Marcelo Balboa on Playing with Edge, Beating Argentina & Building the USMNT

On this bonus episode of Inside American Soccer, Marcelo Balboa joins Tab Ramos and Matt Doyle for a candid conversation about one of the most important eras in U.S. Soccer history. Marcelo reflects on learning the game the hard way under his father, embracing his edge on the field, and the World Cup moment everything changed for the USMNT.

The group revisits the legendary 1995 Copa América run, including the United States’ historic 3–0 victory over Argentina, and discusses why that tournament changed how the world viewed American soccer.

Marcelo also reveals who he believes is the greatest player the U.S. has ever produced, shares the defining moment of his career, and unveils his All-Time USMNT Starting XI.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And yes, people can say it all they want. I
was an asshole on the field. I wanted to win.
I would go through the ball, I would go through
the player. That was my mentality. I didn't care.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Greetings, folks, and welcome to Inside American Soccer. I'm your host,
Matt Doyle, filling in for Tom Boger, who is still
on baby duty. I am joined, as always by one
of the greatest players in US soccer history, a veteran
of three World Cups, tab Ramos, the original Metro Star.
And we are joined by another US soccer legend, another

(00:35):
veteran of those same three World Cups, another Metro Star
for a very very brief moment but had his best
club moments elsewhere, and the US Soccer Hall of Famer.
Both these guys are Marcello Balboa. Gentlemen, it is a
pleasure to be joined by the two of you.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
I don't even know what to say about the Metrostar thing.
Every time somebody brings it up, it hurt. It hurts
my heart. Man, because they traded me injured, I didn't
get to play, but like fifteen minutes. I got to
hang out with tab a lot that year. But I
felt so bad when they traded me to New York
and I was injured and couldn't play, so I apologized
to all the New York Metro fans.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
So it was a lot of stuff.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
I was a MetroStars fan, and back in the day
that was those were not the best times. From about
ninety eight or ninety nine to about two thousand and two,
it was. It was pretty gnarly, other than when Clinton
Mathis got on that heater and he was so much
fun to watch. But so were you guys, of course,
two guys who brought a lot of joy to this game.

(01:38):
And on today's show, we're going to talk about that.
We're going to interview Marcelo and ask about the most
memorable moments of his career and also his upbringing, his
path to becoming a professional soccer player when that wasn't
really a path that was available to a lot of
folks back in the day.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
Plus, as always on.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
This show, we're going to get a best eleven a
US men's national team all time eleven. Marcello, You're gonna
have to hurt some feelings with that one.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
That's a tough one, because that's a that's ah, there's
a few players, you know, and uh so we'll see.
I'll try and I'll try to spare people's feelings and
explain why.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
So one of the things you have to do is
figure out which of your former teammates will actually be
listening to this one. And if they're listening to it,
then you got it.

Speaker 4 (02:26):
Right now, right now, I'm the best player on your
team and captain captain of your team right now.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
I know you know these coach captain.

Speaker 4 (02:37):
No. One of the things I did when they asked
me to do, you know when I did the same
thing for the show is I decided to make the
old time team, but I made it of guys that
I had played with, so I didn't include anyone after
and that that actually makes it a little bit easier.
But you can certainly go anywhere you want. But anyway,
it's great to have you on Marcelo. And and yeah,
your time at the Metro starts?

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Was that?

Speaker 4 (02:59):
Did you go somewhere else after the Metro Stars? So
was that the end for you too?

Speaker 1 (03:03):
I went I went home. No, that's it.

Speaker 4 (03:06):
You know, it's funny we talk about how like we
started on the national team together and then we ended
at the Metro stars together and somehow so.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
We ended perfectly. We started the way we started, we
ended it perfectly with them. Now, listen, I get back
to Colorado after the doctor here in Colorado screwed up
my knee, and then went to New York and the
doctor says, he didn't fix your knee, you still have
the same problem. So I had to fix there. I
got a bone bruise from the first doctor, so I could.
I almost sat out for almost eleven months. So I

(03:36):
came home and I called the Rapids and I told
him that, listen, can you get my rights from New York.
I'd love to retire as a Rapid. I don't really
not interested in really playing because knee wasn't great. I
just want to if you need me coming off the bench.
They said great, great, great, And two days before I
was supposed to go to practice, Steve Tritchu calls me
and tells me Tim Hankinson doesn't want you anymore. I

(03:59):
was like, wow, okay, thanks to him, and I'll due respect.
You know, he's passed away and no, but it was
just a decision he made. So I retired that that
year and just called it quits. I just I just
wanted to retire because where I started with a rapid
I wanted to end as a rabbit and it didn't
turn out quite the way I wanted it to. But
everything happens for a reason, so.

Speaker 4 (04:20):
That So does that mean we both ended our careers
in Foxboro?

Speaker 1 (04:24):
Where both ended in Foxborough as the New York MetroStars,
right and so yes, And.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
Like you said, that year you only played about fifteen minutes,
which is probably about an hour less than I played.

Speaker 5 (04:36):
That year, but your tennis game was rocking that year.
YEA tennis game was good? Good, Yeah, it was. It was.
It was a rough year to end my career that way.
It was not the way I envisioned it, but it
is what it is. I ended it with a good friend.
That's all I can say.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
We had a good time.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, And you guys laid the groundwork for the league
to grow into what it's become today, where received is
getting sold to the likes of Athletico Madrid, the likes.

Speaker 3 (05:02):
Of Via Real and you know, the og.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
MLS fans still have a big place in their heart
for for what you guys did and building this thing.
But let's go back even further. Marcella let's go back
to you, your days as a youth, you grew up,
You were coached by your father.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
It was a my cousin Vinny the other day, I'm sorry,
I saw it and you just hit it on the head.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
Honestly, it still holds up. It still holds up. Still
a funny movie. Man.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
You were coached by your dad, and your dad was
a professional player in the old NASL, which is somehow
I did not realize that. So what is the big
biggest thing that he taught you about the game?

Speaker 1 (05:49):
Listen? It was a love hate relation. So my dad
was an asshole to me sometimes because he saw and
with all respect, because he saw potential in me of
what I can do. He used to tell my brother
was listen, my brother played like Claudia Arena. Didn't run
like Claudio, but he played like Claudierine. That's how good
he was. And his name happened to be Claudio. And

(06:09):
my dad would always say, if there's a brick wall,
your brother will find a way around it. He'll dig
underneath it, he'll do everything possible. He goes, you're the
dude that'll run through the fricking wall until you get
to that ball. And that's kind of the mentality he
gave me, is hard work. Every day. Somebody's out there
every day trying to take your job. Every day, somebody

(06:31):
wants your position. Every day someone's going to try to
steal it from you. How hard are you willing to
work every day to keep your job. So he gave
me the mentality of working hard and if I wanted something,
then I had to work for it every day. And
he was willing to come home from grave. I mean,
my dad worked graveyard chifts, so he had a few
hours of rest. We'd come home, he would take us

(06:52):
out we were doing and you know, it wasn't the
typical all right, let's shoot on goal. It was okay,
you're gonna defend me. My dad's the next player. So
I would have to defend my dad. I'd have to
defend my brother. So I learned different aspects of the game.
And then we would go into corners. He would throw
the ball up there, timing heading the ball. So he
laid a very strong foundation to who I am as

(07:15):
a person. Who I was on the soccer field. And yes,
people can say it all they want, I was an
asshole on the field. I wanted to win, I would
go through the ball. I would go through the player.
That was my mentality. I didn't care, you know what
I mean. So and what Paul Gardner wrote that I
was rambo a soccer I was going to self destruct. Well,
thank you, Paul Gardner, thank you for writing that article

(07:37):
because it fueled my fire even more to fight and
scratch and to prove people wrong. So yeah, I'm here
as who I am as a player because of my dad.

Speaker 4 (07:49):
You know, it's really interesting how we you know, although
your background in mind, you're obviously you're born in Chicago,
I believe right, I was born in Uruguay. But yet
you know, our parents are you know, South American, so
but we still we have such a different background. So
my dad also played. But yet when it came to

(08:12):
like taking me out and you know, and showing me stuff,
my dad was always like work was always more important
to him, and it was more in my home. It
was always like I come home and tell my dad
have practice on Thursday. My dad would be like, well,
I got to go to work, so.

Speaker 3 (08:27):
You know, you gotta get there.

Speaker 4 (08:29):
However, so you know, you know, different ways. Although you know,
soccer was soccer was a conversation at my house more
than anything else in the world. That's the only thing
you know, in my house we that would ever be
discussed was soccer. But yet it was sort of like, well,
if you have soccer is what you want to do,
you kind of you have to go find it on
your own. So a little bit different than yours, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:50):
For sure, Yeah, a little bit different is critic. Pops
was the hardest critic I'll ever have. That's just who
he was and his his philosophy was always putting me
in an environment where I wasn't happy, or I wasn't comfortable,
or I wasn't the best player, because he always played
me with my brother, who's a year and a half
older than me, and he would I've never played at

(09:11):
my age group. Never once did I play with my dad,
and I always played with my brother, So that was
not comfortable for me. But putting yourself in an environment
where you're not comfortable strives makes you strive to be
the best player possible, you know, I mean, because you
don't want to be the you don't want to be
the fifteen year old playing with sixteen year olds and
you're the worst player. So that drove me and pushed

(09:32):
me to always work harder than everybody else, to be
better than them. So that's what I always tell my kids.
Put yourself in an environment where you're not comfortable, where
it's awkward, and you have to fight to be the
best player.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
So that translated.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
That fight, I think translated to the US national team
back in the late eighties, where I believe you guys
met for the first time, or did you know each
other before the national team called you both in?

Speaker 1 (10:03):
The only one I knew was Tony Miola because we
played in the under twenties, you know what I mean.
But I didn't know Tab. I've heard of Tab once
you start going up the ranks because Tab, I think
we're close to the same age. And I think Tab
was already on the national team, him and those guys.
So when we got there, I kind of already knew
who Paul Crumpy was, I knew Tab, I knew knew

(10:26):
them as people, not as people yet, but as names
that I've heard. So it was it was a little intimidating,
not gone.

Speaker 4 (10:33):
Yeah he read and you know back then you had
to read in the papers from you know, a couple
of months back. Yeah, or Soccer America from the week before.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
But the under twenty prodigy, right.

Speaker 4 (10:46):
Yeah, yeah, so anyway, but yeah, I think that was
that was the first time we met. It was a
trip to Guatemala, I believe right. That's where we started
January nineteen eighty eight and uh and the beginning of
January Camps, Matt, that's where they originated back in the eighties.
At some point we started the January Camps.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
What was it like, did you guys get along from
the jump or was the defenders over here at midfielders
over there?

Speaker 3 (11:13):
Never the Twayne shall be Oh.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
I didn't play. We played two games in Guatemala. I
didn't play the first game because I just came from
the under twenties, and the second game I played and
didn't really know anybody. It was kind of that we
just got together for that trip and played. But as
more time went on, I solidified, you know that I
could play center back. You know, I didn't really feel

(11:37):
comfortable playing out of the back right away. So every
time the ball kind of came in a funky situation,
I would just kick the ball up field, just put
it up to the foreward and just we'd push up
and I remember one day we're sitting there and why
do you fucking kick the ball so much? Play me.
I'm like, I'm like, okay, I'm sorry. The next ball

(11:58):
I got, the next ball I got played in the tap,
I'm like, okay, hey, this. I didn't realize it was
going to be this easy tap. I'd have known this sooner.
If we would have communicated, it would have been easier.
But you know, initially, when you're a little nervous and
you're trying to make a team, it was more comfortable
back in the old day with long ball, so it
was hit it, hit it, and Tab just wanted to

(12:18):
make sure I understood, as a young American Argentine that
I could play a urge one, I could trust the
Urope line, you know, with the rivalry we have. And
from there our relationship got better little by little.

Speaker 4 (12:33):
Yeah, the rest, as they say, is history, right. I mean,
you go and you know, now you start to look
at you know, we started in January nineteen eighty eight
and we kind of played our last game together and
October of two thousand and two. You know, so fourteen
years later, three World Cups together, a couple of Cope

(12:57):
Americas together, you know, Gold Cubs and everything else, so
you know, a long relationship. But I can say is
you know, of all the people that I've played with
on the national team, you know, Marcella and I were
likely always on the same page. We always had a
great relationship. Marcella was always great to get along. You
knew you'd get one hundred percent out of him every

(13:18):
single time, and it was a great.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (13:21):
I'm really happy that we were able to share such
a long career together.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
Yeah. Listen, I've only had two people yell at me,
and I'm so proud of the two people that yelled
at me. One was Tab give me the damn ball
and Valderrama because when he came to Colorado, I had
a ball to play me. He was between three guys
and I didn't play him. I played a wide. He
comes up to me after that play and basically in
Spanish did the same thing that Tab says, next time,

(13:47):
give me the fin ball, no matter where I'm at, whatever, dude,
next time you have three players on it. I played it.
He played wide, we crossed, we scored a goal, and
he looked at me. I'm like, okay, sorry, I'm okay.
But Tab and Valdorama yelling at me.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
Yeah, it's a good two to have yelling at Yeah.
But let's talk about You mentioned three World Cups, right,
and let's talk about that first one, because I think
a lot of fans know the story of the ninety
four World Cup, and of course the ninety eight World
Cup is well documented.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
The nineteen ninety World.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
Cup gets sort of lost in time a little bit.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
The story is told.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yeah, everybody remembers calla Jerry's goal and the fight that
it took just to get there, the end of the
forty year drought, but then the story of nineteen nineties,
and then they lost all three games and they were out.
But it was different than that because it was the
first game you guys got punched in the face, and
then the next two games it was different. The mentality

(14:46):
seemed to change. You were more competitive. Can you talk
us through what happened over the course of that group stage.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
Well, listen, I was lucky enough to be on that
World Cup team too, because I tore my against I
think it was Bermuda, so I was fighting my way
to get back on the team. But I remember sitting
there with Ganzer one day right before the World cup,
and he says Tomicello Marcelo with his voice and he
said very clearly to me, he goes, you know you

(15:17):
deserve to start, but you're not going to start. And
I just kind of looked at him and I was like, why,
he goes, because you know why, because there's a group
of players here that helped us get here. There's a
group of players that deserve to start this game. And
I'm going to give them the first opportunity to start
this game because they deserve it. And you know what,
after that moment, I had so much respect for Bob

(15:40):
Ganzer because how many coaches would do that? How many
after forty years, how many coaches would take the time
to let the players and start the players who helped
them get there, who helped us qualify. Forty years is
a long time, and we finally qualified with Cole's gole.
So that first group that played was Ganzers. This is

(16:02):
who deserved a starker. They've been here and uh and
let's be honest, scouting back then, did we even have
scouting tab Did you get a scouting report against checks?

Speaker 4 (16:11):
Now we we heard that the checks weren't really that strong.
That was the scouting emember.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
That Yeah, yeah, yeah, I remember walking out when they
told us the scouting report. We'll be just you know,
we'll be bigger, we'll be more physical than them. And
we walk out of the tunnel and we stand next
to each other and we were like, we just kind
of looked at each other, going we got the wrong report.
And from there, listen, I got to play the second half.

(16:39):
He started making some change. I think Doyle started the
next game, and you know what, I just think that
we we we realized that we weren't gonna be able
to play one hundred percent soccer the way we want.
So we're gonna have to fight. We're gonna have to
fight for ninety minutes. We're gonna have to push people,
We're gonna have to kick people. And uh, look at
what we did against It'll, you know what I mean.

(17:01):
I mean, we had a chance to score. I think
Bruce shot shoots and then I think Peter Ermeis hits.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
It on Herbie saved it.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
He didn't have such a big ass back then that
would have gone in. But it's fine whatever.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
Nah.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
All I'm saying is I think from that day forward,
and my memories off sometimes with all the concussions. But
if I remember after that first game, the next two
weeks of training were a freaking battle. There were fights
that broke out. We were kicking the crap out of
each other. I think our mentality changed right away of

(17:35):
what we needed to do to compete in this World Cup,
and from that day kind of forward setting the same
group into ninety four and ninety eight. I think our
mentality changed, and we really that that World Cup opened
our eyes of what we were capable of doing and
what we could do.

Speaker 4 (17:51):
Hey, Marcella, I don't know if you remember this, but
after that first game, and you're absolutely right about how
things change after that first game, because and I think
this is what happened normally with teams. You know, you
lose a game big and then you have a twenty
two man roster or whatever it is, and now everybody
thinks they should start, and because of that, every training
session is now to the death.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
Right.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
But I don't know if you remember this. There was
a ball.

Speaker 3 (18:14):
I remember like it was yesterday.

Speaker 4 (18:16):
By the way, I have a horrible memory, but I
remember this like it was yesterday. Ball goes up in
the air and training we're at that military academy goes
up in the air and Bruce Murray and Eric Eikman
are going to go for it, and they don't go
for the ball. They let the ball bounce and then
they start fighting right to keep it, and long story short,

(18:38):
they start pushing each other and they end up inside
the goal because it was like we were playing inside
the eighteen yard bucks or something, and they end up
inside the goal against the net, throwing punches.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
At each other.

Speaker 4 (18:52):
It was an absolute fight, like a fist fight.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
Between Eric Eikman and Bruce Murray.

Speaker 4 (18:57):
It was crazy.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
Good times, man, I'm telling you. After that loss, everything changed, man,
everything changed. It was. It was probably one of the
feistiest battles you name it environment I've ever been and
I loved it. Absolute defender, to get physical, to kick people,
to push people. We were we were in heaven, man,

(19:20):
we we Yeah, it was, it was, it was And really.

Speaker 4 (19:23):
That became the future of the team. Yeah, that became
the future of the team whose fight every day.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
Yeah, and we saw it on the way in ninety four.
Obviously I saw it in the World Cup. But you
guys were both part of the ninety one and ninety
three teams that played in Copa America.

Speaker 4 (19:40):
Correct, Yes, I didn't play ninety one. I played ninety three.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
You didn't play You played ninety three. And the ninety
three team is the one that made it all the
way to the semifinals.

Speaker 3 (19:54):
Ninety five five.

Speaker 2 (19:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, And that was that, Like that's a
that's a team that took what was built in ninety
four and spun it forward a year. I think it
was a win over Argentina, right, there was a three
one win over Argentina. And you guys were both on
the field for that. Ye tell us about that, because

(20:17):
that's a game that I think a lot of fans
don't know about in the twelve months after the great
ninety four World Cup.

Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah, I being in Argentine when you realized that Argentina
played their second team, we'll say, second slash and even
there was out there yeah yeah, yeah yeah. And And
it was funny because I got to talk about the
Stuta the other day at the World Cup draw and

(20:46):
they they had no clue who we were. We had
no clue who they were. They thought that they watched
the first game and they thought, okay, yeah, you know
what I mean. So they came out with a mentality
that they were basically run through us, and little by little,
when you looked at the way we started playing, people

(21:07):
didn't give credit to what we had, or what we did,
or how individually we were okay, But I think as
a team is what our strength was. We fought, we scratched,
and we actually tried to play soccer, which I don't
think a lot of a lot of teams really try
to give us credit for. But that's what happened back

(21:29):
in the old days. When you decided to play a
B team and you played against us, you know what,
we're going to prove to you that we were going
to show you that we're here to fight, scratch and
look at the goals we scored. Look at the movement
of the ball, look at the feistiness of getting in
behind their back line. You know, I mean it was
it was a special moment. Unfortunately for me, I tore

(21:50):
my growing that day that night and they cold and
I got taken out of the game later on. But listen, man,
I don't think anybody ever gave credit Listen to this,
and people don't get it because there was no social media,
there was nothing tab not. Because you're here I've said
this for years. Tab he is the best player USA

(22:11):
Soccer ever produced, playing to no doubt about it. I'm
so I apologize to land In and those guys, but
if people watch Tab play at his prime, no freaking chance.
Him and Dempsey to me are the moose, two creative,
most talented players we've had on the national teams. But
people didn't get to see what Tab got to do
because there was really that we weren't on TV. The

(22:33):
only time you got to see was a ninety four
World Cup. But there wasn't a player that can do
what Tab can do, and there still isn't a player
that can do with Tab do, But no one ever
saw it. So people always go to the reference of oh,
whether you know, like somebody said to me, oh yeah,
I started watching the World Cup and it really started
in two thousand, and I'm like two thousand, are you
kidding me? I go back a little bit, my friend,

(22:55):
go back in. But like I said before, people didn't
realize what what Tab could do or what how the
quality he had when he was on the ball. His
first two steps explosive if they're run by people, hopping
over people, cutting people back and watching people fall. So
it's a shame that people didn't get to see that.
But like I said, when when you talk about that

(23:17):
ninety World Cup and you talk about ninety four, you know,
when you say tab Ramos one of the best players
US had, he's the best player we've ever had, well,
I mean I can't listen. And that's not because he's here.
That's not because he's here, I promise you ask people
all over a little bit talk it's about that A
little bit. Not even close, man, not even close.

Speaker 4 (23:39):
You know that. Well, I mean I appreciate obviously, you know,
I can't comment on that, but you know, I really
appreciate that. Having said that, I think we were all
very fortunate to come up with, you know, in a
generation of players that had just a different mentality altogether,
you know, like we you know, because Matt. Back then
it was normal for us to play England and in

(24:02):
Scotland and Italy.

Speaker 3 (24:04):
You know, and during the week, you know, like we
we would.

Speaker 4 (24:07):
It was constant big games. We were never I don't
recall ever being in awe of any team we played
at any time, whether it was Brazil or Argentina, or
whether it was for something where it was just a
tournament or it was a friendly. We were never in
awe of any team, and I think, you know, and
by the way, it may have been because we didn't
know any.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
Better, you know.

Speaker 4 (24:29):
So so let's just say that we you know, we
can't always take credit for things. We were also always
the underdog, which is a little bit easier than where
we are now, of course, But at the same time,
I think I'm very fortunate because I knew I was
surrounded by guys who who just wanted to fight all
the time. And regardless, if you know, it's not like

(24:49):
we lost and put our heads down. We lost with
our with our heads high, because we always gave everything,
so there was nothing to worry about. Ever.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
Yeah, Listen, Boris said it the other day. When he
we took over to when he left, we played eighty
games as a national team. That's a lot of games
for nationally. I think a period of what three years
with Bora somewhere there two and a half three years,
so that's how much he believed that we needed to play.
And listen, we weren't playing. We played Fiorentina with Botti,
Stuth and the other guys. We got our rears handed

(25:19):
to us, but the fact that we were learning how
to cope with those kind of players, We were learning
to deal with those players. We went to Turkey, we
went to Russia, we went to China, we went to
Saudi Arabia, We played Argentina, we played Ivory Coast, we
played I mean you, we played some of the best.
We played England, Brazil, we played the best teams in
the world when Bora was here. And that's let's be honest.

(25:42):
What's there to be scared of? Once you faced Brazil
in Brazil, what's there to be afraid of? Saudi Arabia
and Saudi Arabia, you know what I mean? You play
England in England, what's there to be afraid of? Now,
it's just a matter of just going out and trying
to get try to find some sort of rhythm. When
we started playing, I'll tell you one thing you can
be afraid of.

Speaker 4 (26:01):
I was matched up against Roberto Carlos that.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
He was the left back.

Speaker 4 (26:04):
Yeah, and he was the only guy I've ever played
it against that where when I faked and I took
that touch and went quickly, he got there first. Every
time I was like, Wow, this is not good for me.

Speaker 2 (26:17):
Yeah, only the best left back ever to play the game.
He's a matchup on the night. Guys, excite for us
to take a break. When we come back, we're gonna
ask Marcelo about his greatest individual moment in a US jersey.

Speaker 3 (26:30):
And before we come back, please take the time to rate.

Speaker 2 (26:33):
Review and subscribe to Inside American Soccer with Tom Boger
and Tabramos wherever you get your podcast.

Speaker 3 (26:50):
Okay, welcome back to Inside American Soccer.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
I'm Matt Oyle here as always as tab Ramos and
Marcello Balboa. Guys, We're gonna go through a list of
questions that I think our fans want answered. Stuff that
you've experienced that the rest of us only get to
dream of.

Speaker 3 (27:07):
So let's just get to it.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
The craziest environment you ever played it, and we'll start
with you, Cella, because you are the guest.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
Wow, there's I mean environment as a hostile environment as
in yay.

Speaker 2 (27:22):
Dealer's choice, dealer choice that you think of you If
I say to you, you know what, playing the game
gives goosebumps?

Speaker 3 (27:29):
You your head goes to this environment. You know there's so.

Speaker 1 (27:35):
Many, but I'd have to go back to the first
time we stepped into Asteca. You know, I mean ninety
seven was a big game. We had ten players and
we got a result. But that day, you know, when
we walked out to that field, one hundred and twenty,
they didn't have seats, so there was one hundred and
twenty plus thousand people. The stadium was already full and
packed by the time we got there, and that was

(27:55):
two hours, an hour and a half, two hours before
the game. And we were walking out of the tunnel
and you go down the hallway because it kind of turns,
you go down the hallway and the stairs that go
to either side, and we walked out to the right
and from the top tier you saw this thing flying
down towards us. In about one hundred feet from us,

(28:16):
there was a mannequin being hung with the US jersey
on it. So you know, that just kind of like, yeah,
this is what And it wasn't done in like in
a mean way, but you know, every time you drive
up when you go to Reshteca, you always see three nothing,
two nothing, We're going to beat you, four nothing. So
the mannequin kind of fit in. But I gotta say

(28:36):
that was probably one of the one of the coolest
environments of one hundred and twenty thousand people that apps, well,
maybe one hundred and nineteen thousand, five hundred, cause we
had a few fans there. But it's it's it's intimidating
when you walk out on Sunday at one o'clock, the
factories are on, you can't breathe, the grass is thick

(28:57):
when you play it at Steca Stadium.

Speaker 4 (28:59):
So yeah, so I would say, so there's been a
few environments I'd like to think of the quality of
the environment, right, And I think you know Trinidad nineteen
eighty nine game when we qualified to the World Cup.
The environment of that game was just so heavy with
pressure that you know, as a player, you love it.
And by the way, I will say this, and I'm

(29:19):
not sure if Marcelo feels the same, but you know,
the thing is sometimes that fans don't realize is when
you're a player and you step on the field, once
you have anywhere any any more than fifteen or twenty
thousand fans, it really doesn't matter if it goes to
one hundred or one hundred and twenty. It's really all
the same because you really, you don't really hear a

(29:39):
lot on the field, so you're just focused on the
game anyway. Right, But so this is why I'm going
to pick the game that I'm going to tell you
the games that I'm going to tell you. But you know,
there's been a few select games like that Trinidad game
where there was a lot of pressure. There was the
There's the game in Rome against Italy in the World Cup,
which that was heavy. There's our game against Columbia the

(30:02):
Rose Bowl was extremely hot and that was heavy and
packed with like one hundred thousand people. So but but
I'd have to go back and say, like the most
difficult games for me where the environment really matter would
have to be playing away at Costa Rica and World
Cup qualifying. They would throw anything at you. I mean,

(30:23):
it was all on. It was before the var it
was before there were any suspensions for anything. Those environments
were really difficult to go play in Central America for
World Cup qualifying in the eighties and nineties.

Speaker 1 (30:37):
You don't like the batteries being thrown at it.

Speaker 3 (30:38):
Yeah, right, it's a rite of passage.

Speaker 2 (30:44):
So that is a big difference between soccer the way
you guys experienced it thirty years ago and the way
I think it happens most of most all over the
world today. What do you guys see is the biggest
difference between the ninety fourteen that laid so much of
the groundwork, really ran the hard yards, and this twenty

(31:04):
twenty six squad.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
I think the.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
Difference is is there's a lot of differences. You can
go back to where we were playing and now where
they're playing. I mean, you can't really compare the two
squads just because of the fact that you've got polistic
plan at ac Milan, you can got guys in England, Germany,
You've got them all over the place. We didn't have
that opportunity because in ninety four, unfortunately, it was very,
very difficult to take an American to your team because

(31:30):
you just didn't know anything about the American players. You
didn't know if they were you know, it was still
a recreational sport, we'll say here in the US for
a lot of people around the world. So the advantage
they have now is they've played in big games. Listen,
we didn't play with The biggest game we played in
was probably, you know, if they played Copa America ninety three.
I didn't play it because I was hurt. So my

(31:51):
biggest game was Stecca in ninety seven. You know, I
mean there was there was games like that. Ninety three,
we play mean ninety two, so there were big games,
but it was nothing like what it was at the
World Cup. So ninety I think was probably the biggest
thing we probably played before the ninety four World Cup.
So for these kids, the advantage and the difference is

(32:12):
they've had way many opportunities to play in Champions League
games to deal with that kind of pressure. So now
when you get to a game like the World Cup,
there's still pressure. Don't give me, you get the jitters,
and if you don't, there's something wrong with you. Because
you hear the national anthems being sung by ninety thousand people,
you know what I mean, it's going to be packed

(32:32):
the environments there. If that, I mean, if that doesn't
boil your blood, nothing nothing will. So I don't think
you can compare what was ninety four and what's now.
The only difference is maybe more pressure. Now they have
an opportunity to change this sport in this country and
take it to a different level. That's where they're at

(32:53):
right now. They can take it. We took it to
a level they're now, that opportunity is they can make
it a huge impact in the United States men and
women's soccer around the world about American players. So to me,
that's that's their biggest challenge right now.

Speaker 4 (33:10):
Yeah, I'll just I'll just add a little bit to that,
and yeah, I would say the same. It's experienced. This
team is a lot more experience, a lot more ready
for this World Cup then we could have could have
ever been in nineteen ninety four when we when we
had a host and like Marcel said, there was there
was very few of us at the time that that
that had to that came back from Europe to play.

(33:31):
It was at a time it wasn't just the fact
that we didn't have a league here so people couldn't
take a chance in American players, but also in Europe
you can only play three three foreign players in the
in the league at one time. So I remember I
was coming back from Betty's and we had five foreigners
on the team and when one of us was on
the field, if we got you know, the only way

(33:52):
that another foreigner could come on the field was this
if one foreigner got taken out, So it was you know,
it was really difficult. You were fighting actually against Brazilian
players and you know, in African players, and to get
one of those spots. It was really difficult to get
on a spot on a on a foreign team. But
I think havn't said all of those things. You know,
I'm really excited about what this team can do this summer.

(34:15):
We really have a great opportunity, with the setup we
have and with the experience our players have to do
something that's never been done before. And I truly believe
that we can. So I'm excited about that.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
Yeah, I think we all are.

Speaker 2 (34:29):
This team has a lot of talent, a lot of
opportunity to take it at least one step farther than
we've seen previous groups take it. In the previous segment,
Cello tab was talking about Roberto Carlos and how that
was probably the toughest opponent you ever faced.

Speaker 3 (34:49):
Yeah, no doubt yet, no doubt. Yes, Yeah, you faced Ramrio.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
We already talked about Batistutta a little bit, you faced
Roberto Baggio. Some of the greats, all time greats. Who
is the single toughest opponent you ever came up against?

Speaker 1 (35:06):
Ooh, you know, I could say about the Stutta because
he was this.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
He was that.

Speaker 1 (35:15):
But I like the physical matchup. So when you they
were bigger, this better for Adamosijo Zagi. Those kind of
guys were good. But uh, frickin ro Mario man Mario Beveto.
You take your pick. I don't care either one. It
was so difficult to watch the ball, read the play,

(35:36):
keep an eye on them. And when they got the ball,
I mean, look at the goal. Ro Mario runs at me.
I'm like, okay, please just pass the ball to the right.
Pass the ball, just pass it, you know what I mean.
And he passes it the Veto and I was like, okay,
Lexi your turn, you know what I mean. So I
would say, when you look at players like that he was.
He was very difficult because he was very crafty. He moved,

(35:57):
he didn't run. He's like, you know, I'm not going
to compare to messy. But he had the same kind
of activitch. He didn't run all the time. He just
kind of walked and got out of your peripheral and
as a defender, once he's out of that, now he
makes a run and you're like, oh crap, here he goes,
you know, what I mean. So he was his movement
was very difficult to watch him to predict to where
he was going to go and how he was going
to do with the ball, So he was probably. Romerio

(36:19):
Babeto were probably the two that was most difficult for me. Too, smaller,
the more difficult for me. Guys like tab are difficult
to mark because set gravity doesn't help me helps them
their balance of how they can run and keep moving,
you know, closer to the ground center of balance. So yeah,
Romerio and Babeto were probably the two difficult guys that

(36:41):
I had to mark.

Speaker 2 (36:42):
That was a great goal that they scored to eliminate
you guys in the round of sixteen. It was kind
of just a textbook what they did throughout that tournament.
A heartbreaking end to I mean, anytime you get eliminated,
it's going to be a heartbreaking end. But a great
tournament overall for the US, but specifically for you two guys.

(37:06):
And feel free to go first with whoever wants to
go first. What's your best individual moment in the jersey?
What's your best individual moment as a US men's national
team player?

Speaker 4 (37:18):
Oh, if I had to go first, I mean I
could as far as because you said moment, you didn't
say game, So I'm gonna say as moment, I'm going
to have to pick a goal because I didn't score
that many. I actually, you know, it's funny because I
scored World Cup qualifying goals in three separate decades, so
it would tell you that I just scored all the time,

(37:39):
and I really didn't.

Speaker 1 (37:40):
I just I spread them over decades.

Speaker 3 (37:43):
You chose a spots pretty so I had about.

Speaker 4 (37:45):
A goal for decade in me. So no, but I
think maybe the goal I scored against Costa Rica in Portland, Portland,
and I think maybe nineteen eighty seven, ninety seven, only
because you know I had I was coming back from
an ecl It was my first game back with the
national team and we really needed to win that game

(38:07):
because we were struggling a little bit in our group
and that kind of that gave us the oxygen to
kind of to qualify for France.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
And that was a banger that was from outside the box.
I remember was a Marcelo pass yep right, and it
was it was midway or late in the second half,
and it was a it was a scoreless game, and
if I recall you guys had all the possession for
about the previous half hour. It hadn't been able to

(38:35):
to to create any truly great scoring chances, and suddenly
tabbed from way downtown.

Speaker 1 (38:41):
Yeah, Pricky did a nice job. Pricky does all the
work done inside. He lays it back to me. You know,
I thought for challenge, I was going to lay it
to taps left foot, but I'm like, you know, we
need the goal today. We need the goal. So I
laid it to him and he hit the crap out
of it nice and low into a corner, and like
you said, we needed we needed that win. That was
we struggled. We went to Mexico, we got that one point,

(39:03):
which was huge. Then we had to go to Canada.
But that that if we wouldn't have won, that we
would have had. I think it was after that we
went to Mexico. We needed to beat Mexico. If we
didn't get that those three points or something like that,
it was. It was a close call that day. God,
I don't know, you know, I mean so many wonderful
moments with the national team, you know what I mean.

(39:24):
But I'm gonna say, God, my hundredth cap, my hundredth cap,
because when I started playing soccer, I'm not gonna lie,
I didn't know what a cap was. So I didn't
know what a cap was until I made the national team,
you know, because you never who who back in the

(39:46):
in the eighties and nineties talked about caps, you know
what I mean. So when you made the national team,
they explained what a cap was. But to be the
first player to to wear that jersey, you know, for
a hundred games, all the hard work that my dad
put into me and my mom, the sacrifices they'd made
of driving us as a kid, and all the sacrifices

(40:09):
they made, they got to celebrate that day with me.
And to be able to thank Pops for a hundred
games with the Nash, which back then was unheard of,
it meant the world to me. So I would say
I could say this, I could say the bicycle kick,
I could say the first World Cup. There's so many moments,

(40:30):
you know what I mean. But I think reaching one
hundred caps for a player, the longevity of being able
to do that and being able to celebrate it with
mom and dad, we don't get a lot of those
moments sometimes, so that was probably my best moment in
that national team jersey because I got to celebrate with
mom and dad.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
Yeah, special moment for you, special moment for the program,
and in time for us to take one more break.
We will be back in just a minute with Marcelo's
all time US men's national team starting eleven.

Speaker 3 (41:06):
You just write Tab's name in penn Okay, you know
that one.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
Is going to be in there.

Speaker 3 (41:11):
Thank you for listening to Inside American Soccer. Please rate,
review and subscribe it. We'll be right back.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
Okay, welcome back to Inside American Soccer. Tabramos and Marcelo
Balboa here with me, Matt Doyle. We are going to
get Marcelo in trouble with friends he's had for forty years.
That's that part of the show. So all respect to
everyone who's ever played for the US men's national team,

(41:51):
but it is time for you, Marcelo, to pick your
best eleven. Everyone is in their prime, right. You know
you have to win one match in the World Cup.
This is the US team that you're putting out there.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
Yeah, I tell you what. My bench is loaded, loaded,
But no, I'm going to stick to my era of
because it's unfair to put the guys that are playing
now you know what I mean and stuff like that.
So I'm gonna put Mule and goal. Okay, okay, I'm
going to put tabas right back. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

Speaker 2 (42:26):
You know what.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
I'm a sentimental guy. So I'm going to take Fernando
Clovico at right back because he is my dearest friend
who passed away of cancer, but playing in a World
Cup at almost forty years old, playing against Columbia, the
way he played, I gotta take him. I got Lexi,
I put myself, and I put Steve Tarundelo because I

(42:48):
thought Tarundelo for me, it was probably one of the
best left sided backs we've seen right side. He can
play either side. I got Thomas Dooley and John Harks
as a double six because I do like players are
going to attack, and they both can attack. I have
protection for Tab between hearts and duly because tabs the ten.
I don't want Tab wide. I want him in the
middle creating. Then I've got to Eric went all out

(43:11):
on the left because of his pace and I've seen
what he can do. Ernie Stewart down the right, and
I have Brian McBride up top.

Speaker 3 (43:18):
So you got a four two three one. How do
you feel about that?

Speaker 2 (43:21):
I like it. I like it.

Speaker 4 (43:22):
I was usually, you know, kind of I don't want
to say stuck on the right side, but I never
really got an opportunity to play on the left side
cutting inside. But I think this will, this would give
me that chance, So I'm excited about it.

Speaker 1 (43:33):
Yeah. Yeah, I'll let you float. I'll let you float.
Find the game, baby, find the game. That's all I was.

Speaker 4 (43:39):
And McBride, by the way, hard not to pick McBride, right,
I mean, yeah, you know that such a good nine.

Speaker 1 (43:45):
You can do everything well. Eric. Listen, Eric can get
in there. If we needed to slide into a four
four two, we can slide Eric up top with Brian McBride.
There's there's flexibility if I wanted to go three in
the back between Ernie and Tarndolo's wing backs, please. So
I went for the kind of multi kind of I
can switch formations and have the same eleven. So anybody

(44:05):
else I didn't pick. I am so sorry. I apologize.

Speaker 2 (44:10):
How much talk was there thirty odd years ago about
having that type of flexibility you're talking about now? Built
into an eleven. Is that something that Bora would say
or something that Bob Gansler would say, like, we're getting now, yeah,
you shouldn't, absolutely not.

Speaker 3 (44:27):
Huh.

Speaker 1 (44:27):
My name is Bora br A. We played four four two,
we play now, listen, I don't. Before Bora came in
and we went into a sweeper with gans we went
to a four, But there wasn't really much talk about
switching formations. Bora liked his four four two. It gave
him opportunity to push and it was advanced because when

(44:47):
you look at a four four two, the two wingers
could push up, you know what I mean. So, and
it was maybe a four to two four, you know
what I mean. But Bora's basic formation was always playing
out of before four two.

Speaker 4 (45:00):
And the scouting was very little, you know. So, and
you know, Matt, because you're you're involved in this all
the time, you know. And now coaches have not only
their own way to play, but it's about exploiting, you know,
opportunities on other teams and and and that wasn't so
much part of the picture back then. It was more about, Hey,
this is who we are. We're going to play four
four two? Are we going to play four three three,

(45:21):
or it's going to be four five one. But it
was just this is who we are, and if you're
if you're on the right side, that's your position. And
if I have to take you out, I'm replacing you
with someone else who can play that position. And so
there wasn't a lot of tactical, let's just say, tactical
adjustments at any point.

Speaker 1 (45:37):
I was talking to bar this weekend with all the players,
and he asked, he asked Clay Coleman, why you know
play against Columbia and he's like, I don't know. He goes,
because you were criminal. He says to him, you know
what I mean. We're laughing at going like, okay, where's
he going with this? He goes look up the lineups.
So he had everybody look up the lineups, and he
goes look at the difference between the games that he

(45:57):
played and the game that we were getting ready to play.
He goes, Valencia played every game, and that game Valencia
didn't play, he put in Avila, and with Avila, who
was much quicker because they saw us play, he switched
Clay Coyman and put in Fernando Clavico that day because
Fernando was twice as fast as Clay Shorter quicker, so

(46:20):
that was his tactical move.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
That was it.

Speaker 1 (46:21):
There was no changing of four to four two. It
was tactically changing one player for another. Because Columbia saw
that they could take advantage of our outside, so he
put in Fernando. So we didn't have tapes. Bory just
had to adjust when he saw who was going to play.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
One of the things that I remember of your career, Marcello,
is that you sort of floated. Sometimes you were a stopper,
which is a position that basically doesn't exist anymore. Sometimes
you were a sweeper, which is a position that basically
doesn't exist anymore. And then Dora comes and you're playing
a flat two with Alexi, you know, as a sort

(46:58):
of a traditional center. That just speaks to how much
the role of the defender has evolved, especially in the nineties,
but we see it even more I think today, or
at least the remnants of that today in how defenders
are playing the game.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
Yeah, I started off as a sweeper and then went
to a man. Marker Ganser came in. The Ganser had
Mike Wendischman in the back with Tritchie, so he put
me as a six, so versatility for me was good.
I played right back. In certain MLS games, I played
as a center forward. But the flexibility I think of
being able to play in a three man system of

(47:35):
four man system bill in the midfield was something that
was important. I think for for Bora, he wanted to
make sure that the two guys in the middle were
comfortable man marking, but they're also covering, comfortable covering for
each other and reading the game. The flexibility. You don't
see that too much anymore. You don't see that you're
a year either three or you're playing four, but you're

(47:57):
man marking. There's no sweeping, there's no it's just a
flat four or flat three. And I always liked the three,
to be honest with you, I don't know why, but
I felt comfortable with the three guys at times that
you were in the back with you know what I mean.
And I remember I think it was Samson tried LEXI,
myself and Pope back there in a three man system
and listen when you got Eddie Pope sitting behind you

(48:20):
as that guy in the middle, or I've got Eddie
Pope to my right, and I know the Pacy has
to help me cover in the mark space. I think
it comes down to is the trust you have in
the person next to you and the person that if
the more games you play, the more comfortable you feel.
Like I knew Lexi's routine like there was no tomorrow
because we played so many games together, and then Pope

(48:41):
started coming in. I started understanding how Pope liked to play.
So I think that's what we kind of we We
don't have that much that much anymore because there's so
many changes in club soccer. There's not you don't have
a peg. But when was the last time you can
remember a pairing that lasted more than three or four
years in an MLS? You know what I mean? It's
it's difficult.

Speaker 3 (49:01):
So I'm going to put you guys on the spot
to take us out, and I'm going to start with you. Marcello.
You're now the coach.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
You're now the coach of the New York Red Bulls,
and you have just signed nineteen year old Tabramos. Where
on the field does he play? How are you going
to get the best out of him?

Speaker 1 (49:23):
Wherever the hell he wants to I've seen tab plays,
so wherever the hell no, you know what, I think
that would be a conversation I would have with a
nineteen year old I try to understand him little more
where he's comfortable, where he feels safe, where he can
be creative and he can play his best. Because when
you play a player in a position where he's comfortable,
he's used to playing it, then you can get the

(49:45):
best out of him. So at nineteen years old, you're
not going to put the weight of a New York
Red Bulls team on him. So are you comfortable out
wide where you can run at players one on one?
Are you more comfortable to the middle so you can
go side to side. I think that's a conversation I
would have with Tab at nineteen, And I think at nineteen,
knowing Tab and watching him play at that ear, I
probably would have played him on the outside. I would

(50:06):
have played him at the outside, let him isolate himself
against one on one because you know what Tab does well.
Tab slows you down as a defender. And when he
slows you down his first step, boom, he does a
little he does a little dip and then the other
one is like see y'all. So I would I would
probably have played him on the outside at nineteen, just
so he can use his pace and as athleticism to

(50:27):
run out players.

Speaker 3 (50:28):
Play him inverted in a in a four three three
on the left side.

Speaker 1 (50:31):
Yeah, just let him play even you know what, four
two three one. Let him sit out there, let him
isolate himself. Anytime you get Tab at that at that
young age, I remember how well and how quick he was. Yeah,
I would. I would just put him in a position
where he is comfortable, where he's where he can isolate
himself one on one and he has space to run
out of a guy, because when he does that, you're

(50:52):
not stopping Tab.

Speaker 3 (50:53):
What do you think Tab, coach?

Speaker 4 (50:54):
I think I can do that.

Speaker 5 (50:55):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (50:56):
And by the way, I'll tell you.

Speaker 4 (50:58):
I'll tell you a little story. So when I'm went
to Spain, my first coach in Spain said to me,
ay Ramos, you know why we signed you here? And
I was like, no, coach, and he's like, well, you know,
we play in a four four to two. This was
Figuera is a small team that I signed with over there.

Speaker 1 (51:13):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (51:14):
And by the way, next to me on the four
four two, he goes, well, you're gonna play all the
way wide on the four four two, and next to
me was Tito Villanova, you know, so that's but anyway,
he goes, we're gonna circulate the bowl really quick to
get you to get you the ball on the right
side as quickly as possible. If if we get the
ball to you at a point where you can be
one v one without coverage, I want you to take

(51:36):
him on. Right, You're gonna take him on every time.
You're gonna beat the You're gonna beat that guy. And
you're gonna cross the ball and put it between the
six yard box and the nine in the penalty spot.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
Can you do that?

Speaker 4 (51:47):
And I go, yeah, coach, coach, I can do that,
And he goes, because if you can't, I'll find somebody
else who can do it.

Speaker 1 (51:56):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (51:56):
That That was life there.

Speaker 4 (51:57):
That was like my first day there.

Speaker 1 (52:00):
All right, I'm feeling pretty good.

Speaker 5 (52:01):
I can do it.

Speaker 3 (52:03):
I can do it. At least I knew the job.
But now now it's time to do this in reverse.

Speaker 2 (52:10):
Right, you have you're the coach of the Colorado Rapids,
and you have a twenty one year old Marcia. Because
center backs developed a little bit later, so you have
a twenty one year old Marcelo Balboa. How are you
gonna line up? Where is he going to play? What
is the what are the instructions going to be for
this twenty one year old, precocious bicycle kick in center

(52:31):
back you suddenly have on your hands.

Speaker 4 (52:33):
No, yeah, well I'm gonna I'll say this that I
it's pretty easy to pick a position. I would pick
them on the right side of a four to four
to two as a as a right sided center back.
I what I would do, though, is give them give
him an opportunity to get forward in certain situations. So
I would want to have a stay home number six
because Marcello, if anything, proved throughout his career, in particular

(52:55):
later in his career, as he got more comfortable and
obviously that comes with experience, he got to go forward
a lot more. He was a lot more freedom to
his game. So I would play him definitely on the
right side of that of the two center backs, and
I would have it stay at home number six. I
could potentially cover for him when he gets forward, and
obviously then use him as a weapon on set pieces

(53:16):
because he continues to be I think in terms of
MLS and what we've seen in the history of MLS
for the last you know, thirty years. I don't think
there has been a match in the opposing backs for
what Marcello in the opposing box, for what Marcello could
do on on set pieces on the attack.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
Yeah, coach, I can do that.

Speaker 3 (53:39):
I can do that. I think you guys, I'm glad.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
I'm glad we didn't play when there was var brother.
That's all I'm gonna say.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
Hallelujah, hallelujah a different time, at a wonderful time. Talking
to the U, to the two of you, taking a
trip down memory lane. I think all our listeners will
really choy this one for what it's worth. I think
both coaches made the right decision with how to employ
their new prodigies on their team. And to all our listeners,

(54:10):
thank you so much for listening to Inside American Soccer.
Please rate, review and subscribe. And once again, Marcelo, thank
you so much for joining us today. Absolutely wonderful.

Speaker 4 (54:21):
Thank you guys for having me