocean of what you just said at the end of our little show here.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:37

Yeah, and I knew and when I look into my show notes, I'm like, do you really want to end with that? Because that's a big one. But again, I would be remiss if I didn't at least get a taste of what your thoughts are.

SPEAKER_10 1:07:46

But listen, it's not revolutionary, and I don't have the elixir. I don't have the elixir and coming back with a flaming sword and the elixir that's going to uh to just to just just to fix this problem. What we have to do is keep hammering at it. Tim Howard talks about that in his forward. I was fortunate enough to have um Tim write the forward to my book together with Kevin Sullivan. And and Tim talks about how Americans need to keep hammering at it, we need to keep pivoting, and we need to keep finding the American way, whatever that American way is. He he stays away from being as critical as his partner in unfiltered soccer, as Landon. Landon, as you as you pointed out, has been a little bit more controversial in pointing out some of the things that we haven't done well and we need to continue. But if I could just put a couple things on it, and maybe one is really high level and then the other is lower level. At the highest levels, we really need the USSF and the major MLS teams to work closely together. And they're so far apart right now, and books, not book, but books could be written about the rocky relationship between the USSF and um and the uh MLS teams. And I touch on this in my book that wouldn't it be remarkable if the USSF and the MLS teams would realize that they're actually part of the same team, that what we need in America is strong American youth development. And let's be frank, the MLS teams already have the peak of the mountain, which are the 30 pro teams in the country. And yeah, they're gonna receive some competition from the USL. But until further notice, the MLS and the MLS Next system really has put down pipelines on their mountain to their peak, to the pro team. And that's wonderful. We should celebrate that and we should figure out a way to widen the pipe. One of the ways to do that is to get the American owners to realize that American youth development and the academy teams are important and are the way to go to improve not only their product at the MLS level, but how many good players and great players end up playing in Europe and on up to the United States men's national team. And the USSF, so just get off their hands and realize and start giving credit to the MLS teams and resources. Now, that will probably irritate a good segment of whatever listeners we have right now that are going to say pay to play, pay to play, it's broken on zone one, which is what the USSF calls single digits. And if I could just wade into the waters briefly, I, you know, parents and local clubs, non-MLS clubs, but the super clubs, need to realize that to create relationships with the local MLS team, I know that they're going to be afraid of losing their best players. I know that they may not want to reach out and engage in the MLS people, but they have to. We have to create a system where our better players, starting at the single-digit eras and our diverse players, are pushed into better and better programs. And that means the super clubs, that means the MLS teams need to work better. And I think that there's some indication that they are, and they're getting away, if you will, from just cabining themselves and locking down the hatches and just saying, just stay away from me. I don't need your help. But we need a lot more coordination at every level of the system. And I know what I've laid out perhaps may sound unrealistic, and like we've been saying this for decades, but we are seeing some movement up front on the MLS side, on the USSF side, on down to all the super clubs around the country. Listen, some of our soccer clubs, many of them, have facilities that rival some of the best soccer football clubs in Europe. We have the facilities and we have smart people. What we really need now is more efforts on the human side, on the coordination side to help and share and realize that we're all connected. And the path to youth development, there is no one path, a one right path. There has to be many. And that requires coordination and teamwork and money.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:19

Well, your words to the soccer god's ears, as they say here in the United States of America, uh, well put. Um, our guest today on the GP Soccer Podcast Conversation with the author is Mark Franick. Uh, he's written the terrific book, American Soccer Nation, the remarkable 150-year history of Yanks on a roll from the mod football to the modern game. Uh, Mark, many thanks for coming on the GP Soccer Podcast. Greatly appreciated.

SPEAKER_10 1:12:46

Gio, thank you very much for the time, and thank you, listeners, for your time as well.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:50

We're going to break for a couple of commercial messages. You know how that works, and we'll re-engage in the other side. Again, Giovanni Pacini here, GP Soccer Podcast. Don't you dare go anywhere. Soccer is known around the world as both a sport and an art, with players of all ages and abilities enjoying the game. Now, the art of the game is only realized after hours of mastering ball skills, learning to communicate with your teammates, and receiving support and instruction from the right coaches. With over 100 years of coaching experience, Director John Barada and the coaching staff at the Beautiful Games Soccer Academy are pleased to offer their expertise to players and their parents. Coach Barada is one of the most decorated and accomplished soccer coaches in the Northeast with a proven track record of development both talented players and coaches. The Beautiful Games Soccer Academy believes that success on the soccer field reads success elsewhere in a young adult's life. Players who attend learn the importance of forming good habits, attempting new challenges without the fear of failure, and seeking out support and advice from others. The program fosters the creativity within each player and encourages them to experiment, improvise, and problem solve on the fly. At the Beautiful Game Soccer Academy, every day starts with a smile on our face and a ball at our feet. To learn more about the Beautiful Game Soccer Academy, visit www.beautifulgamesa.com is Brad Felman, voice of the New England Revolution. You're listening to the GP Soccer Podcast with your host, Giovanni Pacini. And welcome to the GP Soccer Podcast, Coach's Corner, where you'll find great tips and advice on how to teach the great game of soccer. This is Giovanni Piccini of the GP Soccer Podcast, and this is Coach's Corner. I want to take uh but a moment to talk about the importance of children going out to play. Now, play is fundamental for children's growth. First, outdoor play promotes physical fitness, it helps combat childhood obesity and strengthens muscles. It also boosts motor skills and coordination, and playing outside is a natural stress reliever. Fresh air and sunlight elevates mood and helps regulate sleep patterns. Outdoor play is also vital for cognitive development. It sparks curiosity, encouraging kids to explore, ask questions, and problem solve. Whether building a fort or organizing a game, they develop critical thinking and creativity. Socially, it's a training ground for cooperation, conflict resolution, and communication. And lastly, nature fosters environmental stewardship. When children connect with nature, they learn to appreciate it and protect it. Planting a tree or observing wildlife that can ignite a lifelong love for our planet. I'm Giovanni Pacini of the GP Soccer Podcast, and this has been The Coach's Corner.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:01

This is Soccer News and Analysis with Giovanni Pacini.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:14

From ESPN, Ghana have appointed Carlos Kirosh as head coach of the senior national team of the Black Stars. The former Real Madrid, Manchester United, Portugal, and Iranian coach will lead Ghana's campaign at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Kidosh, 73, begins work immediately. Ghana play their first group L match against Panama on June 17th at BMO Field in Toronto, before facing England on June 23rd at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, and Croatia on June 27th at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Sources close to the GFA said the appointment is structured as a short-term arrangement throughout the through the World Cup and will be reevaluated after the tournament. Quote, this is not just another job. It is a mission, Kirosh said in a statement on the GFA website, and I am ready to give everything of my experience and knowledge once again in service of the game and the happiness of the people. The appointment ends a two-week search that began when the GFA dismissed Otto Otto on March 30th, hours after a two-to-one friendly loss to Germany in Stuttgart. That result was the Black Stars' fourth consecutive defeat in pre-tournament preparation following losses to Japan, South Korea, and Austria, and the last of those a 5-1 defeat in Vienna. Otto, who had qualified Kugana for the tournament by winning eight and drawing one of the ten qualifying matches, was fired 72 days before the World Cup's opening ceremony. From The Guardian. A hospitality union that represents about 2,000 workers at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles has threatened to strike during the World Cup if FIFA leaders do not heed their concerns about working conditions and the presence of immigrations and custom enforcements, also known as ICE. This summer, SoFi Stadium will be thrust into the national spotlight as it hosts eight World Cup matches between between June and July. Los Angeles is estimated to see 150,000 more out-of-town visit visitors than typical for the time period. Kurt Peterson, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, outlined a slew of union demands in a letter ex uh uh addressed to FIFA President Johnny Infantino and Stan Cronkey, the billionaire sports mogul who built the stadium. Peterson called for the leaders to abide by fair working practices, citing allegations of wage theft overseas during past iterations of the tournament. Peterson also demanded that FIFA issue a public statement saying ICE has no place in the city or at the games. February, New Jersey Congresswoman Nellie Poe uh asked ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons at a House hearing if the let if the agency would pause enforcement operation at this year's tournament amid controversy after immigration officers on separate occasions shot and killed two American citizens in Minnesota. Athletic. Throughout the fall and winter, the global soccer governing body sold millions of World Cup tickets in four categories. Category one, the most expensive tier, seemed to encompass all seats and sections in a stadium's lower bowl per color-coded maps embedded in the ticketing portal. Fans paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for these tickets, then awaited seat assignments. Last week, FIFA delivered those assignments. It converted categorized tickets into specific rows and sections and left many buyers disappointed with seats in corners behind goals or farther away from the field. Then, a week later, FIFA began selling seats in the first several rows of the lower level sections for higher prices, in some cases, triple the price of a standard Category 1 ticket. Frustrated fans in interviews with and messages to the Athletic last week suspected that FIFA had given them lesser seats so that it could sell the better ones at elevated prices, but at the time they have no firm evidence. From WBZ TV, CBS here in Boston. Tailgating is a popular tradition for football fans outside Gillette Stadium before a New England Patriots game. But when the Foxboro venue becomes Boston Stadium for the World Cup this summer, fans will have to leave their grills and coolers at home. Please note that the traditional tailgating, eating and drinking around pars, is not permitted at these events, the Boston Host Committee stated for the FIFA World Cup. The website also informs that fans in Massachusetts, it is illegal to possess or drink from open containers of alcohol in public places. WBZ TV has reached out to the host communities and Gillette Stadium for comment on the no-tailgetting policy. Parking around the stadium will be drastically reduced for the World Cup. Instead of the usual 20,000 parking spots available for the Patriots games and concerts, there will be only 5,000 spots for cars. Organizers point to the security concerns for the reasons for fewer parking spaces, as the World Cup requires a larger safety perimeter around the stadium. Hospitality events will also take will also take up additional space in the parking lots. Ticket holders are instead urged to take public transportation to the stadium. The MBTA is selling$80 round trip train tickets between Boston South Station and Foxboro Station. The T is expected to transport up to 20,000 fans for each match on 14 rail trains. That's some news from around the World Cup. Next up, European Report from Ralph Ferrigno. This is the GP Soccer Podcast, English Premier League, and European Soccer Report with your host, Ralph Ferrigno.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:19

So let's take a look at the Champions League quarterfinals after the first legs and the second legs coming up this midweek. We'll start off in Paris, where Paris Saint-Germain defeated Liverpool by 2-0. And let's be honest, PSG were totally dominant at the Parc de Prince, with Liverpool failing to register a single shot on target. So it's a big uphill task now for the Reds heading into Anfield, though they do have a history of huge European comebacks, with the most recent being when Liverpool overturned a three-goal deficit to defeat Barcelona for nothing in 2019. Statistically, Liverpool have won six of their last eight Champions League quarterfinals. And if they can get past PSG, they will set a new English record for an English team making the semi-final round. Manchester United also are on 12. The Reds have won 14 of their last 18 home games in UEFA competition against French teams, though they did lose last year 1-0 to PSG in the last 16. Overall, they have won 16 of their last 20 UEFA competition matches at Anfield. However, on current form, not just of Liverpool but of PSG, a comeback does seem unlikely. And the prediction is PSG with an 80% chance of moving on, Liverpool only 20%. Keep in mind that in the first leg PSG didn't just win the game, they could have won by many more goals, they control the game completely. And Liverpool's only real hope is an aforementioned anfield comeback. But this PSG does look more composed defensively than it has done for some time. So the call is going to be PSG to move through unless something truly dramatic happens. Moving on to Spain, Barcelona nil, Atletico Madrid 2. And this was a huge shock and a huge away win for Atletico. They were definitely helped by a Barcelona red card of Pau Kabuski just before half time, and Julian Alvarez scored soon thereafter. So it's gonna really need a serious comeback in Madrid for Barcelona to recover. And historically the stats are against them. Previously there have been two meetings between Barcelona and Atleti in the Champions League quarterfinals, with Atleti winning both times, 2-1 in 2013-14 and 3-2 in 2015-16. They are on an unbeaten run in UEFA competitions against Spanish opposition with eight wins and two draws. Plus, Atleti have also won all 22 previous UEFA two-legged ties in which they won the first leg away, including seven of which, like this situation, have been by a two-goal advantage. Julian Alvarez has definitely been their talisman this year, with 20 goal involvements in the last 18 Champions League appearances, and that works its way to 15 goals with five assists. This year, his nine goals in the competition is a new club record. Can he add to it this week? The prediction over here is a 75% chance for Atletico to move on. Barcelona 25%. And looking at the game overall, this is the kind of tight Atletico thrives in because they can sit deep as Barcelona attempts to pull back the two goals, they can defend, which they're very, very capable of, and they can counter. Basically, the fact is this plays into Atletico's hands. So the call for me is Atletico are strong favourites, but if Barcelona should score early, they are not untouchable, as we all know the capabilities that Barcelona has in their team. Sporting Lisbon 0, Arsenal won. This was a tighter game perhaps than expected, with Arsenal only snatching a late winner through Kai Havertz, and they have effectively taken control of the tie. But keep in mind that Arsenal keeper David Ryer made some great saves to preserve the shutout for the Gunners. So Arsenal have an advantage heading back to London. They have won only three of their nine previous quarterfinal ties and are aiming to reach the Champions League semi-finals for the second consecutive season, something they have never ever previously achieved. The Gunners have lost only one of their last 12 UEFA competition matches against Portuguese teams, with their record being six wins and five draws. And they are unbeaten in their last eight at home in the Champions League with six wins and two draws. So the prediction here is a 70% chance for Arsenal to move on, sporting 30%. Looking at the tie overall, Arsenal have done the hard part. Away. At the Emirates, they are very solid, though it should be noted that on current form they have been struggling to put away opposing teams, and the results, as we saw on Saturday and previously against a lower tier team in the FA Cup, they lost. So sporting will need to take risks. It can open up Arsenal, anything can happen. The call though for me is Arsenal is in control, they play it tight, and even though the tie might be arguably still alive, I can't see them losing this one. Finally, we have the tie of the round, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. And the Germans went to Spain, went to Madrid, went to the Bernabo, and they won by two goals to one. Still, many say that this is the most balanced matchup of the four games, thanks primarily to Real Madrid's rich history in the competition. The Madrid team has won the last four two-legged ties between the sides, with the most recent being a 4-3 aggregate victory in the 23-24 Champions League semi-final. And previously they have always topped Bayern in the quarterfinal rounds. Bayern striker Harry Kane is having a great season and has equaled his best Champions League goal scoring records which he set last season. Now it's 11 in the 25-26 campaign. And he has registered either a goal or an assist in each of his last four Champions League appearances against the Madrid team. Real Madrid have won their last nine two-legged ties against German opposition. So this is a strong historical run. And it goes all the way back to 2012-13 when they lost to Borussia Dortmund 4-3 on aggregate. Real Madrid versus Bayern. Many many people think that this game is still going to go down to the wire, even though the German team has an advantage. The prediction is Bayern with a 55% chance of moving on, Real Madrid 45%. As I said earlier, pundits feel that this is a game that's in the balance and basically a coin flip. And that's because Real Madrid's Champions League DNA is very, very real. Bayern are a dangerous team, they're on form. Personally, I would still give them the slight edge, and that's the call for me. But you have to note that with the Mbappe and Co on board for Real Madrid, chaos can ensue, anything can happen. So to sum up everything going into the second leg, away wins with the theme of the first leg round. Atletico and Arsenal both won on the road, and that's a huge advantage as they take their opponents back to their home ground. PSG overall were by far the most convincing winners in all four ties. So ultimately, Barcelona and Liverpool are in trouble after their poor first lug results. The bracket for the semi-finals is already set. So the PSG winner faces the winner of Real Madrid and Bayern. Barcelona Atleti winner faces the winner of Arsenal and Sporting. And my forecast is the semi-final round will be PSG versus Bayern Munich. And Barcelona, I'm sorry to say, Atletico will beat them and they will face Arsenal in the semi-finals as we go on the road to Budapest and this year's Champions League final.

SPEAKER_06 1:31:56

Getting the most out of your advertising dollar is essential to any good business. Knowing that you're getting a good return on your advertising investment certainly makes a positive impact on your bottom line. Advertising on the GP Soccer Podcast is one of those sound advertising decisions. With a global audience of thousands of listeners, high-profile interview guests, and now into its fourteenth season, the GP Soccer Podcast has become a noted, must-listen in the very crowded soccer podcast world. Host Giovanni Picini is a professional voiceover artist and will work with each and every client to ensure that the ad reflects the client's needs and wants. Each advertisement is professionally recorded and edited by Giovanni Pacini himself, and is promoted on not only the show, but throughout all of the GP Soccer Podcast's social media networks. Contact the GP Soccer Podcast at GP4Soccer, and that's the number four at yahoo.com to learn more. The GP Soccer Podcast. Well, you will always get a good return on your investment dollar. Hey there, Giovanni Piccini here, host of the GP Soccer Podcast, and I want to reach out to all of my great listeners who own pets and even those who don't. Listen, your local animal rescue organization is on a mission to provide loving homes for pets in need, and they need your help. Whether through adoption, fostering, or financial contributions, every bit of support counts. Join me in making a positive impact. Visit your local shelter today and help give these wonderful animals the second chance they so deserve. Together, we can create a community where every animal is cared for and loved.

SPEAKER_02 1:33:42

Hi, this is Rob Ellis, the author of the Soccer Coaches Toolkit. You are listening to the GP Soccer Podcast with host Giovanni Piccini, who, in my opinion, has one of the smoothest voices I've ever heard.

SPEAKER_06 1:34:08

And welcome back to the GP Soccer Podcast. I am your host, Giovanni Pacini, and uh welcome to the closing block, the closing segment of the GP Soccer Podcast, which I entitled The American Soccer Revolution, where we take a look at uh all aspects of the game, uh things that need to be blown up, things that need to be discussed, things that need to be changed, things that need to be altered. You well, you you get the picture. Um as you all know, and I always say this, if you're a regular listener to the show, you know this. I I love perusing the internet, you know, looking for content that I think could uh you know complement all not only my show here, but also you know, give you folks another voice out there about what's going on here in the world of soccer. Um so I want to share with you um some some audio I pulled off from Beast Mode Soccer. Beast Mode Soccer. Um this is a terrif terrific piece of audio. Uh we'll uh have a chat about it on the other side. Check this out.

SPEAKER_04 1:35:06

Your kid had around 50 touches this week at practice. A player in Spain had 3400. That's not an exaggeration, that's the beta. Players in the United States drive for hours, train the hardest, compete in games, and still finish with a fraction of the ball contact that players in Brazil, Spain, and Holland get through unstructured street play alone. And here's the thing that nobody says out loud. Those extra touches aren't making better dribblers, they're building a different nervous system. When a player receives the ball 3,000 times a week in tight spaces, under pressure, in unpredictable situations, their brain starts to process the game at a different speed. Decisions happen before the ball arrives, the touch is automatic, space appears that didn't exist before. You can't manufacture that in two 90-minute training sessions with your team. What you can do though is close the gap. Not by training harder, but by training more often. So 15 minutes of all work before school, 20 minutes against the wall after dinner. A session structure that your player can run alone every day without a culture or trainer. That's not extra, honestly, that's the base life. The players who close the touch gap are the ones who stop waiting for team training to develop them. It's time for you to start to own your development.

SPEAKER_06 1:36:45

So, again, that's from Beast Mode Soccer. Check it out on Facebook. Um, really is really some some great uh content they have there, and and in particular, uh this particular piece is which is why I selected it for today's show. Uh couple things that the the gentleman mentioned that that I you have heard me say are ad nauseum, uh the importance of unstructured free play, uh getting your kids outdoors, uh to whether it's knocking the soccer ball around or doing something else uh physically, uh is is uh is of great value to the development of your of your child. Certainly from a soccer specific standpoint, yeah, the more times you can you touch the ball and handle the ball and maneuver the ball in in varying situations, the better you're going to be. And the better you're going to be um when there's not a coach around or an adult telling telling you what to do, telling you what to do. Um so one of the things I want to say to parents, when you're out there, you brought your kids to your training session, you you maybe you maybe you hang around a lot of parents, do they instead of driving to you know training and they drive back home, then go do drive back to the field, they'll hang around. But I want you to I want you to just to count how many times your child touches the ball in a training session conducted by a well, the quote unquote expert that is overseeing the the uh the the the session itself. I I think your your head will explode when you see how many how few touches your kid is going to have. Now in the auto, you heard that in Spain on average you get 3,400 touches versus 50 for an American kid. So if you're going to a training session, you sit there and you do a a a touch count and it is painfully low and you now have a baseline per that audio, you need to say something. You need to say something. That's like, you know, a kid in school, you know, learning how to write, but you're only limiting the amount of times he he or she picks up the pen or the pencil. Okay, you can use a pen or pencil now, right? Oh no, okay, not gonna touch it for a while. Well well, certainly the ability to learn how to read and uh how to how to write is gonna be diminished because you're just not doing it enough. The same can be said in this case with soccer. We need to get our touch counts higher, we need to get our kids out there more uh uh maneuvering the ball, changing direction with the ball, having fun with the ball, so they become more adept at uh handling and becoming masters of the soccer ball. So that's the American Soccer Revolution. That's my two and a half cents worth. Um if you're interested in more of my comments regarding uh unstructured free play in terms of uh street soccer, coaching with the street soccer mentality, every episode of the GP Soccer Podcast, the blog, the final block, we have that section, and I talk at length about many of the issues uh that are facing uh the development of players here in the United States of America. So that's our show for today. If you like what you hear, please tell everyone, and remember those likes matter. Hit those likes buttons, please hit the subscribe buttons. Uh you can follow the GP Soccer Podcast all over social media, and new episodes are available every Wednesday morning. You know what it's like to wake up on a Wednesday morning with a great cup of coffee or tea, and you tune on the GP Soccer Podcast. What a great way to start your Wednesday morning. Don't forget, and I mean this, don't forget to check out my website, gpsoccerpodcast.com. And if you're interested in advertising on my show, then email me at GP4Soccer, and that's the number four at Yahoo.com. This is your host, Giovanni Pacini, and I will catch you later.