Welcome to the GP Soccer Podcast!" (S14 E21)

                       Welcome to the GP Soccer Podcast!  (S14 E21)

                                    Bonus World Cup Coverage!

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

Welcome to this special edition of the GP Soccer Podcast! Listeners of the show can now enjoy bonus content featuring- "Stories from The World Cup". Host Giovanni Pacini each week will highlight World Cup stories that typically don't get front page coverage but are interesting and fascinating nonetheless!

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

Host Giovanni Pacini's new book- "The Importance of Unstructured Free Play: Coaching with a Street Soccer Mentality is now available on Amazon!

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_01 1:21

Well, hey there, everyone. Giovanni Piccini here, your host of the GP Soccer Podcast, uh, offering up the final episode of bonus content. Um, given the fact that we've been enjoying the World Cup uh over the past these uh, I don't know, 39 or 40 days. Um and when it was all said and done uh this past Sunday, and as I as I record this, this is uh Tuesday on July the 21st, uh I asked myself, well, what am I gonna do now? What am I gonna do now? And I guess that's the case for for all of us out there who are indeed uh soccer fans and and uh enjoyed this this past World Cup. Um I guess we'll just have to have to uh re-uh re-energize and refocus on uh Major League Soccer and NWSL and then you know the European leagues will start to kick off uh bottom line, folks. There's gonna be plenty of soccer to keep us busy. But boy oh boy, we're did did uh we get a treat for the this this past World Cup. And as I noted uh last week, um all the bonus content that I that I offered all of you uh during these these past few weeks during the World Cup are stories from the World Cup. And as I've noted several times, uh these were stories that uh don't typically make uh the the the front page, so to speak, of the sports section or on the top of uh you know social media when you're scrolling, that type of thing. But but worthy nonetheless. And um, we've got one final one uh to offer up to all of you uh this week as we close out uh this bonus content of the GP Soccer Podcast, uh stories from the World Cup. And as I noted to you last week as well, that I would I would once and for all for this bonus content kind of give you my two cents worth. Uh I wanted to wait till the the tournament was over so I could get a complete perspective, uh put everything in context from uh from from beginning to the end. And so again, these this is two cents. I mean, I could spend an inordinate amount of time talking about any one of these following subjects, issues, you know, experiences, so to speak. Um but uh there's plenty of time to do all that uh as we move forward. So let's in no particular order of of importance. So let's just start with the final. Uh Spain versus Spain versus Argentina. Um my goodness, it was very, very, very clear to all of us who who were watching Spain that they were arguably the best the best team in the tournament. I I'll be quite frank, I I had thought France would be the would be the winner of the tournament, but um Spain had had proved me wrong. And they as you all saw, I'm not telling anything you anything that you don't already know. Um they outshot, as you all know, Argentina, you know, 20 to 2. And I think they had a nine to four advantage and corner kicks. And uh, you know, if it wasn't for Ron Torres um, you know, score scoring that goal in the 106 minute, this might have gone into extra time. And um this could have gone Argentina's way. I was with a a good friend of mine, he was over, we were watching the game. We kept going back and forth. I go, we were saying to each other, would this not be crazy, amazingly crazy? If Argentina gets pounded during regular time, they get pounded during extra time, and they go to penalty kicks and win, that was a that was a possibility. That was a possibility, despite the fact that Spain was the obvious dominant team. But this was Argentina, and as we all know, they found ways to win, they found ways to come back, and they found ways to position themselves uh to be World Cup finalists. And let's let's let's not forget the possibility because of Lionel Messi, that again, Argentina could have been pounded, you know, regular time and extra time, and Lionel Messi in a moment of magic, messy magic, you know, does something spectacular to score a goal and have Argentina win it that way. Those those were very, very realistic scenarios. Argentina winning on penalty kicks and Argentina winning on, you know, Messi doing his thing. But it didn't work out though. The best team uh, you know, you know, did um, you know, did did uh win the championship, and that would that is uh that would be Spain. Uh let's not forget the the Spanish women last year uh won the World Cup on the on the women's side and now the men's side. Uh and as we now know, uh having both those sides uh win the World Cup, some amazing things are happening in Spain relative to to player development, to position this country um that they can win uh you know uh world championships, world cups with the women's side and on the men's side. Uh so congratulations to Spain and Argentina. It was it was a boatload of fun watching you guys play. And um this is probably the last time we'll see Lionel Messi uh uh in a World Cup, but you never say never. Next up here, the third place, the third place match between France and England. Now, so this these games reminded me of of one thing. I I kept thinking about the NBA All-Star game, where you throw defense out the window and you know ends up having a score like 145 to 130, which is back and forth scoring basket after basket after basket. I kind of felt that way with this match, uh, you know, particularly seeing England race out to such a predominant uh you know lead uh in the first half, and then you watching France, France come back. Um two things can happen in a match like this, the third place match. Neither team wants to be there. Both of those teams, France and England, obviously want to be playing the next day uh for the World Cup championship, but they but they weren't there. So there's already a sense of disappointment that I don't care how how prepared you are, I don't care how much you uh you know you you you've you've changed yourself mentally, you've uh you know put your mindset in a position where you're gonna go out there and compete like it's a World Cup final, it's it's difficult. It is difficult. And we saw the England side going out there with the correct mindset and went out there, you know, guns ablazing, and built up a school. But once France started to come back, once France started to score some goals, and they you could see it in them, like they, well, you know what? We could win this game. We we can pull this out. Heck, let's just go for it. And then it became a shootout. Then it became an absolute shootout. Um, I think it's not if it didn't break a record for the most goals scored, I think it was it was second. It was it was highly entertaining. And for those folks out there who are not ardent soccer fans and they were you know watching this game because they may be just sports fans, uh heck, they they were they were treated with uh you know an amazing offensive slug fest between two uh two uh amazing teams. And uh so for France, you know, it was a bit of a disp disappointment. Uh and for England, well, uh it's not coming home. It it's not coming home. Next up, I don't know where to put this one in my list as I look at my show script here. The U.S. men's national team. And we all know by now that they they got their Heinies pounded, uh their Heinese beaten pretty significantly by Belgium. Um when I when I was sat down to watch the match within the first two to three minutes of the game, literally, first two to three minutes, watching Belgium high press, and not just high press numerically, but high press numerically and with physical intensity, the United States men's national team, I said to myself, these guys are toast. These guys are toast. Not that I had any kind of crystal ball, but I've been around the game long enough and I've seen instances like this where they kind of rear their ugly head in it, and it is a precursor for things to come, and it was the case with the U.S. Mans National team against Belgium. Because the United States could not deal with both the numerical pressure and the physical intensity of pressure, and they kept coughing up the ball, and they were made to look like an amateur team. They could not hold their own. And I don't want to hear, well, it was a one-off, you know, was it they had one bad game, unfortunately, was, you know, during the round of 32. Baloney. This was a very, very telling sign as to where we're at in terms of the best players, and I put best in quotes, the best players we have representing the United States of America. This is it, folks. This is the best we got. This system, and I put that in big air quotes again, this system that we have here in the United States of America has produced this particular group of players to go to the World Cup and okay, give them credit, advance, win the group, that type of thing. Good for them. It wasn't the strongest group in the world, let's be blunt. And finally show the world that, okay, this is the best of the best, and we're not even close to being best of the best. When we talk about uh the spans of the Spains of the world, the Englands, the France, the the Brazils, all that type of thing. Uh we we have a long, long way to go. It was very sad. Now look, look, uh I wanted them to win as much as the next person. I I absolutely I wanted them to win. But I'm also a realist, and I knew full well two or three minutes into the game, with that type of pressure being exerted by Belgium, this was not going to be the case for the U.S. man's national team. And I'll uh, you know, get into a little bit more as to what the future holds for this team and everything else. Next up, the tournament as a whole. Listen, by all accounts, by every measure, this has been the most successful World Cup in the history of World Cups. The thing that that shines the most is how wonderful, how wonderful we were as a humanity. How wonderful we were in welcoming people, cultures from around the world to here in the United States of America and up in Canada and down in Mexico to showcase who we are in terms of three North American North American countries. We saw this, I'm here in Boston. We saw this the Scottish Tartan Army take over Boston, drink Boston dry. But my goodness gracious me, we here in the New England area and the Boston era, we just embraced the Scots. It was absolutely fantastic. We saw Algeria over in Kansas City, Missouri, uh being welcomed by folks in that part of the country. Uh I went to the Norway Iraq game. I saw Norwegians hugging Iraqis, Iraqis hugging Norwegians, people taking pictures. And those are just snapshots, ladies and gentlemen, of what took place around the world. The World Cup. The World Cup is the only tournament through the game of soccer, of football, that can show that we can get along together as a in a global community. We saw it firsthand all across the three nations that we're hosting. That far and away, far and away, was the highlight for me, anyways, and hopefully for all of you, uh to show that to show everyone that we can get along. We absolutely can get along, and we have far more in common that we have that that we have that uh that divides us. Um and next, I I hope its impact here in the United States is significant. We saw back in 1994 a significant bump in the sport. Uh, you know, after the the World Cup then, we saw the advent of Major League Soccer, which we now know is and now experience and see uh on a regular basis, a very, very uh successful uh professional team. I want to see us get a bump. I want to see 2026 World Cup give the game in this country a bump, not just on the playing field, but uh for advertising, for participation, for enthusiasm for the game as a whole going forward. I think that will be the case. I really do. I really think that'd be the case. I think you're gonna see soccer find its way in the most uh you know interesting places. You see a lot more television commercials now and commercials and ads that are featured uh, you know, uh through social media and that type of thing that feature soccer, whether it's a predominant part of the ad or kind of in the background, so to speak. It's those inroads that's gonna make and make uh you know uh change the course of uh of the game here in the United States of America. It was just just absolutely uh fantastic. Um and again, I don't know what we're gonna do now, but we'll certainly move on. It it's um for the men, it's over. Um, but we have the U.S. women's national team. I would be remiss if I didn't talk about that. Next year, there will be 32 teams in Brazil um, you know, that we'll be playing for the U, you know, the uh for the World Cup uh for women. And uh right now there are 14 teams that are in. The U.S. uh is not in as of yet, as of this recording, but they can qualify automatically by winning a CONCACAF Championship quarterfinal uh against El Salvador on November twenty on November the 27th. And without going too crazy, they they should take that match, which means our U.S. women's national team will be part of the World Cup next year in Brazil, which allows us to continue the enthusiasm and our love for the game. And now the women are gonna take the baton from the men and bring it forward. And I have no doubt in my mind that even though it's in Brazil, it's not here in the United States, the enthusiasm for the U.S. women's national team will be on full display, as was the case for the U.S. men's national team. What should we talk about next? I could have put this at the top. Pay to play. Now, let me let me let me pound my chest for a second here. So I've been at this game for over 45 years, and I have been hooting and hollering about pay-to-play for more years than I can tell you. Not that I'm looking for any pats in the back, not that I'm saying that Giovanni Pacini was the only one talking about pay to play, but I can tell you in my experiences, uh, which is pretty significant, you didn't hear a whole heck of a lot to pay to play until now. When the U.S. men's national team was bounced out, everybody and their brother was now an expert in talking about the, you know, pay to play. It's great. I want more of it, but hey, you were late to the dance. You were late to the dance. Now, I'm I'm glad you arrived to the dance, but you've been late to the dance. This has been an issue that I have spoken about both formally and informally for many, many, many years. Now, all you gotta do is go back to my show here, the GP Soccer Podcast. In my last block of the show, and you know it's called the American Soccer Revolution, where I talk about analyzing, throwing out, dumping, blowing up, dissect, rethink, scrap, overhaul, everything having to do with American soccer. I wasn't late to the dance. I was at the dance dance dancing by myself, it felt for a while. But now it's at the forefront. So, A, you know, you've been late to the dance, but A1, I guess. I'm glad you're here. I'm glad you're here. And it seems, maybe finally, I don't know, that U.S. soccer has started to think about, you know, maybe we should look to overhaul this current system. Good luck. Um, we've heard that before, I've heard that before, and really nothing has changed. But now it seems like that U.S. soccer, our federation here in the United States of America, is once and for all serious about overhauling the entire, and I do mean entire system of how we develop players, how we develop coaches, the landscape that is soccer here in the United States of America. Good luck. Good luck. Um, you know, U.S. soccer in this effort is gonna be facing some very, very powerful forces, and that is the club teams that are out there by the thousands and thousands across this country who are making a boatload of money off hardworking parents. You think they're just gonna give in and say, well, you know what? Yeah, I think we'll we'll we'll stop charging, we'll go a different route. And there is a different route, by the way. I'll get to that in a second. Of course not. Of course not. They're spoiled. They're gonna say, oh no, it's worth the three, four, five, six, ten thousand dollars that parents have to play to put their kids through through soccer here in this country. Baloney. Baloney, but they will push back. They will push back. It's going to be interesting, very interesting to see what U.S. soccer will do to once and for all create a system where the game is, at the very minimum, affordable for everyone. For families who live in affluent neighborhoods and communities across this country, in addition to those in the lower socioeconomic communities that are found across this country. And quite frankly, that latter group is where you find our best players. That's where you find our best players. In those lower socioeconomic communities, those ethnic communities, that's where our best players are found. But they have been shut out. They have been shut out because they can't afford to play for clubs, and clubs don't really care. All they care about are people who can write fat checks. We'll see. We'll see. As you all know, um, you know, this is something that I'll continue to talk about. It'll still be a feature on the GP Soccer Podcast in that final, final block of the show, the American Soccer Revolution, and I'm gonna keep an eye on all of the forces, all of the entities that um, let's say they want to change it. How can it be done? And again, I could talk on and on, but I'm gonna give you the little little taste here. It can be done through sponsorship. I hear people, oh, you know, these things cost money, Giovanni. They cost money. You gotta pay coaches, you gotta pay for this, pay for that. I don't I don't deny that. I'm I'm a realist. I know those things cost money, but they can be paid for through sponsorship. From the local grocery store who can contribute a few hundred dollars to the youth soccer organization, to the mega corporations who can contribute millions of dollars, literally millions of dollars, to support the game of soccer, it can be done via sponsorship. It can be done. I have interviewed people on my show who are doing it, who are doing it. So don't tell me it can't be done. It can be done. If it doesn't get done, it's because you don't want to. Now, if you don't care about the fact that the US men's national team got bumped up by Belgium in an embarrassing fashion and you're, you know, you're just here to make a buck, well, you know what? Then then, you know, you shouldn't be doing this. And then these are the people that they're gonna be standing in the way. But if you're concerned, and it hurt to watch US men's national team get get you know beat by that way by Belgium, then you may rethink your business model. And you can stay in business, but you'll add an arm that does nothing else but seek sponsorship so that kids don't have to pay anything. And that's not a stretch. That's not a stretch. Um so again, you know, I could talk for hours on hours and I will going forward. When season 15 kicks off on September the 19th, what else we could go on here post post-tournament here? Uh, you know, I've said this too a million times. Our best athletes don't play soccer. Our best athletes do not play soccer. Now, that is not to say we don't have some tremendous athletes paying the sport of soccer. Of course we do. But the best ones, no. They have other choices: football, basketball, baseball, hockey. And I always throw in lacrosse. Even though it's a bit of a niche sport, it's out there. You see your best athletes who are the quarterback on the football team. They're the power forward or the point guard in basketball. Pick any position in hockey. You know, um, we've got to do a better job attracting our best athletes to play the sport of soccer. Coach education, coach development, it's got to be overhauled. I've been doing, I've been involved in coaching education, coach development for more years than I can tell you. And uh, you know, I've I've kept my mouth shut for more times than I can tell you when I see things that are occurring out there relative to this uh this uh sphere that is called coach education. That has to be overhauled. It has to be overhauled to the point where we have have it to be affordable and not take forever and a day to earn a coaching license. It's ludicrous. It's ludicrous. This is not a complicated game. From the grassroots level to the most advanced, it's not a complicated game. So we have to make it more accessible to the masses, we have to make it less expensive, and we have to make it to the point where it's not eating up years of your life. Um that's gonna be an interesting one for me to to watch. Um because we do not have enough qualified teachers of the game uh in this country. We don't. We don't, believe me. I've been at this long enough to tell you that is the case. We don't have enough qualified teachers of the game. And you need teachers of the game. Just think about the the the best teachers you've ever had you've ever had academically. Well, it's those traits that we need to have instilled in the teachers of the game of soccer. Last but not least, and this list is a mile, I'm gonna cut it short here because uh, again, I'll I'll address all these things when season 15 kicks off. But I would remiss street soccer. Street soccer. This is where kids fall in love with the sport. I want you to stop and think about something here. Think about the kids who took a basketball down to the local park or they're in their schoolyard, and they just on their own just kind of shot some hoops, they played a little one on one. Um, think about the kids who took a football and they're just passing it back and forth down the park or on the beach or whatever. Think about the kids who are playing street hockey. Okay, that's where you fall in love with the game. When you're a kid playing street sports, or in this case, street soccer. It is that realm, it is that part of their lives where kids do fall in love with the sport, and then we can say, hey, you know what? Some of our best athletes do play soccer because the history can go back to their early days as children playing the games in the streets. And we have to formulate, and this ain't rocket science, a methodology with the DNA of street soccer being maintained. And yes, this is a shameless plug. I just wrote a book, The Importance of Unstructured Free Play, Coaching with a Street Soccer Mentality, where I lay it out in detail. I talk at length about the importance of unstructured free play, and I talk about and outline how street soccer can be a methodology. It can be done. And if you ask me, that should be the cornerstone of our grassroots efforts in developing players at the youngest of ages. I'll end with this. And this just happened today, literally, July 21st, 2026. A few hours ago, I had a shootout to the grocery store, pick up a few odds and ends because there were some shelves in the refrigerator that were a little empty. And as I came home, I saw these three kids. I'm going to say they were, you know, they were three boys. I'm going to say they're around 11 or 12 years old. And they all had different soccer shirts on. And they were kicking a soccer ball, dribbling a soccer ball on the sidewalk. They were heading up. There's a convenience store, which I'm sure they were ahead of to get somebody to drink or their favorite candy or whatever. And I slowed down because I wanted just to soak this in. And I said to myself, that, that's what we need. Kids on their own with a soccer ball, just knocking it about, the three of them, or however many they there happen to be in, you know, any of the place in the United States of America. That's what it's all about. The timing of these three kids passing by could not have been better. Could not have been better. So there you have it, folks. I I told you last week, or last couple weeks, that I'd offer you my two cents. I think I gave you 10 cents, but there are some things that I'm very, very passionate about. And again, I will be talking about at length here in the GP Soccer Podcast as we go forward into season 15. So those are my opening comments. We're going to break for a commercial message. You know how that works. You've got to pay the bills around here. And uh when you we come back, when we re-engage, I'll share with you uh our last, our last uh story from the World Cup. This is Giovanni Pacini, this is the host of the GP Soccer Podcast, Stories from the World Cup. We'll break for a commercial. Don't you dare go anywhere. Youth soccer has changed. Expectations are higher, but systems haven't kept up. Coaches juggle endless tasks, players chase progress they can't measure, and clubs struggle to create consistency across teams. Zone 14 Coaching was built for this moment. A company built by coaches for coaches, Zone 14 Coaching next generation journals for coaches and players help plan every practice, reflect on what worked, and track progress all season long. Built on intentional coaching and backed by neuroscience, Zone 14 Coaching brings structure and purpose to your training. The founders of Zone 14 Coaching watched in awe as some of the game's best tacticians and mentors spent every precious moment with a simple pen and paper, meticulously sketching, writing, and planning in a journal. It was a powerful and humbling sight. 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SPEAKER_02 26:28

Hey, this is Alexi Lawless. Uh, I am uh well, I'm a legend. I'm frickin' awesome. Are you kidding me? Well, anyway, you know where you are. You're listening to the GP Soccer Podcast with Giovanni Pacini.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

And welcome back to the GP Soccer Podcast. Stories from the World Cup. Um we have a local columnist here in the Boston area by the name of Dan Shaughnessy. You know, Dan has been around for a long, long time. He's one of our preeminent sports journalists. You know, Mr. Shaughnessy, um, if you're from the Boston area in New England, you know about um, you know, this to be true. It's a love-hate relationship when with Mr. Shaughnessy when it comes to soccer. Sometimes the the pieces that he writes, he just wants to scream and he's yelling he doesn't get it, or he's bashing soccer. And then there are times when he's very, very, very supportive. And uh it's always an enjoyable read. And I selected this this uh this story to be the final uh story from the World Cup because I think it kind of encapsulates not just what happened here in Boston, New England, but I think what what uh what took place uh around the um around the world with around the North America with with the World Cup. So this is from July the 19th. It is entitled Boston Did Enjoy This World Cup by the inimitable Dan Shawnee and Dan Shaughnessy. And it goes something like this Picked up pieces while waiting for Argentina versus Spain on Sunday at 3 p.m. Soccer is a sport of the future and always will be. Artificial intelligence attributes the well-worn quote to the late Uruguayan journalist Eduardo Gallieno, or perhaps he Keith Oberman. Roger Bennett, founder and CEO of Men and Blazes Media Network, prefers soccer is America's America's sport of the future, and it has been since 1972. Dripping with sarcasm, it's been my football fallback for decades. Dismissive yet maddingly true, the tenant revives a question ever hovering over the American sports landscape. Is it possible that the earth is moving under recline under recliners of the American man caves? Will this 2026 be looked back on as an event that finally pushed soccer into the closed ring of America's major professional spectator sports? Has our big four, football, basketball, baseball, hockey, become the big five? Or will the world's beautiful game again be relegated to the fringe of American spectator sports once the afterglow of the World Cup fades? That's what happened in 1994 when the cup was last held in North America. I was at the 94 final in Pasadena, California for Brazil's victory over Italy. A dubious duel settled on penalty kicks after 120 nil-nil minutes plus corrupt stoppage time. There wasn't much lasting bounce from the mega events. For sure, Brandi Chastain and friends got our attention five years later when they won the Women's World Cup in spectacular fashion. Additionally, England's Premier League continues to build a strong following in the States, and we have some cities, Atlanta and Seattle, for instance, where MLS has far more impact than it does in Foxboro, where the revolution draw 20,000 fans a game but are not a hot topic conversationally. Still, a good number of American sports fans will put soccer back on the shelf after Sunday's final. A lot of them did that after our men's team was KO'd by Belgium 4-1 in the round of 16. It's certainly not helpful that the U.S. men continue to tread water in a global sport dominated by the powers from Europe and South America. One thing is undisputable. Skeptics like myself were wrong about how greater Boston would perform as one of the 11 American cities hosting the 2026 World Cup. Now, back in June, I wrote a column headline, It's doubtful Boston Will Enjoy Hosting for print editions and we are Boston. So can we stop worrying about just enjoy the World Cup online? Here in the Route 1 corridor between Boston and Foxboro, the Vonta Cup has largely been a cause of irritation and inconvenience. Let's face it, the hub of the universe is not great at pulling off global events. New England have never embraced the beautiful game that enchants the rest of the planet. Our reaction to the World Cup runs from the gamut from annoyance to apathy. A month from now, when Boston's stadium signage is taken down and Gillette's goalposts are reinstalled, we'll know the whole thing was worth it. That was written before No Scotland, no party. When the joyous Tartan Army brought its movable Bacchanisle to our region, drank our bars drive, and took over games at both Gillette Stadium and Fenway Park. My misguided words were tight before Scotland beat Haiti 1-0 in the first Foxboro match, before the Scots one night later stage a boisterous bagpipes and drums totem kilt wearing, flag waving, beer guzzling victory march to Fenway while belting out Flower of Scotland. A national television audience of Beijing League Baseball fans got some of the inadvertent exposure to what all the fuss was about that night. Then we had the Norwegians during the Viking row on a TD Garden Escator. Does Norway's hulking Erling Holland remind anyone of Gronk? The Norwegians were almost as much fun as the gang from the Mull of Kinter. We also saw Feisty Ghana battle England to a nil-nil draw. Paraguay eliminate Germany on penalties. Perhaps the biggest upset of the tournament, Araq's Ayaman Hussein, will thrill the Foxboro Masses with a tie-in goal against Norway and one beauty of a goal by Francis Killen Mbappe. Tiny Cape Verb did not play here, but its large local community made us feel the love for the upstart Blue Shocks as they advanced to the knockout stage in their cup debut. All the while, a melting pot of football fanatics celebrated at City Hall Plaza watch festivals. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of tickless international fans flew to our city just to join the party. Most incredibly, hardly anyone complained. Not even the ever cynical locals. Almost none on the train. Traffic, security, nightmares surfaced. For a full month and a half, New Orleans stopped to smell the roses and enjoy the moment. How unlike us. Football fans from around the world came to Boston and saw that the United States is not what they what they see on the television news in their country. Boston showed up for the international showed up for international travels and made itself the best, one of the best 11 Americans coast cities. And we we we got just as much out of out of from our guests. Seeing fans from foreign lands enjoying themselves in our in our town reminded us how great this place is. But as I as I've said in the past, these stories may be at times Boston-centric, but you could plug in almost any city that hosted the uh the World Cup. Um so that's our final story. Stories from the World Cup. We're gonna break for our final commercial message and we'll re-engage in the other side. We'll put a closure on uh these bonus content, World Cup content, uh here on the GP Soccer Podcast, and uh we'll look forward to season 15. Don't you dare go anywhere, we've got plenty to talk about on the other side of the commercial break. It is time to bring back the game that teaches players how to think. Modern youth soccer is more organized than ever, yet many young players are missing one of the most powerful development tools in the game: unstructured free play. The importance of unstructured free play, coaching with a street soccer mentality, challenges coaches, parents, and player development leaders to rethink how young athletes learn. Drawing from decades of coaching experience, child development principles, and the timeless lessons of street soccer, author Giovanni Piccini, shows why creativity, decision-making, resilience, joy, and soccer IQ grow when players are given space to explore the game. The importance of unstructured free play, coaching with a street soccer mentality, is a book for grassroots coaches, youth soccer directors, parents, educators, and anyone who believes that player development should produce more than organized drill followers. It offers a practical approach for balancing structure with freedom using guided learning, constraints, small-sided games, reflection, and activity designs that let the game be the ultimate teacher. Order your copy of The Importance of Unstructured Free Play, Coaching with a Street Soccer Mentality on Amazon today. So there you have it, uh, the final episode of the Stories from the World Cup. I hope that you uh enjoy the those episodes um of Stories from the World Cup. And as I noted for you uh some weeks ago that I wanted to do something a little bit different, not the usual analytics and uh you know punditry that takes place uh after games. There was plenty of that out there, and I wanted to offer you something different. I hope you enjoyed it. Um I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed putting them together for you, my wonderful listening audience that uh literally spans the globe. Now, if you were new to the GP Soccer Podcast and you tuned into these uh stories from the World Cup, it gives you a little bit of a taste of the program, but but not in its entirety. So kind of something to look forward to. This the show is structured on three uh three pillars, if you will, is to educate, is to inform, and to entertain. Those are the three things I try to do with each and every episode of the GP Soccer Podcast. And you can look forward to, starting on season 15 on September the 9th, um, segments like Conversation with the Coach. I've had some absolutely wonderful guests that uh not only coaches, sometimes it's conversation with the player, sometimes it's conversation with the author, conversation with the administrator. I've had some um some extraordinary guests um, you know, that have been featured on that. We have Coach's Corner each and every week. Uh we have a new guest uh contributor for Coach's Corner. Soccer News and Analysis with yours truly, the European Soccer Report. You're so going to enjoy this. It's with the terrific Ralph Rigno, where each and every week he does his report as to what's going on all across Europe. And the final block of the show is the American Soccer Revolution. As I noted earlier, uh it's the part of the show where I uh, you know, scrap, rethink, throw out, dump, blow up, dissect, overhaul, everything having to do with American soccer. And that's not going to change. As a matter of fact, I may just up the ante uh given to the conversation that's taking place across this country about the state of the game. Uh, you will find that it will be a little bit more uh pay-to-play slash street soccer centric. Uh that's not to say the each and every show will have that. Um, but I think those are two areas that need to have uh much more scrutiny in our American soccer landscape to the point where I think uh I hope that um it is no longer an issue that that uh kids can afford to play it. And we see multitudes of kids uh out there in the streets, in the parks, in their backyards, heck, even playing down in them in the living room, playing playing soccer. We need some more street soccer. Uh going forward, starting next week, uh you will be uh enjoy the best of the GP Soccer Podcast. So for the next several weeks, on Wednesday morning, as always, you can call the GP Soccer Podcast. And I pulled out some of the uh some of what I think are some of the the better shows, best shows from uh the GP Soccer Podcast, going from uh season one to season fourteen. So there's lots for you to uh to enjoy. And if you're new to the show, what a it's a great place to start getting in tune for what uh what is offered to you uh from the GP Soccer Podcast. And again, once again, September the 9th, we'll kick off season 15. So uh circle, circle your calendar on September the 9th. And uh we'll uh we'll start focusing in on uh heck everything that's going on in MLS and around the world with uh with global football. We can start talking about next year's World Cup with the U.S. women's national team. There's always something to talk about. Whew, my goodness. Well, that's our show for today. If you like what you hear, and I hope you do, please tell everyone. And remember, those likes matter, those those uh, you know, the topics, I mean not topics, but the comments that you put forth and the subscribes, all that stuff that really does matter, all kidding aside, that helps me, helps my sponsors. You can follow the GPSoccer podcast, all of our social media, and new episodes are available every Wednesday morning. What a great way to start your Wednesday morning. Don't forget, don't forget, don't forget, that check out my website at gpsoccerpodcast.com. And if you're interested in advertising on this fantabulous show, then email me at GP4Soccer, and that's the number four, at Yahoo.com. Vitch is your host, ranting and raving, as always, Johanny Pacini. And I will catch you later.