July 3, 2025 • 27 mins
Long before MLS dominated the American soccer landscape, grassroots clubs and passionate players were building the foundation for today's thriving soccer scene. The American Soccer Club Zone podcast takes us back to those formative days through the remarkable journey of Jim Rooney, whose career spans from Deer Park Celtic Soccer Club to Major League Soccer and coaching the U.S. National Youth Teams.
Host Jim Kilmeade and Rooney share stories from the early days of the Long Island Rough Riders, where professional contracts started at just $800 a month and players balanced construction jobs with soccer dreams. What emerges is a fascinating portrait of American soccer's evolution – from makeshift fields with "Roach Coach" concession trucks to today's professional pathways.
The conversation reveals the intense competitive culture that transformed the Rough Riders from an 0-2 start to championship contenders. "Practices were tougher than games," Rooney explains, describing daily training sessions where teammates battled for starting positions with such intensity that fistfights weren't uncommon. This fierce competitive spirit, managed by coaches like Alfonso Mandela, created a winning environment that propelled players like Rooney to MLS with the MetroStars and Miami.
Particularly compelling is Rooney's perspective on coaching the U.S. U-17 National Team, where he applied lessons from his playing days while adapting to a new generation. He shares insights on developing young talent and building the mental toughness needed for international competition, wisdom he now brings to the American Soccer Club New York's sporting committee.
For soccer fans interested in how American soccer grew from local leagues to today's professional structure, this episode offers a treasure trove of firsthand history and insights about the continuing evolution of the sport. Through Rooney's journey, we see how passion, sacrifice, and community-building created the foundation for American soccer's current success.
Thank you for listening! Visit us at ASCNewYork.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Good morning everyone and welcome to the American
Soccer Club Zone.
This is our weekly radiopodcast, the American Soccer
Club radio show and podcast.
We talk about everything local,long Island soccer, new York
Metro soccer, national,international, and today we have
a great guest.
But first this show is broughtto you by our incredible
sponsors and partners of theAmerican Soccer Club New York,
(00:27):
starting with LifeVac, ourJersey Front partners.
Lifevac have saved over 4,000lives to date.
The CEO and founder, artie Lee,and his LifeVacers around the
country are on a mission to savelives and they're doing it.
The American Soccer Club arepartners in that noble endeavor
Orlin Cohen Orthopedic GroupKeeping Us Healthy, a division
of Northwell Health, the largesthealth provider in the New York
metropolitan area.
(00:48):
Our Jersey Back Partners theincredible Orlin Co and
Orthopedic Group division hasstate-of-the-art facilities that
help athletes get back on thefield and they've done an
amazing job with us this year inour inaugural season in the
NPSL.
Our Uniform and Apparel Partnersare ASC New York.
Wear only Bologna, italy-basedMacron.
The motto is Be your Own Hero.
(01:08):
We love that Macron USheadquarters also is in
Bridgeport, connecticut, andthat is an incredible
convenience for us.
So we have our uniform partnerright across the Long Island
Sound.
And, of course, a-turf,america's top synthetic turf
manufacturer, a-turf Fields.
They last an industry-leading14.5 years from the Buffalo
(01:33):
Bills Stadium to the Sousa FCOrland and Cohen Complex where
we held our initial tryouts.
Here on Long Island.
A-turf provides a playingsurface most like natural grass
in pristine condition.
And BQE Soccer Partners thearchitects of the American
Soccer Club.
It's been in the works.
We'll talk a little bit aboutBQE today and how our guest was
involved in early conversationswith BQE.
And finally, top of HeroineAssociates, the top PR agency in
(01:53):
the country.
As far as I'm concerned, theyare unbelievable.
Thank you to my producer,stephen Coffey, and the studio
of KJOY at 98.3 here inbeautiful Farmingdale, long
Island, to learn more about theASC New York, the American
Soccer Club New York.
Go to ASCNewYorkcom.
Big games coming up, playoffson the line and a lot to talk
(02:13):
about, but the greatest thing wehave today is fellow Long
Islander.
We had to dial him up because,like a lot of people in New York
, they've left.
We're trying to get Jim back.
So today we have Jim Rooney.
Jim Rooney is a we'll talk alittle bit about his background,
but Jim Rooney is also one ofthe most influential individuals
on the ASC New York SportingCommittee that advises us both
(02:36):
on the big and small picture ofthe building of the American
Soccer Club.
He is also joined by locallegend and actually national US
legend, bob Montgomery, faroukQureshi and Perry Vanderbeck and
Mark Lugaris.
Mark Lugaris has been on thisshow already.
So, jim Rooney, welcome to theshow.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
How you doing, brother, how's it been?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
It's been good.
It's good.
I love that you haven't lostthe Long Island accent.
After all these years out oftown down in Florida, now in
South Carolina, you still keepit.
I think it's a point of pridefor you, isn't?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
it Absolutely, listen , absolutely.
But half the people I hang outwith are still up from you know,
or I talk on the phone.
It's the same thing with theguys from Long Island.
I'll keep in touch witheverybody up north and yourself,
as you know, yeah, all those up, but you know, yeah, all those,
but you know I got my buddy.
I was just speaking to DannyMuller yesterday, as you know,
our, our, our good friend.
(03:27):
So, yeah, I, I go up there nowtoo.
You know my family's stillthere, as you know.
So Exactly right.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
And Jim, I wanted you to tell everybody a little bit
about your background.
I journey being afirst-generation, you know,
American, let alone LongIslander, and a great Irish
family.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Great to have your parents still around.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Last time I saw your dad, he hadn't missed a beat
28-degree weather at Sousa,orland and Compton in the winter
, and he was the same guy that Iknew 30 years ago.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
So it's amazing, yeah , so Jimmy your background's
amazing.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
I know you started at the Deer Park Celtic Soccer
Club one of the best clubs andtop clubs to put out an enormous
amount of talent back in the70s, 80s and through the 90s and
I think still probably is today, but not to the way it was in
those early days.
I know you went on to play atFordham University and CW Post
ultimately is where you hadincredible success and even was
(04:23):
a kicker on the football team,which is a pretty cool thing.
I never had the guts to do it,jim, so you have to tell us
about how you got into that.
But the one point I made todayin preparation for having you on
this show now, which airs everySunday morning on KJU, I hear,
at 98.3 at 7 am, is I think I'mthe first person that signed
(04:43):
your first professional contractand I think I person that
signed your first professionalcontract and I think I might
have signed your lastprofessional contract when you
started with the Long IslandRoughriders, a new expansion
franchise in the old USISL, nowUSL, and then when you retired
in 2006, and you came back hereand finished.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
That's 100% right, Jimmy.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
The negotiations.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Remember how fierce they were.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Oh yeah, they were.
They were pretty tough, theywere pretty tough.
The second one was tougher thanthe first one, to be honest
with you.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, but it's one of those things and it's amazing
thinking back.
Me and Danny were talking aboutit yesterday, just laughing
about the contract negotiations.
You know, I was offered 800bucks, I wanted 1,000.
And the funny thing back thenpart of the conversation was I
(05:34):
don't know if you remember, Iwas playing in the Greek League,
so at the time I wasn't allowedto tell anybody how much I was
making at a game and stuff.
So I was making $500 a game.
And here I am, You're asking me$500 a game.
And here I am, You're asking meto take a $1,000 pay cut.
And we did.
We did.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
You know what Some guys didn't, jim, some guys
didn't, and I remember I stillsee Tommy Lips.
Tommy Lips is holding out for$1,000 a month and, as I said,
we had one player over that andeveryone else that was at the
top tier.
Like you, we had 800.
We had a budget Tommy Lips andRonan Weissman, two great guys.
Ronan was on the show last week.
(06:10):
They held out and they went toNew Jersey Imperials that's
right and the New York Fever,and I still hold it over their
head.
I go, you guys went there andyou got a couple extra hundred
dollars and you didn't winanything and you know, you
remember we had guys, obviouslymyself, Travis Rinker.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
You know, we played Oceanside together.
Adrian Gaetan.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
The Navajos Was that the Navajos?
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, the Navajos were national champions.
Runners-up, you know, and weplayed against Balboa's team in
California, you know.
And you know we played againstBalboa's team in California, you
know, and Culver City, you know, all that kind of stuff.
I didn't know that, yeah, yeah,so that was the team with
Oceanside.
We had Travis.
So, guys, you know me andTravis.
(06:57):
I was looking and I'm lookingat pictures.
So Travis and me have playedtogether since my father was the
Long Island select team coachfor the 1968 players.
So Travis was on that team.
What he played.
He grew up in Cold SpringHarbor but then we played on the
summer team Tony Noto's team inthe summer.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Santa Rosalia.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Oh, I remember that.
Yeah, we played on those teamstogether, I mean, and so it was
sort of like every one of us,even Tony Miola, when he came to
us we were like, listen, if wecould all play on the same
together, let's try and do it.
And it was just as you know,jimmy.
It was, you know, early days.
It was difficult, a lot ofsacrifice, but we were all
(07:38):
together.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Great friends, it's amazing Great teammates.
And so you know, yeah, it'samazing, great teammates.
And so you know, yeah, you'reborn in what year, jim 1968.
68.
I'm 61.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Right, so we're old guys, but I'm a very old guy.
Yeah, you were always the oldguy.
Don't ever forget that,remember when we told you that's
why you were general manager.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
That's right, because .
I couldn't keep up anymore,trust me.
I accepted a contract to be thegeneral manager Yep June of
1993.
And I was playing with GlennCove, which had a great team.
Danny was on the Forest Parkbut he played with us a little
(08:17):
bit too.
But it was the Northeast SuperLeague, was what we had.
He had the Greek League, he hadthe Northeast Super League.
Great people, great players,great guys that ran our teams.
They couldn't organize much ofanything, they had no business
acumen, but they loved the sport.
And so you develop certainloyalty to the Greeks, and I
played one year for the GreekAmericans with Jimmy McGill.
(08:37):
That became the New YorkNationals, probably the best
team I ever played on, with JackShannon, michael Collins, steve
Selesky, franco Panessa and awhole bunch of guys that had
long pro careers.
Little did I know that was aprecursor.
And then just playing for thefun of it, making less money
than you were, not as good aplayer as you were, but loving
it just as much as you did.
(08:58):
I think I was playing when Iwas approached by our mutual
friend Peter Collins.
He's done a lot for people likeyou and I and so many other
people that no one knows about.
Absolutely, he recommended mefor this position, having worked
with the New York Arrows in thefront office with these two
attorneys that were going to puta soccer team together and when
(09:19):
I accepted it, you know, Iactually took a pay cut as well,
but it was a full-time job andI had just gotten married
Probably not the best time to dostuff like this.
So I had two dogs, bought ahouse that I couldn't afford and
took a pay cut.
But I said, you know what, I'mnot going to get another chance
to do this.
And my gut feeling was twothings.
(09:39):
One is I thought I had a goodplan that we executed with the
New York Arrows to get out inthe community.
One is I thought I had a goodplan that we executed with the
New York Arrows to get out inthe community.
Tommy Mulroy was my partnerthere.
He taught me a ton Soccer.
Tom icon should be in the USSoccer Hall of Fame.
Maybe he will be, but inplaying in the Northeast Super
League and the Greek leagues andthe Cups, I knew where you were
.
I knew where Paul Reilly was.
(09:59):
I knew where all these greatplayers were and I'm like the
level of play was so high.
I said, if we can just get thebest local players, get them
onto one roof, get out in thecommunity.
I think we can play nationally.
Now, that was my goal, that wasmy objective.
Maybe it was a little bitfeeling pride of being here from
this area, but I actuallythought we could do it and I
(10:21):
sold it to the attorneys.
I said we're going to go local,we're going to have a lower
payroll than these other teams,but I think in the long run, I
think within two years, we canbe highly competitive, not a
national champion, and weactually exceeded our and I'll
give you one quick story.
Then I want to turn it over toyou because I want to know your
perspective.
(10:41):
But I remember after we lost ourfirst two games in 1994, we
went away in North New Jersey3-1.
Yeah, and we came home and soldout.
Matt was proud to have sold outthe old Mitchell Park, the
terrible Mitchell Park, with nolocker rooms.
We had trailers, we had themafia controlled the concessions
(11:01):
with the Roach Coach trucks.
It was terrible.
But we sold 4,100 tickets andthe place was packed and it was
freezing and we lost 1-0.
And then in the post-gamereception one of the owners came
up to me and goes you know, jim, good job with the turnout
tonight and the presentation wasoutstanding.
But I'm a little concerned thatthe Long Island's not going to
(11:23):
support the 0-24 Rough Ridersand I'm like I wanted to punch
him in the face.
But I basically said all right,you know what, I think we'll
get a win before it's over.
Hang in there, chuck, yeah.
And then you guys rattled off,you know probably 10, 12, 14
wins in a row.
So what's your recollection ofthat.
Did you have any idea what thatwould become?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Well, on that, the first thought I thought of was,
you know, at the beginning,alfonso, as you know, was so
intense and he was always like,hey, listen, we've got to go
undefeated all year.
All year, we're going to go24-0.
We've got to go 24-0, and hekept doing it.
And then, when we lost thefirst game, we started a chant
(12:07):
in the bus 23-1, 23-1 game.
We, we started a chant in thebus 23 and 1, 23 and 1, that's
the way we were.
But yeah, I remember all thatand the disappointment, like it
was almost like shock, like waita second, we're working hard,
we're doing our thing, we're not, and it just goes to show you.
I think now, and you probablyagree with me, that was probably
one of the best things thatever happened to us, you know,
(12:28):
because we didn't need to beshot down a little bit, because,
you know, we looked around andwe were like man, we got Ifley,
we got this, we got this player.
Now we got guys like ChrisHomerson in the running, the
young kid he could run.
You know, savarese, those arethe two puppies on our team, so
we'll take care of those.
They just graduated college, sowe'll take care of those guys.
(12:48):
And you know, we saw it.
And then that first yearremember, and then going to all
the way to Carolina and losing,and that was it.
That was the thing.
And that's when we all reallywere like you know what?
I think we all pushed just alittle bit harder.
Little did we know how hardthat we needed to push, but we
(13:10):
needed every moment of it.
We needed every moment againstMinnesota.
So it was a great lesson andyou know what?
It's the big lesson and thatlesson has never changed as I
move forward in coaching,especially with the youth
national teams, the residencyprogram.
When I was there, I mean, andseeing, because all those
players now they're in theirprime, you know Pulisic's 28,
(13:33):
now 27, and all those guys areyou know they're the main guys.
So you see those guys and thelessons learned.
It's totally, it's the samething.
You know, you really got to cometogether as a team and you know
how hard we and listen, we cametogether as a team but we, how
many times did we, how manyfistfights did I nearly have in
training.
You know, somebody was fightingevery single day.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
People don't realize that practices were tougher than
the games.
They were brutal because peoplewanted to start and in 1995, the
year two, we had added a lot oftalent and to start.
And in 1995, the year two, wehad added a lot of talent and it
made things highly competitive.
It made things very tough onthe coaching staff because it
was a tough team to manage,because they were strong
personalities, a lot of egos.
We brought Tony Miola in.
(14:17):
That raised the bar a littlebit, but I do love how Tony
Miola now came off the startinggoalkeeper for the World Cup in
Italy, for the US, and then fouryears later he's with us.
Yeah, I give myself a littlebit of credit for that.
Then I give Tony all the creditfor the fact that he was able
to check his ego with you guys.
(14:38):
He didn't check his ego at thedoor when he went out in the
public, but when he came down totraining.
You guys brought him right downto earth he's just a guy from
Kearney, a guy from Deer Parkand brought him right down to
earth.
But Tony bought in and Tony Iknew from and I see Tony today
now and talk to Tony today andTony's actually agreed to wear
(15:04):
the American Soccer Club NewYork jersey on his morning footy
podcast Paramount at.
Stanford or trying to get itdown.
He had a bit of a health setback and he was supposed to wear
it that weekend but I'm gladhe's back in action.
But Tony, I went back to Tonywhere I had been a sports
apparel rep for companies likeFila and Adidas.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah, zara, and I had a glove line, remember Zara.
Yeah, remember, royce, I had aglove line, remember Zara
remember, yeah, remember Royce,zara too.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Yeah, so Tony had a glove forRoyce.
It was named after him, it wasthe Miola.
It was my biggest selling gloveand I was a young rep in my
early 20s and we'd done a couple.
Then we went up to New Englandin the Gold Cup when the US beat
England.
If you remember that, jim, Idon't know if you remember that.
(15:49):
Yeah, I do, it was a huge upsetand the company was a lot of
English guys.
So Tony and I became veryfriendly after that because the
US national team was looking topush him out.
So when he was trying out forthe Jets you know the story he
was trying out.
He didn't make it.
But I would meet him up atHofstra where the Jets trained
there and I said listen, if thisdoesn't go well for you and I
hope it does we've got a prettyserious team here.
(16:11):
You know a lot of the guys fromyour youth and the coaches.
All right, fine, jim.
Then one day I went to pick himup for lunch and he got cut
that day, so we canceled lunch.
It didn't go well, but I stayedin touch and then, ultimately,
we brought him in and then youguys wrote history.
It was an amazing time, jim,looking back playing for Alfonso
Mandela.
(16:31):
He was a coach that nobody knewexcept he was out of Hoda.
I hired him because this guywore a suit and tie to LISFL
games both these Super Leaguegames.
I saw how he approached hiscoaching.
I saw Jimmy McGee was the guythat gave me my chance.
They ended up being a fantasticcombination together.
How did you take yourexperience?
(16:51):
Because I want you to talk alittle bit more about your
playing, not only your playingcareer, but uh, uh, because you
went from the rough riders tomajor league soccer, uh,
initially to the Metro stars andthen ultimately down to to
Miami Right and then had a greatrun there in Miami.
So just give us as concise asyou can.
(17:12):
What was it like jumping to MLS, into the Metro stores, across
the river, to Giant Stadium andthen down to Miami?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yeah, well, I have a very unique in terms of Rough
Rider relationship with Alfonso.
As players, we all do havesomewhat of a unique
relationship, and then you havewithin the group as well, but
Alfonso is the one who broughtme from the rough riders to the
MetroStars, to MLS.
He's the one who brought methere.
(17:41):
And Jimmy, you could tell.
And the one great thing aboutAlfonso, before I move on with
that, talk about a guy who'swilling to do whatever it takes
and understand the soccerplayer's mentality, an Irish one
with a bit of a temper, jim asyou know, you know, and a couple
of times and not only me, wehad a couple other guys too and
(18:05):
he had taken that and hepunished us.
He stood up to us.
He never thanked, but he knewat the end of the day that's
what he would take.
And at the end of the day, ifyou apologize and handle
training the next day, it wasforgotten and that's a rarity.
And he's the guy who, let'sface it, jimmy, I think I
brought a lot of more, becausewhen we weren't playing, you
(18:27):
know me, I stepped up and spoketo Alfonso.
He dealt with a lot with me andhe's the one who brought me to
the MLS, because he knew and hebelieved in me.
He pushed me to a certain leveland sometimes it went overboard
, but he also had an assistantcoach.
Jimmy McGill went overboard too, right, we all went overboard
(18:50):
every now and then, and but weall understood it, we never took
a personal.
But Alfonso, when he went tothe Metro stars, he had said to
me listen, come and train, comewith the team, train, cause we
always looked at train.
Remember me, gio, chris, armis,we all came together at Hoda,
every single one of us, and youknow just whoever wanted to
(19:11):
train.
We'd all train, and Alfonso wasthe guy who would train us.
You know, in the snow, itdidn't matter what it was.
So when it came down to it, hebecame the coach.
Now I'm with Metro Stars.
I have Gio there, we have Tonythere.
It was familiar and I could bemyself.
So I just always looked at itas like, listen, if I get the
(19:31):
opportunity to play at a higherlevel, don't forget, the money
wasn't the best at the time andI was working full-time
construction at the time.
So I didn't want to give up myfull-time job and I was married
and I had a baby on the way whenthe MetroStars were coming.
So I had to make decisions.
And sure enough, alfonso, itturned out.
It worked out that way.
(19:53):
And you know, going down to theMetroStars, alfonso got fired
and I thought to myself you knowwhat, as bad as it is, he's the
one who told me I was really,yeah, upset about it.
And sure enough he said listen,you just carry on, you do
whoever comes in, you do yourjob.
I'll be okay, you know.
And you know he really releasedus from any kind of issues and
(20:17):
you know you don't think that'sa big deal.
It could be a big deal at times.
You know, and Jim, you know youhad incredible.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
You played great for the Metro Astoria.
So then you went to Miami andyou probably played some of your
best soccer of your life and Iknow you had a great coach there
.
Taking all that experience youhad, you ended up becoming
finishing up with the RoughRiders and retiring in 95, 96.
But you went right.
(20:44):
You got into the coaching ofthe U17 national team.
Had it having all thesedifferent coaches Ray Hudson,
alfonso Mandelo, jimmy Migio youknow everybody in between,
including your dad.
How did that affect you whenyou came to the U17 national
team, outside of the obvious,which is clearly, you could deal
with any kind of player.
Nobody was going to intimidateyou.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Yeah, the amazing thing with all those kids when
you first get down there youjust can't help but say to
yourself, okay, he's sort oflike that player that I played
with.
You kind of subconsciously say,oh, he's similar, like him,
okay, here's a personality.
Okay, he's fiery, he's here,you know.
So it worked really wellbecause you know it was a strict
(21:23):
thing.
And then playing for the LongIsland Roughriders if you did
not, we didn't lose many games.
So Alfonso's theory was youplay, you win, you stay on and
you know how hard it is.
And so we had.
That's why the training was sobrutal and we had all that.
So I wanted to bring I believedin that way and I wanted to
bring that to that team because,let's face it, jim, I mean the
(21:47):
rules are a little different thetackling A lot of those US
national team kids at the timewhen they'd go back to the
developing academy teams, thecoaches, instead of pushing
those kids, they'd give themcarte blanche, like I'll do what
you want, like, and we wantedthem always to be pushed.
So I was always pushing but alsokeeping them.
I was not the serious side.
(22:07):
This is probably the first timeI've ever said this, but it's
sort of like you know theintensity of those kids living
each and every day, training inthe morning, working out before
they come to train.
Then they go to school, butit's all together.
But sometimes you know, andespecially when kids are not
starting or they're not in agood way in training, they're
hurt or whatever it is mentally,you know, when we're in those
(22:29):
meetings sometimes I catch theireye behind that and I just give
them the finger, jim, to break,to crack, and now they're
looking at me like, oh my God.
Or just looking at them and say, hey, turn around, face it.
You know something to make itlike break the tension.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
And that's the mental side of the whole thing, jim,
and, as I said, the generationthat you came from, I think
because our families were verysimilar, it was very blue collar
.
Long Island was a differentplace.
It's still a great place, butmost of our families were not
wealthy.
They had just enough to doanything they needed to do for
their kids.
They worked their ass off.
They were at every game we had,but you had to fend for
(23:07):
yourself a little bit, andthat's different in a generation
today.
So you know, with the AmericanSoccer Club New York that we
formed Jim Club New York, thatwe formed Jim and then be able
to bring you on.
One of the great things aboutit is trying to build the back
office staff of a club so we canget advice.
Now our season's coming to anend, now our inaugural season,
and we're going to be leaning onyou guys.
In fact, we're going to behaving an off-site meeting down
in Florida when we get together.
(23:29):
What's your thoughts on theAmerican Soccer Club New York
based on?
I know you've come up to a fewgames.
You were there at the tryoutsand you're staying on top of
everything.
What's your thoughts on?
It's a different era here, 30years from now, from when you
and I first started workingtogether.
What's your thoughts on theclub?
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Yeah, it's incredible , I mean the start that you see
right now and you can see, like,the trainings, like remember,
when we first started we trainedthe warm-up.
Remember the warm-up we did.
Everybody on Long Islandstarted copying us doing the
warm-up.
Everybody travel teams, yeah,what Alfonso did, right, and now
(24:07):
I think, all the players withmedia, they're well aware of how
to warm up, how to do things.
So you see, players are moreathletic, they're more seasoned
and you just see the way it is.
The exciting thing for me, jim,is, if you just go by this Gold
Cup game that we just had, likeLuna, for players that are
playing for the American SoccerClub right now, at Diego Luna,
(24:31):
okay, he scored two goals, right, he scored two goals for that
team.
And three years ago he wasplaying for El Paso in USL,
right, okay, three years ago hewas playing there.
And I looked at the Guatemalanteam, right, and the kid who
scored for that I don't know ifyou saw that go and his name is
Escobar.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah, from Massachusetts.
Right, he's from.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Massachusetts.
Okay, and so the opportunityhe'd still be able to play If
you put in the time.
And it doesn't matter where youare and you just have to
recognize, put in the time andyou know how to do it Work out.
I mean, it's a lot of time.
You have to be ready when theopportunity presents itself.
And Jim, the amazing thing is.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
You can appreciate this, be with the U-17s.
When we signed the 16-year-oldDylan Lopez from Ronkonkoma
Kinnickwad High School, LakeGrove, Newfield, and he got into
two games, Jim, and that's thekey.
We said we were going to dothis, but it's hard.
I give John Fitzgerald andeverybody a lot of credit
because they took a chance.
Hey, Jim, we can go on for twomore hours, so you're coming
(25:30):
back again.
I hope you don't mind, you haveto come back again.
So this has been great to talkto Jim Rooney, one of the
greatest players that have evercome out of Long Island and one
of the great characters thathave ever come out of Long
Island and became one of thebest coaches to come out of Long
Island.
We're thankful to have him withthe American Soccer Club New
York.
And, Jim, I do look forward toseeing you in person down in
Florida in probably a month.
(25:51):
Hopefully we go far in theplayoffs and it's going to be
somewhere in late August.
But anyway, Jim Rooney, thankyou for coming on the American
Soccer Club Zone today.
Can't thank you enough.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Thanks a lot, Jim.
Look forward to seeing you soon, Paul.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
All the best, jimmy.
Thank you, you're coming back.
Hey, I'd like to thank KJOY98.3, sunday morning 7 am.
Every Sunday morning you'regoing to get a lot of soccer
with the American Soccer Club.
Thank our sponsors, lifac,erland Cohen, hrf, macron, todd
Shapiro, associates, and I'dlike to thank the American
(26:24):
Soccer Club sporting directorand the great Jim Rooney, who we
just spoke with.
We'll be back.
Please check us out onASCNewYorkcom, on Instagram, on
Facebook, on LinkedIn and on X.
We've got a great presencethere and a big story coming up
with CBS Sports where DylanLopez will be featured in an
article that will be seennationwide, and that interview
(26:44):
is coming up.
We'll share the information toaccess that interview in the
days to come.
So, for everyone here at KJOYand the American Soccer Club
Zone, this is Jim Kilmeade.
It's been a pleasure to be yourhost today.
Good morning everyone and welcome to the American
Soccer Club Zone.
This is our weekly radiopodcast, the American Soccer
Club radio show and podcast.
We talk about everything local,long Island soccer, new York
Metro soccer, national,international, and today we have
a great guest.
But first this show is broughtto you by our incredible
sponsors and partners of theAmerican Soccer Club New York,
(00:27):
starting with LifeVac, ourJersey Front partners.
Lifevac have saved over 4,000lives to date.
The CEO and founder, artie Lee,and his LifeVacers around the
country are on a mission to savelives and they're doing it.
The American Soccer Club arepartners in that noble endeavor
Orlin Cohen Orthopedic GroupKeeping Us Healthy, a division
of Northwell Health, the largesthealth provider in the New York
metropolitan area.
(00:48):
Our Jersey Back Partners theincredible Orlin Co and
Orthopedic Group division hasstate-of-the-art facilities that
help athletes get back on thefield and they've done an
amazing job with us this year inour inaugural season in the
NPSL.
Our Uniform and Apparel Partnersare ASC New York.
Wear only Bologna, italy-basedMacron.
The motto is Be your Own Hero.
(01:08):
We love that Macron USheadquarters also is in
Bridgeport, connecticut, andthat is an incredible
convenience for us.
So we have our uniform partnerright across the Long Island
Sound.
And, of course, a-turf,america's top synthetic turf
manufacturer, a-turf Fields.
They last an industry-leading14.5 years from the Buffalo
(01:33):
Bills Stadium to the Sousa FCOrland and Cohen Complex where
we held our initial tryouts.
Here on Long Island.
A-turf provides a playingsurface most like natural grass
in pristine condition.
And BQE Soccer Partners thearchitects of the American
Soccer Club.
It's been in the works.
We'll talk a little bit aboutBQE today and how our guest was
involved in early conversationswith BQE.
And finally, top of HeroineAssociates, the top PR agency in
(01:53):
the country.
As far as I'm concerned, theyare unbelievable.
Thank you to my producer,stephen Coffey, and the studio
of KJOY at 98.3 here inbeautiful Farmingdale, long
Island, to learn more about theASC New York, the American
Soccer Club New York.
Go to ASCNewYorkcom.
Big games coming up, playoffson the line and a lot to talk
(02:13):
about, but the greatest thing wehave today is fellow Long
Islander.
We had to dial him up because,like a lot of people in New York
, they've left.
We're trying to get Jim back.
So today we have Jim Rooney.
Jim Rooney is a we'll talk alittle bit about his background,
but Jim Rooney is also one ofthe most influential individuals
on the ASC New York SportingCommittee that advises us both
(02:36):
on the big and small picture ofthe building of the American
Soccer Club.
He is also joined by locallegend and actually national US
legend, bob Montgomery, faroukQureshi and Perry Vanderbeck and
Mark Lugaris.
Mark Lugaris has been on thisshow already.
So, jim Rooney, welcome to theshow.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
How you doing, brother, how's it been?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
It's been good.
It's good.
I love that you haven't lostthe Long Island accent.
After all these years out oftown down in Florida, now in
South Carolina, you still keepit.
I think it's a point of pridefor you, isn't?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
it Absolutely, listen , absolutely.
But half the people I hang outwith are still up from you know,
or I talk on the phone.
It's the same thing with theguys from Long Island.
I'll keep in touch witheverybody up north and yourself,
as you know, yeah, all those up, but you know, yeah, all those,
but you know I got my buddy.
I was just speaking to DannyMuller yesterday, as you know,
our, our, our good friend.
(03:27):
So, yeah, I, I go up there nowtoo.
You know my family's stillthere, as you know.
So Exactly right.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
And Jim, I wanted you to tell everybody a little bit
about your background.
I journey being afirst-generation, you know,
American, let alone LongIslander, and a great Irish
family.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Great to have your parents still around.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Last time I saw your dad, he hadn't missed a beat
28-degree weather at Sousa,orland and Compton in the winter
, and he was the same guy that Iknew 30 years ago.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
So it's amazing, yeah , so Jimmy your background's
amazing.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
I know you started at the Deer Park Celtic Soccer
Club one of the best clubs andtop clubs to put out an enormous
amount of talent back in the70s, 80s and through the 90s and
I think still probably is today, but not to the way it was in
those early days.
I know you went on to play atFordham University and CW Post
ultimately is where you hadincredible success and even was
(04:23):
a kicker on the football team,which is a pretty cool thing.
I never had the guts to do it,jim, so you have to tell us
about how you got into that.
But the one point I made todayin preparation for having you on
this show now, which airs everySunday morning on KJU, I hear,
at 98.3 at 7 am, is I think I'mthe first person that signed
(04:43):
your first professional contractand I think I person that
signed your first professionalcontract and I think I might
have signed your lastprofessional contract when you
started with the Long IslandRoughriders, a new expansion
franchise in the old USISL, nowUSL, and then when you retired
in 2006, and you came back hereand finished.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
That's 100% right, Jimmy.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
The negotiations.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Remember how fierce they were.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Oh yeah, they were.
They were pretty tough, theywere pretty tough.
The second one was tougher thanthe first one, to be honest
with you.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yeah, but it's one of those things and it's amazing
thinking back.
Me and Danny were talking aboutit yesterday, just laughing
about the contract negotiations.
You know, I was offered 800bucks, I wanted 1,000.
And the funny thing back thenpart of the conversation was I
(05:34):
don't know if you remember, Iwas playing in the Greek League,
so at the time I wasn't allowedto tell anybody how much I was
making at a game and stuff.
So I was making $500 a game.
And here I am, You're asking me$500 a game.
And here I am, You're asking meto take a $1,000 pay cut.
And we did.
We did.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
You know what Some guys didn't, jim, some guys
didn't, and I remember I stillsee Tommy Lips.
Tommy Lips is holding out for$1,000 a month and, as I said,
we had one player over that andeveryone else that was at the
top tier.
Like you, we had 800.
We had a budget Tommy Lips andRonan Weissman, two great guys.
Ronan was on the show last week.
(06:10):
They held out and they went toNew Jersey Imperials that's
right and the New York Fever,and I still hold it over their
head.
I go, you guys went there andyou got a couple extra hundred
dollars and you didn't winanything and you know, you
remember we had guys, obviouslymyself, Travis Rinker.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
You know, we played Oceanside together.
Adrian Gaetan.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
The Navajos Was that the Navajos?
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, the Navajos were national champions.
Runners-up, you know, and weplayed against Balboa's team in
California, you know.
And you know we played againstBalboa's team in California, you
know, and Culver City, you know, all that kind of stuff.
I didn't know that, yeah, yeah,so that was the team with
Oceanside.
We had Travis.
So, guys, you know me andTravis.
(06:57):
I was looking and I'm lookingat pictures.
So Travis and me have playedtogether since my father was the
Long Island select team coachfor the 1968 players.
So Travis was on that team.
What he played.
He grew up in Cold SpringHarbor but then we played on the
summer team Tony Noto's team inthe summer.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Santa Rosalia.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Oh, I remember that.
Yeah, we played on those teamstogether, I mean, and so it was
sort of like every one of us,even Tony Miola, when he came to
us we were like, listen, if wecould all play on the same
together, let's try and do it.
And it was just as you know,jimmy.
It was, you know, early days.
It was difficult, a lot ofsacrifice, but we were all
(07:38):
together.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Great friends, it's amazing Great teammates.
And so you know, yeah, it'samazing, great teammates.
And so you know, yeah, you'reborn in what year, jim 1968.
68.
I'm 61.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Right, so we're old guys, but I'm a very old guy.
Yeah, you were always the oldguy.
Don't ever forget that,remember when we told you that's
why you were general manager.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
That's right, because .
I couldn't keep up anymore,trust me.
I accepted a contract to be thegeneral manager Yep June of
1993.
And I was playing with GlennCove, which had a great team.
Danny was on the Forest Parkbut he played with us a little
(08:17):
bit too.
But it was the Northeast SuperLeague, was what we had.
He had the Greek League, he hadthe Northeast Super League.
Great people, great players,great guys that ran our teams.
They couldn't organize much ofanything, they had no business
acumen, but they loved the sport.
And so you develop certainloyalty to the Greeks, and I
played one year for the GreekAmericans with Jimmy McGill.
(08:37):
That became the New YorkNationals, probably the best
team I ever played on, with JackShannon, michael Collins, steve
Selesky, franco Panessa and awhole bunch of guys that had
long pro careers.
Little did I know that was aprecursor.
And then just playing for thefun of it, making less money
than you were, not as good aplayer as you were, but loving
it just as much as you did.
(08:58):
I think I was playing when Iwas approached by our mutual
friend Peter Collins.
He's done a lot for people likeyou and I and so many other
people that no one knows about.
Absolutely, he recommended mefor this position, having worked
with the New York Arrows in thefront office with these two
attorneys that were going to puta soccer team together and when
(09:19):
I accepted it, you know, Iactually took a pay cut as well,
but it was a full-time job andI had just gotten married
Probably not the best time to dostuff like this.
So I had two dogs, bought ahouse that I couldn't afford and
took a pay cut.
But I said, you know what, I'mnot going to get another chance
to do this.
And my gut feeling was twothings.
(09:39):
One is I thought I had a goodplan that we executed with the
New York Arrows to get out inthe community.
One is I thought I had a goodplan that we executed with the
New York Arrows to get out inthe community.
Tommy Mulroy was my partnerthere.
He taught me a ton Soccer.
Tom icon should be in the USSoccer Hall of Fame.
Maybe he will be, but inplaying in the Northeast Super
League and the Greek leagues andthe Cups, I knew where you were
.
I knew where Paul Reilly was.
(09:59):
I knew where all these greatplayers were and I'm like the
level of play was so high.
I said, if we can just get thebest local players, get them
onto one roof, get out in thecommunity.
I think we can play nationally.
Now, that was my goal, that wasmy objective.
Maybe it was a little bitfeeling pride of being here from
this area, but I actuallythought we could do it and I
(10:21):
sold it to the attorneys.
I said we're going to go local,we're going to have a lower
payroll than these other teams,but I think in the long run, I
think within two years, we canbe highly competitive, not a
national champion, and weactually exceeded our and I'll
give you one quick story.
Then I want to turn it over toyou because I want to know your
perspective.
(10:41):
But I remember after we lost ourfirst two games in 1994, we
went away in North New Jersey3-1.
Yeah, and we came home and soldout.
Matt was proud to have sold outthe old Mitchell Park, the
terrible Mitchell Park, with nolocker rooms.
We had trailers, we had themafia controlled the concessions
(11:01):
with the Roach Coach trucks.
It was terrible.
But we sold 4,100 tickets andthe place was packed and it was
freezing and we lost 1-0.
And then in the post-gamereception one of the owners came
up to me and goes you know, jim, good job with the turnout
tonight and the presentation wasoutstanding.
But I'm a little concerned thatthe Long Island's not going to
(11:23):
support the 0-24 Rough Ridersand I'm like I wanted to punch
him in the face.
But I basically said all right,you know what, I think we'll
get a win before it's over.
Hang in there, chuck, yeah.
And then you guys rattled off,you know probably 10, 12, 14
wins in a row.
So what's your recollection ofthat.
Did you have any idea what thatwould become?
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Well, on that, the first thought I thought of was,
you know, at the beginning,alfonso, as you know, was so
intense and he was always like,hey, listen, we've got to go
undefeated all year.
All year, we're going to go24-0.
We've got to go 24-0, and hekept doing it.
And then, when we lost thefirst game, we started a chant
(12:07):
in the bus 23-1, 23-1 game.
We, we started a chant in thebus 23 and 1, 23 and 1, that's
the way we were.
But yeah, I remember all thatand the disappointment, like it
was almost like shock, like waita second, we're working hard,
we're doing our thing, we're not, and it just goes to show you.
I think now, and you probablyagree with me, that was probably
one of the best things thatever happened to us, you know,
(12:28):
because we didn't need to beshot down a little bit, because,
you know, we looked around andwe were like man, we got Ifley,
we got this, we got this player.
Now we got guys like ChrisHomerson in the running, the
young kid he could run.
You know, savarese, those arethe two puppies on our team, so
we'll take care of those.
They just graduated college, sowe'll take care of those guys.
(12:48):
And you know, we saw it.
And then that first yearremember, and then going to all
the way to Carolina and losing,and that was it.
That was the thing.
And that's when we all reallywere like you know what?
I think we all pushed just alittle bit harder.
Little did we know how hardthat we needed to push, but we
(13:10):
needed every moment of it.
We needed every moment againstMinnesota.
So it was a great lesson andyou know what?
It's the big lesson and thatlesson has never changed as I
move forward in coaching,especially with the youth
national teams, the residencyprogram.
When I was there, I mean, andseeing, because all those
players now they're in theirprime, you know Pulisic's 28,
(13:33):
now 27, and all those guys areyou know they're the main guys.
So you see those guys and thelessons learned.
It's totally, it's the samething.
You know, you really got to cometogether as a team and you know
how hard we and listen, we cametogether as a team but we, how
many times did we, how manyfistfights did I nearly have in
training.
You know, somebody was fightingevery single day.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
People don't realize that practices were tougher than
the games.
They were brutal because peoplewanted to start and in 1995, the
year two, we had added a lot oftalent and to start.
And in 1995, the year two, wehad added a lot of talent and it
made things highly competitive.
It made things very tough onthe coaching staff because it
was a tough team to manage,because they were strong
personalities, a lot of egos.
We brought Tony Miola in.
(14:17):
That raised the bar a littlebit, but I do love how Tony
Miola now came off the startinggoalkeeper for the World Cup in
Italy, for the US, and then fouryears later he's with us.
Yeah, I give myself a littlebit of credit for that.
Then I give Tony all the creditfor the fact that he was able
to check his ego with you guys.
(14:38):
He didn't check his ego at thedoor when he went out in the
public, but when he came down totraining.
You guys brought him right downto earth he's just a guy from
Kearney, a guy from Deer Parkand brought him right down to
earth.
But Tony bought in and Tony Iknew from and I see Tony today
now and talk to Tony today andTony's actually agreed to wear
(15:04):
the American Soccer Club NewYork jersey on his morning footy
podcast Paramount at.
Stanford or trying to get itdown.
He had a bit of a health setback and he was supposed to wear
it that weekend but I'm gladhe's back in action.
But Tony, I went back to Tonywhere I had been a sports
apparel rep for companies likeFila and Adidas.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Yeah, zara, and I had a glove line, remember Zara.
Yeah, remember, royce, I had aglove line, remember Zara
remember, yeah, remember Royce,zara too.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Yeah, so Tony had a glove forRoyce.
It was named after him, it wasthe Miola.
It was my biggest selling gloveand I was a young rep in my
early 20s and we'd done a couple.
Then we went up to New Englandin the Gold Cup when the US beat
England.
If you remember that, jim, Idon't know if you remember that.
(15:49):
Yeah, I do, it was a huge upsetand the company was a lot of
English guys.
So Tony and I became veryfriendly after that because the
US national team was looking topush him out.
So when he was trying out forthe Jets you know the story he
was trying out.
He didn't make it.
But I would meet him up atHofstra where the Jets trained
there and I said listen, if thisdoesn't go well for you and I
hope it does we've got a prettyserious team here.
(16:11):
You know a lot of the guys fromyour youth and the coaches.
All right, fine, jim.
Then one day I went to pick himup for lunch and he got cut
that day, so we canceled lunch.
It didn't go well, but I stayedin touch and then, ultimately,
we brought him in and then youguys wrote history.
It was an amazing time, jim,looking back playing for Alfonso
Mandela.
(16:31):
He was a coach that nobody knewexcept he was out of Hoda.
I hired him because this guywore a suit and tie to LISFL
games both these Super Leaguegames.
I saw how he approached hiscoaching.
I saw Jimmy McGee was the guythat gave me my chance.
They ended up being a fantasticcombination together.
How did you take yourexperience?
(16:51):
Because I want you to talk alittle bit more about your
playing, not only your playingcareer, but uh, uh, because you
went from the rough riders tomajor league soccer, uh,
initially to the Metro stars andthen ultimately down to to
Miami Right and then had a greatrun there in Miami.
So just give us as concise asyou can.
(17:12):
What was it like jumping to MLS, into the Metro stores, across
the river, to Giant Stadium andthen down to Miami?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yeah, well, I have a very unique in terms of Rough
Rider relationship with Alfonso.
As players, we all do havesomewhat of a unique
relationship, and then you havewithin the group as well, but
Alfonso is the one who broughtme from the rough riders to the
MetroStars, to MLS.
He's the one who brought methere.
(17:41):
And Jimmy, you could tell.
And the one great thing aboutAlfonso, before I move on with
that, talk about a guy who'swilling to do whatever it takes
and understand the soccerplayer's mentality, an Irish one
with a bit of a temper, jim asyou know, you know, and a couple
of times and not only me, wehad a couple other guys too and
(18:05):
he had taken that and hepunished us.
He stood up to us.
He never thanked, but he knewat the end of the day that's
what he would take.
And at the end of the day, ifyou apologize and handle
training the next day, it wasforgotten and that's a rarity.
And he's the guy who, let'sface it, jimmy, I think I
brought a lot of more, becausewhen we weren't playing, you
(18:27):
know me, I stepped up and spoketo Alfonso.
He dealt with a lot with me andhe's the one who brought me to
the MLS, because he knew and hebelieved in me.
He pushed me to a certain leveland sometimes it went overboard
, but he also had an assistantcoach.
Jimmy McGill went overboard too, right, we all went overboard
(18:50):
every now and then, and but weall understood it, we never took
a personal.
But Alfonso, when he went tothe Metro stars, he had said to
me listen, come and train, comewith the team, train, cause we
always looked at train.
Remember me, gio, chris, armis,we all came together at Hoda,
every single one of us, and youknow just whoever wanted to
(19:11):
train.
We'd all train, and Alfonso wasthe guy who would train us.
You know, in the snow, itdidn't matter what it was.
So when it came down to it, hebecame the coach.
Now I'm with Metro Stars.
I have Gio there, we have Tonythere.
It was familiar and I could bemyself.
So I just always looked at itas like, listen, if I get the
(19:31):
opportunity to play at a higherlevel, don't forget, the money
wasn't the best at the time andI was working full-time
construction at the time.
So I didn't want to give up myfull-time job and I was married
and I had a baby on the way whenthe MetroStars were coming.
So I had to make decisions.
And sure enough, alfonso, itturned out.
It worked out that way.
(19:53):
And you know, going down to theMetroStars, alfonso got fired
and I thought to myself you knowwhat, as bad as it is, he's the
one who told me I was really,yeah, upset about it.
And sure enough he said listen,you just carry on, you do
whoever comes in, you do yourjob.
I'll be okay, you know.
And you know he really releasedus from any kind of issues and
(20:17):
you know you don't think that'sa big deal.
It could be a big deal at times.
You know, and Jim, you know youhad incredible.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
You played great for the Metro Astoria.
So then you went to Miami andyou probably played some of your
best soccer of your life and Iknow you had a great coach there
.
Taking all that experience youhad, you ended up becoming
finishing up with the RoughRiders and retiring in 95, 96.
But you went right.
(20:44):
You got into the coaching ofthe U17 national team.
Had it having all thesedifferent coaches Ray Hudson,
alfonso Mandelo, jimmy Migio youknow everybody in between,
including your dad.
How did that affect you whenyou came to the U17 national
team, outside of the obvious,which is clearly, you could deal
with any kind of player.
Nobody was going to intimidateyou.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Yeah, the amazing thing with all those kids when
you first get down there youjust can't help but say to
yourself, okay, he's sort oflike that player that I played
with.
You kind of subconsciously say,oh, he's similar, like him,
okay, here's a personality.
Okay, he's fiery, he's here,you know.
So it worked really wellbecause you know it was a strict
(21:23):
thing.
And then playing for the LongIsland Roughriders if you did
not, we didn't lose many games.
So Alfonso's theory was youplay, you win, you stay on and
you know how hard it is.
And so we had.
That's why the training was sobrutal and we had all that.
So I wanted to bring I believedin that way and I wanted to
bring that to that team because,let's face it, jim, I mean the
(21:47):
rules are a little different thetackling A lot of those US
national team kids at the timewhen they'd go back to the
developing academy teams, thecoaches, instead of pushing
those kids, they'd give themcarte blanche, like I'll do what
you want, like, and we wantedthem always to be pushed.
So I was always pushing but alsokeeping them.
I was not the serious side.
(22:07):
This is probably the first timeI've ever said this, but it's
sort of like you know theintensity of those kids living
each and every day, training inthe morning, working out before
they come to train.
Then they go to school, butit's all together.
But sometimes you know, andespecially when kids are not
starting or they're not in agood way in training, they're
hurt or whatever it is mentally,you know, when we're in those
(22:29):
meetings sometimes I catch theireye behind that and I just give
them the finger, jim, to break,to crack, and now they're
looking at me like, oh my God.
Or just looking at them and say, hey, turn around, face it.
You know something to make itlike break the tension.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
And that's the mental side of the whole thing, jim,
and, as I said, the generationthat you came from, I think
because our families were verysimilar, it was very blue collar
.
Long Island was a differentplace.
It's still a great place, butmost of our families were not
wealthy.
They had just enough to doanything they needed to do for
their kids.
They worked their ass off.
They were at every game we had,but you had to fend for
(23:07):
yourself a little bit, andthat's different in a generation
today.
So you know, with the AmericanSoccer Club New York that we
formed Jim Club New York, thatwe formed Jim and then be able
to bring you on.
One of the great things aboutit is trying to build the back
office staff of a club so we canget advice.
Now our season's coming to anend, now our inaugural season,
and we're going to be leaning onyou guys.
In fact, we're going to behaving an off-site meeting down
in Florida when we get together.
(23:29):
What's your thoughts on theAmerican Soccer Club New York
based on?
I know you've come up to a fewgames.
You were there at the tryoutsand you're staying on top of
everything.
What's your thoughts on?
It's a different era here, 30years from now, from when you
and I first started workingtogether.
What's your thoughts on theclub?
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Yeah, it's incredible , I mean the start that you see
right now and you can see, like,the trainings, like remember,
when we first started we trainedthe warm-up.
Remember the warm-up we did.
Everybody on Long Islandstarted copying us doing the
warm-up.
Everybody travel teams, yeah,what Alfonso did, right, and now
(24:07):
I think, all the players withmedia, they're well aware of how
to warm up, how to do things.
So you see, players are moreathletic, they're more seasoned
and you just see the way it is.
The exciting thing for me, jim,is, if you just go by this Gold
Cup game that we just had, likeLuna, for players that are
playing for the American SoccerClub right now, at Diego Luna,
(24:31):
okay, he scored two goals, right, he scored two goals for that
team.
And three years ago he wasplaying for El Paso in USL,
right, okay, three years ago hewas playing there.
And I looked at the Guatemalanteam, right, and the kid who
scored for that I don't know ifyou saw that go and his name is
Escobar.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Yeah, from Massachusetts.
Right, he's from.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Massachusetts.
Okay, and so the opportunityhe'd still be able to play If
you put in the time.
And it doesn't matter where youare and you just have to
recognize, put in the time andyou know how to do it Work out.
I mean, it's a lot of time.
You have to be ready when theopportunity presents itself.
And Jim, the amazing thing is.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
You can appreciate this, be with the U-17s.
When we signed the 16-year-oldDylan Lopez from Ronkonkoma
Kinnickwad High School, LakeGrove, Newfield, and he got into
two games, Jim, and that's thekey.
We said we were going to dothis, but it's hard.
I give John Fitzgerald andeverybody a lot of credit
because they took a chance.
Hey, Jim, we can go on for twomore hours, so you're coming
(25:30):
back again.
I hope you don't mind, you haveto come back again.
So this has been great to talkto Jim Rooney, one of the
greatest players that have evercome out of Long Island and one
of the great characters thathave ever come out of Long
Island and became one of thebest coaches to come out of Long
Island.
We're thankful to have him withthe American Soccer Club New
York.
And, Jim, I do look forward toseeing you in person down in
Florida in probably a month.
(25:51):
Hopefully we go far in theplayoffs and it's going to be
somewhere in late August.
But anyway, Jim Rooney, thankyou for coming on the American
Soccer Club Zone today.
Can't thank you enough.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Thanks a lot, Jim.
Look forward to seeing you soon, Paul.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
All the best, jimmy.
Thank you, you're coming back.
Hey, I'd like to thank KJOY98.3, sunday morning 7 am.
Every Sunday morning you'regoing to get a lot of soccer
with the American Soccer Club.
Thank our sponsors, lifac,erland Cohen, hrf, macron, todd
Shapiro, associates, and I'dlike to thank the American
(26:24):
Soccer Club sporting directorand the great Jim Rooney, who we
just spoke with.
We'll be back.
Please check us out onASCNewYorkcom, on Instagram, on
Facebook, on LinkedIn and on X.
We've got a great presencethere and a big story coming up
with CBS Sports where DylanLopez will be featured in an
article that will be seennationwide, and that interview
(26:44):
is coming up.
We'll share the information toaccess that interview in the
days to come.
So, for everyone here at KJOYand the American Soccer Club
Zone, this is Jim Kilmeade.
It's been a pleasure to be yourhost today.
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