S6E3: Training Camp Begins! (Special Guest: Drew Ruggles)

ON THE SHOW TONIGHT

• Training camp is underway, you’ll hear from Kraig Chiles and Gabriel Costa after the first day at Bradley Park
• Our first live special guest of the year is Drew Ruggles, who’s finally made his way to San Diego
• We’re looking to bring together the supporters of soccer in San Diego for the home opener, special announcement ahead!
• Last week Empire traded away the King, now they’ve traded for a multi-time champion, we’ll talk about in in MASL News

Episode Transcript

(00:35):
Hello once again, everybody. Welcometo Soccers Overtime, your weekly look inside
the San Diego Stockers and the MajorArena Soccer League. Alongside Tony Sanchez.
I'm Creig Elston, back with youfor season six, episode three of the
Show of Record. In the MASLtraining campus under day, the Stockers are

(00:55):
on the field. Things are feelingswell in mister Sanchez, how are you?
I am very well, great tobe back here and enjoying this long
weekend that we had some of usand I'm really excited to get into some
really interesting and great soccer's content becausethe season's right around the corner. On

(01:17):
tonight's show, training camps underway andSan Marcos, you're gonna hear from Craig
Chiles, Gabriel Costa interviews I recordedafter the first day out at Bradley Park.
We've got our first live special guestof the season and it is Drew
Ruggles, one of the newest SanDiego soccers. He's finally made his way
to San Diego and he'll be joiningus live at the bottom of the hour.

(01:42):
We're looking to bring together the supportersof soccer in San Diego for the
home Opener's special announcement coming up inSoccer's News. And last week Empire traded
away the King. Now they've madeanother trade and they have brought a multi
time champion into Empire. We'll talkabout it in MASL News. It's all

(02:06):
coming up on tonight's edition of Soccersover Time. We are live on Twitch
at San Diego Soccers. We welcomeeverybody who's joining us for the live broadcast.
If you happen to be catching uson replay, make a note of
it, set a calendar. Bestyet, follow us our channel on Twitch,
Twitch dot tv slash San Diego Sockers, and then your phone will go

(02:28):
bing, just like mine went binga couple minutes ago to say San Diego
Soccers is live. But hey,if you're watching us on YouTube, we
are thankful for your presence. Pleasefollow the channel, like, subscribe,
rate, review, do all ofthose things. And hello to everyone who
is an audio only checking in inthe earbud listening to us on podcast.

(02:51):
Very much appreciate all of you beinghere this evening and joining us on today's
show. Now you might notice,and this is certainly a breach of protocol
on my part, Tony, weare a soccers show, and you know,
I do a lot of shows,So me showing up in a Padres
jersey, you might have just thought, like, oh, Craig thought he

(03:14):
was doing Padres hot Tub. I'mdoing that later tonight. But no,
I know, if I put upthe soccers blanket, it's soccer's. If
I put up the hot tublanket,it hot. So I am wearing a
Padres jersey on our soccers show tonight, and we do that because we start
on really a very sad and sombernote, and that is to offer condolences

(03:36):
to the Sidler family, but tothe Padres family overall, for the passing
of Padre's chairman and primary owner PeterSidler, which was announced this morning.
Sidler, sixty three years old,has led a renaissance in San Diego sports
with his captainship of the Padres baseballfranchise. Has led them to newfound heights

(03:57):
in terms of popularity, revenue,attention. Everything else is passing is incredibly
untimely. It is shockingly sad,and all of the San Diego sports community,
and I think, honestly, Tony, the community in general is grieving
today for the passing of Peter Sidler, and I wasn't going to let even
the start of a soccer's podcast goby without mentioning Peter Sidler, a great

(04:24):
man who did great things for thiscity. Yeah, the lifelong San Diego
and myself. You know, itwas something that you know, was new
just seeing success for the Potters inthe way that it was. I remember
nineteen ninety eight that was almost afever dream as a kid. You know,
it was like am I watching afield of dreams? Am I watching
angels in the outfield? Like?Nineteen ninety eight? Was was something special,

(04:46):
right, But if you're a SanDiego Peter Sidler is one of those
people that really got it. AndI think I expressed myself when I said
that, you know, he wasone of us. He really was,
and a true person of character anda lot of great things that he would
do outside of the baseball itself,but for the city and the unhoused,

(05:11):
the population here in San Diego,which is big and great, And I
really really want to say that ifpeople feel inclined to do so, there's
a lot of good things that PeterSeidler was doing here in San Diego,
and hopefully that legacy could continue inthose ways outside of obviously supporting the San
Diego Padres. But what a loss, and it's gonna be something that's gonna

(05:31):
ripple through for better or for worse. But made this a better sports town
than it once was, so everybodybenefit from that. Yeah. May his
legacy live on, is all wecan say. The best owner of the
Padres have ever had, and hopefullyone who has charted the course for decades

(05:54):
to come for this franchise. Iknow he had said even previously that this
franchise will remain with his family andfor decades to come. So you know,
all of that stuff will get sortedin the days, weeks, months
and years to come. But todaywe just really venerate a giant of a
man in Peter Sidler, and Ithink everybody is just so crushed today by

(06:20):
this untimely news. There had beenthe word of him being ill, but
now to see this happen absolutely devastating. So just wanted to put that at
the very top of the show.And again, if you're wondering why am
I wearing a Padre's jersey tonight,that's why it's in honor of the great
Peter Sidler. Okay, let's getto the news and the views and start

(06:43):
things off. Tony was some trainingcamp previews and training camp got underway at
Bradley Park in San Marcos. Theclub generally trains outdoors at Bradley Park and
San Marcos at eight o'clock weekday mornings. Some soccer fans you know, have
the ability to drive by and checkthat out, and if you're one of
them, cool, you know,come on buy check us out. Weekday

(07:04):
mornings at eight am. It's prettydarn chili the first hour before the sun
hits the field for thirty forty fiveminutes. Especially then it usually warms up
and it's just fine but sunny skiesfor the first two days of training.
I've been at both of the firsttwo days of training so far, Tony
and a smaller roster, and verynoticeably so in that, as we had

(07:30):
talked about previously, Soccers two isinactive this year, and as a result
of that, you don't have allof those dudes who are planning on being
on Soccers too at the field andhelping to create a second team and a
third team, etc. So,because of this reason and that there was
only about I think sixteen players atthe field on Monday. That number increased

(07:55):
today because a handful of guys whowent to last week's open triumph were welcomed
out to practice today. And Isaw Suzanne asking, like, who are
the players who were selected from opentryout? And let me be as scientific
as possible, Suzanne, to answerthat for you. The really tall kid

(08:16):
with the blonde hair, and theshorter guy with the mohawk, and the
goalkeeper, one of the goalkeepers,and one other guy. All right,
all right, I like that.Just wanted to get signed, wanted to
get into the nitty gritty, wantedto wanted to bring it to the level
of a striker's press release. Thetall guy, the guy with the mohawk,

(08:39):
the goalkeeper, and the other guywere there today, and it was
nice to see. It was niceto see some depth on the field.
But you know, honestly, it'sjust a very interesting situation, Tony,
in terms of this is a groupthat largely knows one another completely. Uh.
It's a group that flip me swipeleft, thank you so much.

(09:09):
Like I just got swipe left rightthere. That was amazing, you know.
And the one thing that I thinkeveryone is just watching is especially Gabriel
Costa and seeing how he gets integratedbecause man, Tony, he stands out,

(09:30):
little fella, but he stands outbecause of his foot skill. You
know, that footsol ability, thatability to stop and start, that ability
to move and shoot with the leftend with the right. Uh. I
think it's going to be fascinating tosee how he and Charlie and Turists and
Lao kind of find the rhythm ofwho's going to play with who and when

(09:54):
the floor opens up, you knowwho's gonna take which spot and where things
are going to go. Because rightnow you're just going like, I can't
even believe we've added somebody of thiscare, of this class to a franchise
that was already riding very high.Yeah. Absolutely, And so the caliber
of player that's coming in right Gabrielgos Gabria being one of them. And

(10:15):
so that's that's the big question.I'm glad to see that that class is
coming through, even so early herein the season where he's already standing out
to you, Craig, So ifthat's something that you're seeing here, you've
obviously seen it as an Empire Strikersplayer, but now you're seeing it in
a training capacity, and that's reallywhere you get to know these players and

(10:37):
the tendencies, because you know,like it or not, some players really
rely on the talent that they have, but you don't really see that playout
in training. So I'm glad tohear that Gabriel is able to really showcase
that and so immediately that's that's verygood to hear. Yeah, it's got
me excited for sure. I mean, I'm just looking at the possibilities for
this midfield and you know, youalways say stay healthy, and that's the

(11:01):
other thing when you see a smallerroster out there, it is it's sunny
skies right now because everyone's healthy,everyone's feeling good. Everyone is, you
know, tiptop. They're getting intothey're rounding into shape, so to speak.
You know, the spirits are high, optimism is flowing. Of course,
when a couple of people get nickedup, then you're going to start

(11:24):
to talk about, well, okay, where's the depth on this club.
And then if there's only a coupleof guys, you know, four or
five guys who are not starters thatare with the franchise, Okay, well
it only takes one run of injuriesat a position or overall to start talking
about do you need to sign somebodyor one of these tryout kids actually going

(11:46):
to get inked to the club,you know, so on and so forth.
So you know, there's there's alittle bit of a balancing act to
it. And the soccers aren't theyoungest team in the MASL, that's to
be sure, so something to alwayskind of backpocket. However, Costa is
not an old player. He's ayoung addition to this group and certainly,

(12:09):
you know, very very exciting.It's gonna be interesting to see how it
all comes together, but certain thingsjust seem to be in place already.
You know, Drew Ruggles, whowill be our guest, just fitting in
to the defense and it's very niceand we'll talk to him a little bit
about it, Tony. But youknow, through the WMF he's had the
opportunity to play with Boris Parto youknow, multiple times over the years.

(12:33):
Was on the twenty nineteen World Cuptogether, was on the twenty twenty three
World Cup together. He's played previouslywith Craig Giles, so there's a little
bit of that familiarity. Just thefact that he's a veteran who's been around
the league and been around these playersso many times, played with them in
different competitions. The Nation's Cup thissummer, Drew and Boris played together,

(12:54):
So it just feels like there's alreadykind of that kismet compared to someone else
who's new and is kind of likeI don't know anybody and I want to
fit in. Yeah, and especiallyin the indoor game, right where it's
so imperative to have those relationships inthat chemistry built in defender and goalkeeper in
the indoor game is one of thosethings where you have to be a kindred
spirit. There has to be atelekinesis type relationship where sometimes the minds have

(13:20):
to come together to stop a balladmitter and it happens. We've seen Boris
do that on himself. But nowhe's going to have somebody with a talent
of drew Ruggles coming in, andnow you get to see a different side
of drew Ruggles where he's always hadto play a certain way based off of
necessity in a way here, buthere maybe he takes that backstep and you

(13:41):
see a different type of Drew Ruggleswhere he's not able to really show that
where he's you know, he's aguy here. He's going to be a
guy amongst guys, and that's somethingthat's going to be incredibly interesting to see.
And look, that left foot ofhis is deadly and one of the
most it's just one of the mosthandsome passes that you can ever see on

(14:03):
an arena. And that's just thepass itself. Me good guy has has
some good looks. That's it's agood looking squad here in San Diego as
well. The San Diego Sockers.Uh yeah, looking forward to chatting Withdrew.
He ripped in a goal today's shortside with that left foot, little
Chris Dedos action and having that leftfooter adds so much of variability to the

(14:30):
soccers attack. And really, otherthan Brandon Escoto, for the last couple
of years, there hasn't been aton of left footers on the San Diego
soccers, So it's it's really that'sone thing that made her of in Mohica
stand out when he showed up wasthat he was a left footer. So
having that creates a lot of freekick options for San Diego that they didn't

(14:56):
have previously, where you would kindof know that if the shot was coming
from the left footer side, it'sgot to be a scoto. So if
a skoto's over there, you cankind of read it that way. Now
you can you can do some fakesand play and have two different guys who
are left footed on a free kicksituation, so that maybe you run a
decoy for one and the other onetakes, or you know, et cetera,
so on and so forth. Itjust creates more options, It creates

(15:18):
more danger, allows both sides ofthe field to be dangerous at the same
time on attack, and something toincorporate as the year progresses. But I
think one thing and we'll maybe we'lleven talk to True about this when he
comes on. But one thing thatshould be helpful to him is the fact

(15:39):
that with guys like Mitchell, Cardinistguerro Pino sains aarserda, the being the
number one on ball defender isn't somethingthat Drew has to do on a game
in, game out basis. Takingon the number one striker isn't something he
has to do on a night in, night out basis, And that might
allow him to be more of adefense who's bringing the ball up, somebody

(16:00):
who's getting involved in the attack,A little bit more of the role that
Rojo has involved in the soccer's offensethe last few years. That could be
Drew Ruggles this year. Yeah,and you can definitely see that. You
know, that's that's his game,and I'm sure we're going to get into
it because I know he's he's excitedto also join the San Diego soccers and

(16:21):
be able to really come into ateam of absolute winners top top to bottom.
And that has to be exciting forhim too. And I mean,
it's it's insane the depth that thatis possible here and all the different combinations.
It's gonna be in a really goodseason and it's going to be interesting
to see. Well. In thisSunny Sky's Training Camp segment, let's bring

(16:42):
you some interviews. Let's hear someof the early words, and let's start
off with the new kid in town, Gabriel Costa. Had a chance to
chat him up right after practice,and here it is chat with Gabriel Costa,
first soccer practice, first time puttingon the shield. How did it

(17:03):
feel running with the boys here inSan Marcos? Very good? Finally be
able to be had to be ableto play with them, and it's been
a lot that I've been looking forwardto it, so finally here, So
let's get to it. You hadsuch an incredible summer of action. Of
course we saw you guys get thebag at TST. That had to have
been an incredible moment. And allthe way through the opportunity to come here
and play in San Diego. Whatmade you want to become a soccer boy?

(17:26):
Actually had taste and we played together. He was telling me good things
about it, talking to Charlie's weall had great things to talk about.
So Nivin, obviously I played againstyou guys, and I was like,
that's the best team that I faced. So it was it wasn't like a
very hard decision to play this well, you were certainly one of the best
players we had to face and areal pain to defend. So I'm glad

(17:47):
to have you wearing art fellas.What are you hoping to bring to the
squat this year? First, tryingto fit in the best way possible.
I mean, I can't score ballsand assist, but other than that,
just here to work out and we'llsee what comes on the pitch. And
obviously when you look around at theNASL, you know you're going to be
facing your old club a lot.But when you see where this club fits

(18:07):
in, where it's kind of championshipor we didn't have a great season,
what are your thoughts about operating withthose levels of expectation. It's okay,
I mean, it's it's part ofthe professional environment. There's pressure, and
the better the team that you playfor, there's more. It's even more
the pressure because it's always you alwaysexpected to win. So I'm used to
it. Of our I'm sure we'regoing to get to work. I know,

(18:27):
I remember, right. I mean, you said you got married last
year, right, how's life nowas your newly webbed phase draws to a
club. It's great and she's veryhappy, so that's really all all that
matters. You got married in January, in the middle of the MSL last
season, so I mean, there'snothing to complain now with living in business.
So what else can we ask for? Absolutely, happy wife, happy

(18:48):
life, happy Gabriel cost and welcometo the club, sir. Thank you.
He's learned quickly. Tony. Yeah, I've you know, I've had
my share of a you know,partner events recently too, in an anniversary
setting and that big ten that's somethat's some really good thinking. They're Craig,

(19:10):
solid, solid advice from you.But look, he's awfully complimentary of
the San Diego Soccers. Before cominghere, he knew who the San Diego
Soccers were obviously and the best teamhe faced. And also we got to
thank to Boy Morgan for the assiston that one. I guess you know,
it doesn't hurt, it's it mightjust have been something that Newtown Pride

(19:33):
FC featuring to Voy Morgan drew rugglesand Gabriel Costa is now San Diego Soccers
speak featuring to Boy Morgan drew rugglesat Gabriel Costa. Now, does this
mean that we're actually happy that vTo FC didn't win because we got a
couple of players out of it.True? Hey, true, yeah,
Hey, they do enough winning.Those guys on Vita f C. They

(19:56):
know what it's like. I'm justsaying, I'm not saying. I'm just
saying, might not have been sucha bad thing, all right. We
also had the chance on Monday afternoonto catch up with the captain of the
club, Craig Giles, and gethis early takes on what he's seen in
training camp. All Right, Craigfirst day of training camp. In the

(20:22):
books, You've got a hearty squadhere. I know it wasn't a full
population today, but what was itlike just getting the legs out there and
getting running quality over quantity. Honestly, it's unbelievably talented team, and it
was a great start the preseason andthe team looks like we're ready to hit
the ground running. So I'm reallyoptimistic about this year. You know,
you look again at the roster andit's essentially run it back, plus add

(20:48):
the newcomer of the year and arguablythe best defender in the league in Costa
and Ruggles. How much of akind of abundance of riches is it to
have these guys on the squad.It's crazy. I mean, it is
difficult to play target for this team. Was such talented midfielders, and you
know, it's going to be verydifficult for teams to sort out a game
plan to stop us because there areno weak links. And honestly, each

(21:12):
each shift, in each practice wehave, all these guys are impressing more
and more, and so it's goingto be a really good team for us
this year. And I'm looking forwardto hanging out at the back post and
tapping in some of those services.You're one of the guys who is very
much aware of the history of theSan Diego Soccers. This is the last
year at the Channga Arena, theGrand Old Arena. Twelve championships in the

(21:33):
franchise's history in seasons that they playedthere. What kind of thoughts do you
have going into a season that youknow is going to have special significance to
it. Yeah, you know,honestly, I've had so many good memories
there, and the Old Guard hadso many good memories there themselves, and
so I can remember when we leftdel Mar going to the Sports Arena,

(21:53):
and I thought it was a weirdmove because we had had so much success
at del Mar, But it allmade sense when we got into the Grand
Older and you can feel the historyin there. You can feel you look
at the banners and the rafters andall the names retired. And so I'm
really looking forward to opening a newchapter up at Front Wave in Oceanside next
year. But we're going to reallycherish the last you know, hopefully fourteen

(22:15):
to fifteen games in that arena beforewe head north. The first of any
conversations in the year. Craig,thanks so much. Thanks Greg. I
don't even like that he said fourteenfifteen games, Just say fifteen games,
Just say fifteen Yeah, just stafourteen last year? Not enough hot en
up yep, exactly one too few. So yeah, good stuff though from

(22:38):
Craig Chiles. And I think thechat was most excited in seeing Craig Giles
here everyone watching on twitch tony becausenot only was he clean shaven, had
the Yankees look, but also lookingpretty swelt, looking pretty pretty good at
the start of training camp, whichis always an encouraging sign. Yeah,

(23:03):
you know, peak Craig Chiles islike nothing else on on the on the
Green alphoonra and and definitely something that'svery well welcomed. And if that means
you know, no stash, butyou get a primed up Craig Chiles that's
ready to go here in the beginningof the season, that's definitely welcomed.
And he knows, he knows morethan anybody. He's a historian himself of

(23:23):
the San Diego Sockers because he's liveda lot of the great history of the
San Diego soccers and he knows whatthis team coming in really means and what
he has coming in and how he'sgoing to be set up to tapping those
goals, get those set pieces done, those weapons around him are going to
be ready to go for him.Yeah. What a big year. And

(23:45):
you know, we're the San DiegoSoccers, So closing out Patchang Arena with
anything short of confetti and a cup, it's just not it's just not what
we're looking to do. And especiallyin a year where you know, I
hate to say it, but ina year where the Loyal made the playoffs

(24:07):
and couldn't come through, and wherethe Wave made the playoffs and couldn't come
through, and Albion made the playoffsand couldn't come through, it's on us
again. The mantle has just beenhanded back to us one more time,
Tony. It's like a putter anda four person scramble. First three miss
again back to you guys, knockit in for us. So we've got

(24:29):
the San Diego Soccer ecosystem to holdup from a championship standpoint, And could
that be that you know, Craigis a little bit more ready to go
here in the preseason because he's hungrybecause of what happened last season, and
you know, you don't really seeCraig on of these tournaments either anymore,
especially being the super veteran that heis. But all the other players,

(24:51):
yeah, they're a little bit morein tune with their body and up to
game speed. But to see thatfrom the captain, and that's something that
we saw last year. There wasa point in the Loull where San Diego
and the Soccers were not necessarily firingon all cylinders. He came on Soccers
overtime he said, you know what, it's not acceptable. We have to
change this. I know he turnedaround and said the exact same thing to

(25:15):
that locker room in those players,and they got it together and they were
able to really come in and fixand write the ship. But you know
what, that's if that's starting fromday one, I'm all for it.
That was a legendary appearance last yearon Soccer's overtime. And then he went
down and had I think it wasfive points in that game in Chihuahua to

(25:37):
lead the way, the captain leadingthe way. Absolutely love it. Well,
we're getting close to the bottom ofthe hour here, Tony. Just
let me know when ever Drew popsinto the on deck circle. We will
wheel him out and bring him upto the stage again. A lot of
exciting things happening for the club tomorrow. Not for nothing, is the club's

(25:59):
photo dang. So tomorrow is theday that all the player animations that you'll
see when the guys run out,all of the head shots on the website,
all of the prestige shots that we'llbe using on social media and whatnot,
all of those take place tomorrow.You're not invited, sorry now,
I mean you're invited to me.Yeah, okay, you you Tony speaking

(26:22):
to you are invited. Not opento the public, is what I'm saying.
Not open to the public, becauseI mean, why would you want
to be there. It's early inthe morning, people are taking photos.
Makes no sense at all. Butwe've got some fun stuff lined up for
this year on the jumbo Tron,some fun stuff lined up for social media
as well. So excited for thatphoto day coming up tomorrow. Season ticket

(26:47):
member party is Sunday afternoon, thatis at Califino. That is open to
season ticket members. And I mean, you know, Tony, you and
Chiever are always invited to anything,of course, so you know, anytime
you guys want to come up justas two Balls representatives, you know,
take advantage of the large s ofthe Califedo Lounge. Please feel free to

(27:10):
do so. But that is Sundayafternoon, that'll be at one o'clock,
and we are all very much excitedthat on that day to reveal the twenty
twenty three, twenty four kits forthe San Diego Soccers all right, all
right, home Road and the uniquealternate that will be used only a couple

(27:30):
of times all season long. Andalso of course to just have our season
ticket member family together, you know, some Q and A with the players,
with the coaches, with myself,with the staff, you know,
answer any questions that you need toknow about our final season at Pachanga Arena,
about moving up into Front Wave Arena, you know all of that.

(27:51):
It's going to be catered, it'sgoing to be a great, great afternoon.
And hey, if you're listening tothis and you're not a Socker season
ticket member, it's not like theit's it's not like you missed your plane.
You can go ahead and sign uptoday. You can sign up tonight.

(28:11):
You can go to sd Soccers dotcom and click on season ticket Memberships
and get that rolling. You cancall eight sixty six seven nine nine goal
talk to Spencer, talk to Sonora, get your season ticket membership rolling,
and get that invite to the seasonticket member party as well, where everyone
will get their gift and gets theirseason ticket member card which gives them an

(28:32):
opportunity to get you know, adiscount on merchandise and you know, a
specialized parking area at the arena.Oh and by the way, I'll just
make one more announcement. Our newjerseys will be available for purchase at the
season ticket Member party and with yourcard you're gonna get that discount as well.

(28:53):
Right there, So if you seethem, you like them, you
want to bring them home, youcan have them and have them ready to
win for the first game of theseason and not have to be standing in
a line at the merch booth onSunday, December third. So great opportunity,
something that we heard as feedback fromour season ticket members and we're excited
to bring that to the season ticketMember party. And okay, that's two

(29:17):
vamps. One more vampers drew there. I think he is finishing up,
but no, I want to justecho those sentiments as well, right it's
not just people who are traditionally soccersfans and always there and are always rapping.
I again extend the invitation to thosesupporters of the game who are around
town and are ready to go.Much like our guest is ready to go

(29:41):
as well, We'll go ahead andbring him on. Craig outstanding, Let's
welcome to the program. One ofthe newest San Diego Soccers, the Great
Drew Ruggles, is joining us onSoccers Overtime. Drew, you're muted.
You're muted, Take yourself off mute. There we go. What's happening,
brother, I knew something would happen. Undoubtedly something would would mess up.

(30:04):
It's all good. I think Imuted myself for the start of episode one,
so the people may have enjoyed thata little better. Actually maybe arguably
the highest rated part season so far. Well, first things first, my
friend, I just want to saywelcome, Welcome to San Diego. I
remember very specifically walking the streets ofPerth, Australia in September of twenty nineteen,

(30:30):
and we were reflecting and you hadjust signed a big money contract with
Florida to move down and join theTropics, and I remember saying a certain
sentence to you, which was allroads lead to San Diego. I remember
that. Yeah, it's funny sanDiego Drew. Yeah, Minida welcome.

(30:51):
That's his Well, you know,let's talk about your path here. Obviously,
the Florida Tropics are no more,aren't. And that's that's a true
brummer, bummer for the sport.It's a bummer for the fans in Lakeland
and in South Florida. But uh, how did it all come together to
get you here under the soccer shield? Yeah, I mean, just to

(31:15):
touch briefly about the tropic situation,I just agree with you completely. It's
it's you know, sad, sadtimes for the league. You know,
a lot of a lot of fansare were pretty disappointed, you know,
as were the players. It justkind of came out of nowhere. So
yeah, it was it was atough time to go through as far as,
you know, figuring out what wasnext. But you know, once

(31:37):
the league gave us approval to befree agents, uh, you know,
kind of the weight lifted off everyone'sshoulders and we were able to, you
know, essentially decide our own fates, which was all we were kind of
asking for. You know, giventhat we weren't the ones who caused,
you know, the organization to beput in that position. You know,
we didn't we didn't think that itwould be fair to do what they were
talking about before and I disperse draftor whatever else they were thinking. But

(32:04):
man, I'm I'm so fortunate toput that behind me, you know,
like I said, once we gotthe free agency, you know, once
they told us that was going tobe the case. Man, like you
said, all all roads lead toSan Diego. I mean, at this
point in my career, I wantto win pretty badly, and there's a
couple of teams that that that giveyou a shot at that every year.

(32:28):
So you know, obviously I shotmyself around a little bit. And you
know, just with a family andtwo kids and a wife, you know,
I have them to consider as well. They've been awesome. You know,
they support me, you know,obviously moving across the country with me
on a whim. So you know, it's just it's just a it's a
good thing to to have Phil pickup the phone and and and want you

(32:52):
just as bad as you want tobe there. So it was, you
know, great conversations with cheeky Philand you know everybody in the front office.
You know, I just the timingwas right, the fit of the
team feels right, you know,just and that desire to win. I
mean, what better place to goand do that than San Diego. So
as as much interest as there wasin other parts of the league, I

(33:15):
think my mind was was pretty madeup once we were allowed to be free
agents. I mean, before Idid sign with with Florida, I was
very heavily considering coming to San Diego. Obviously I wouldn't change anything. You
know, I'm glad I'm here now, but it's always been somewhere you know,
I've desired to play at and andyou know I'm gonna take a lot
of pride in doing so, soother than the little nitty gritty details and

(33:38):
logistics, I mean, that's that'skind of how it happened. Like like
you said, I mean, wehad conversations years ago about being at this
this franchise, and like you said, here I am now. So good
times ahead, no great, greattimes hopefully coming up. And you know
you're talking about you know, themutual desire either from Phil, from Cheeky

(33:59):
and yourselves to come in, buton excess and nose type of type of
level. How do you see yourselfintegrating into this soccer squad where you've seen
the soccers play, you know theplayers, the league knows the players.
How do you see yourself molding yourgame into the San Diego soccers. I
mean I was looking at Craig interviewedGabriel. I was looking at the background,

(34:19):
like what is he doing? LikeI shut hear that shot, hear
that left foot? What is thatgoing to be like for you? You're
right? No, I mean Ithink most people know after you know,
watching me in the league for ahandful of seasons, that I like to,
you know, attack out of theback. I do take a lot
of pride in my defending. Youknow, if you can keep a team
off the score sheheet, you giveyourself a good chance. So first and
foremost, gonna gonna do my bestto help the team, you know,

(34:44):
win that defensive record. Again,I think that that if I'm not mistaken
the last two years giving up thefewest goals, and that's something as a
defender that you know, you takea lot of pride in and and so
you know, I want to bringmy my you know, my calmness in
the back. I want to bring, you know, a lot of my
tenacity, you know, my desireto win, and how that fits in
it is. I think my stylesis very suited for you know how soccers

(35:07):
play a lot of small passes,a lot of technical you know, uh
uh parts of the game that theyexcel at. You know a lot of
very creative players. My job isto give it to those guys. You
know, I feel like I'm prettyopportunistic when I can be, and and
like I said, I like totake my chances going forward. But I

(35:30):
mean in Florida maybe I had todo that a little bit more. But
I mean, look at look atthe guys we have now, you know,
there's not really a need for meto do that. So I'm excited.
I think it's gonna, you know, give me the freedom to be
a little bit more effective in themoments that I'm in the game, just
because I don't have to, youknow, worry about all of the other

(35:51):
things. You know, these thesegot after two days of training. I
mean, I'm coming home with abig smile on my face, just like
grinning because it's it's just so fun. It's it's how I envisioned always you
know, playing the game, andso it's I'm hoping it's seamless, you
know, the first two days ifif you ask me, it's it's going
pretty well. And and so youknow, just just bringing that, like

(36:13):
I said, that championship mindset,you know, the desire to win,
you know, taking pride in thedetails and the technical side of the game.
Those are all things that that arehigh on my list of you know,
being fulfilled when I'm when I'm playingindoors. So I'm not really too
concerned. Obviously. I had acouple of people, oh, you guys
gonna play what you guys got surtof this, and I'm like, man,

(36:34):
I you know, I always counton myself, but this team was
good before me. This team hashad all star roster for the last ten
years I've been in the league.So pinch it in here and there,
you know, giving the team whatI can on the field, that's that's
the goal. And I and Ihope it, you know, works out
for the best. You know,I'm looking to be here as long as
I can be. So I lovethat. Yeah, well you know you

(36:58):
mentioned it, and I remember thelast time I was down, not the
last time but one of the lastroad trips before COVID being down in Florida,
I met your wife when you weresaying at an extended stay hotel.
At that time, I believe shewas pregnant with your first child. Now
you've got two kids, so Iknow how difficult it is to go from
the East coast to the West coast. Admittedly, from a climate standpoint,

(37:21):
Florida to San Diego is reasonably similar, less humidity obviously out here. But
what's that adjustment been like for yourfamily? You know? I think that
also, you know, like Isaid previously, I have my family to
consider. And while Florida was fantasticto us, and we really enjoyed our
time there. All my family ison the East coast, so while they

(37:45):
weren't, you know, relatively close, they were still you know, a
quick flight away if you know needbe. But what's nice is actually my
wife's family all lives in you know, San Jose, a little bit further
north, so still not terribly close, but once again a quick flight.
And man, like you know,everyone's been to Florida, and I tell

(38:06):
you what, those those like threemonths of winter winter are really nice.
But man, in the summer,it gets hot, and you know,
you sometimes get trapped inside. So, man, my family has been having
a fantastic time going out in themiddle of the day to the park,
you know, going down to Oceansideand you know, enjoying all the downtime

(38:27):
before the season got started up.It's been a really smooth transition. You
know, everybody's happy and and youknow, my wife fortunately works from home
and has been with the same companyfor years, so that was an easy
transition for her, and I thinkfor me it was the hardest for me
because I've just been waiting to getafter it. I think finally, now
that you know we're in the thickof preseason, that it's you know,
it's it's a lot easier for meto be like, Okay, that's what

(38:49):
I'm here for, you know,that's that's that's the whole reason that we
moved out. So no, it'sbeen a fun transition. I'll say it
probably will never do that drive everagain with two kids ever again, ever
again. You know, I alreadyhad that conversation with my wife. I'm
like, look, if we gotto fly the dog under the plane,
like my heart goes out to him. But He'll be fine for the four

(39:13):
hours five hour flight as opposed toyou know, four or five six days
in a car. So I'm like, never again. And we're here.
We're we're here to stay. SoI mean, we love it here.
Like I said, it's been fantastic, you know, just being able to
enjoy what's around. So it's awesome. No, I love that. And
and really the dog is as muchas part of the family as anything else.

(39:36):
I really. Yeah, take forconsidering the pooch. But it's speaking
about the transition. Uh, youknow, you're moving from the Eastern Conference
now to the Western Conference, andyou know there's a lot of movements now
with some teams No Mon not joiningthe Eastern Conference, but yourself coming on
this side of the of the bracket. What do you think that's going to

(39:57):
be and unfolding this season? Andis it going to be a challenge for
you? Is it gonna be adifferent play style or just a different season
altogether with that or how do youperceive this Western versus Eastern Conference going?
Yeah, I mean if you lookat the last couple of seasons, I
think the West has kind of beenthe team the division to beat, and

(40:21):
so you know I'm coming in notnot thinking anything's gonna be easy, nothing's
gonna be sweet, nothing's going tobe given to us. And I'll say
this, I'm really looking forward tothose those games down in Mexico. Man.
I love that environment. I lovethe fast pace, I love the
constant action. I mean, it'sjust something as a player that you don't

(40:42):
get to experienced very often on theEast Coast. I mean, we do
a little bit more running gun outthere. It's a little bit more fast
paced in the West Coast style.But man, those games are something that
I'm really looking forward to. It'llbe a new challenge. Obviously, I've
played my whole career on the Eastand so I know a lot of those
players kind of in and out.So it will definitely be a challenge,

(41:04):
I think. But I don't thinki'm you know, I don't think i'm
you know, not prepared for it. I'm really looking forward to it.
I think going into situations like this, you know, it only provides room
for growth. It's kind of oneof those things you either sink or you
float. And you know, I'ma very optimistic person, so and and
you know, I'll always go intoit expecting a challenge, but you know,

(41:29):
betting on myself. So I'm excited. Man. I think the West
has you know, had their theirhandful of powerhouses over the last couple of
seasons. Chihuahua, you know,obviously San Diego for for a little period
there. You know, Empire wasthere for a minute. You know,
they made the finals, they hadtheir chance. But it'll be interesting,
you know, like you said,there's been a lot of movement. You

(41:51):
know, you're seeing some players comeback to teams. You know, I
think there's a real investment that we'reseeing from owners, not not necessarily honitarily,
but just in their teams as faras getting players in and making moves.
That's gonna make this season look,you know, a little different than
than seasons past. And I'm excitedfor it, man. I mean,
you know, I got a handfulof buddies that went to Milwaukee. You

(42:14):
know, there's a handful of guysthat that are now signed with Baltimore.
So it'd be cool to see themplay and not have to, you know,
play against them. I can't sayI'll be rooting for all of them.
You know, the guys in Baltimorethat's still a tough one. That's
that's a tough I'll watch your games, but I don't know if I can
root for him. But yeah,I'm excited to play on the West.

(42:34):
You know, it's a much moretechnical game out here, I feel like
and I and I think that suitsme. So I'm excited for the challenge,
excited for the Chihuahua games. Thatman, I can't wait. Sorry,
Craig, but how's your Spanish?I just need to check in because
there's a lot of them. Wehave to be talked to you. And
the numbers are in Spanish sometimes onthe on the timer, which means that
they're not necessarily you know, linearright, no ass MOUI malt kwando,

(43:04):
hugando football perfecto, no SBN Vocabularyo'smovie. Man, I mean, at
least on par I feel like,Craig, I feel like that's how you
sounded announcing those games in Australia.Yeah, pretty much. I mean,

(43:25):
I got nothing but time to practice, right. I'm hoping that you know,
they don't try to learn English offme, and I can just give
me like a month or two,and I feel like the next the next
conversation will have I could be I'llget I'll get by. You heard it
next when you saw when you sawme in Australia. I think it was
in like day two hundred on dueLingo and yes, practicing, I remember

(43:50):
you seeing that. That was likevery much early in the basic unit at
that point, at least a littlebit further along. I understood everything you
said at the right. I thinkmy verb conjugation suffers a little bit as
well. But you know, it'sone of those things where if you're close
enough, I mean, they'll giveyou a pass. Everyone kind of gets
the gist, you know, soexactly same with them speaking to us.

(44:10):
I mean it's we get the gistand it works out well. You know,
you were talking a little bit earlierabout the difference of coming to a
club where you don't have to alwaysbe the person that is relied upon,
whether it's bringing the ball up orsix attacker Jersey, although maybe that will

(44:31):
be your rule, who knows asthings sort out. But I was wondering,
like what you're looking forward to,almost stylistically when you know that,
for example, we were talking aboutthis before you came on, Mitchell Pino.
That's been the on ball defending combofor a while taking on the Lucas
Roque, Nick Perreira, you know, so on and so forth. Maybe

(44:55):
gives yourself along with Caesar and opportunityto get out there a little bit and
as an attacking player. I wonderif that's something you're kind of looking forward
to, is having that opportunity toknow, I've got four studs along with
myself on defense, so when thatopportunity comes to take a chance, you
know that it's not as much ofa gamble maybe as it was when you
were in Florida or Milwaukee. Yeah, I think that's you know, that's

(45:20):
huge for me as as I'm youknow, finding out through preseason is it's
a trust level that's being built.And you know, I've been very fortunate
to be you know, very wellreceived by the group and and it's it's
awesome. I mean, the ideaof me going forward and attacking is is
something I'll always you know, havein the back of my mind. But

(45:42):
once once again, like you said, I mean, it'll probably be a
little more picking and choosing this yearbecause one the style, you know,
when you give the ball to aTavoy or Craig, you don't you don't
run it right up on him rightaway. You know, you give him
some time to figure out if thisguy's gonna score or if I need to
go and support. So it's funnybecause Tavoy and I were actually talking to
the training about, you know,see if we can get that timing down

(46:05):
a little bit better and and figureit out, you know with me being
a left a lefty, So it'llbe it'll be interesting. I mean,
my hopes are always to you know, if I see an opportunity to take
advantage of it and you know,have a finished product on the end.
But yeah, I mean that trustlevels is you know, just as much

(46:27):
as it is on the ball,it is off the ball. And these
guys out here, you know,it's it's been phenomenal. It's like it's
just the the what goes on betweenthe ears. Man, It's that's That's
really all I can say about it. It's it's, uh, you know,
you're watching guys, you know,from the bench and they're moving you
know, two passes beforehand. Youknow, you're seeing them read the play

(46:47):
and it's like breath of fresh air, like a man that's nice. Like
these guys are good, and soit's it's a lot of fun and and
you know, I'm excited. Man, It's it's gonna be a pretty fun
season. You know. Hopefully Ican keep on par with how I've been
producing, you know from a pointstandpoint, But for me, at the
end of the day, I justwant to win. I could care less

(47:07):
about the points. I think I'veshown what I can do and if that
doesn't happen this year, but weraise a trophy at the end of it,
you'll see me with just the biggestsmile as if I got MVP and
we lost. So it's one ofthose things, Man's that's the reason I
came here is to win. Soif I can take my chances to help
the team out score a couple bangers, then I'll definitely do it. I'm

(47:28):
not going to shy away from itat all. So, and you were
preparing yourself, you know, throughthis offseason. You know, we're talking
about Craig and how he looks phenomenal, like he's priying, ready to go.
You're part of the WMF World Cupthis year over in the UAE.
Is that something that you know youyourself prepared yourself and have as a regiment

(47:50):
almost to prepare into this season,and how's the body feeling coming into it.
Yeah, I think it's It's funnybecause a lot of people go about
it in different ways. And forme, I thoroughly enjoy my rest,
my rest time, and I'm nota big gym rat. I I believe
in getting all my fitness done withthe ball at my foot, playing games,

(48:10):
technical work here and there on myown at the gym, stuff like
that, and all that stuff happens, you know, depending on on you
know, report times and and andso for for the EMF game or sorry
for the World Cup out there there, there was a good prep before that
then just kind of just piggybacking offof it. You know, you're out

(48:32):
there for you know, ten days, you're playing games every other day and
training in between. So it's apretty it's it's not a heavy workload,
but it definitely gets you ready forthe season. And I mean the most
important part for me is is thesharpness on the ball. And and that's
that was great. You know,the the level was high out in the
out in the World Cup and andso it wasn't like a you know,

(48:53):
a cake walk. You weren't outthere just you know, scoring goals.
And winning games. You know,it was it was a competition and had
to compete, and so, youknow, kind of it's funny because I
was telling Bores, I was like, man, I had a couple of
chances out there, I didn't score. Like we got to stay after practice.
I need to I need to youknow, dial in. I need
to get my shot back down alittle bit. And so it's funny.

(49:14):
You know, it's nice to havethat time beforehand to kind of see,
hey, where are you at?You know what, what things could you
work on? And I think forme that that that's kind of what I'm
going to use, you know,preseason as is a chance to sharpen up
those things I noticed. Maybe I'ma little not where I want to be
at right now. So yeah,you know what, I love it.

(49:36):
But I throw another one in becauseCraig, I can't hear you. You're
a little bit low. Craig.That's just because I you know why,
Because I'm just gonna tell you why. Let's just go behind the curtain here
for a second. For some reason, my son decided to bring the dog
into this room and then he jumpedon the bed which is immediately behind this
computer and started doing a pillow partywhere he gets in his back, and

(50:00):
so I turned off my mic whileyou were talking to make sure that you
didn't hear that, and then Iforgot to turn it back on. The
talk is down here and it's allgood, and now we're all up to
date. So what I was sayingwhile the mic microphone was muted was that
I had one question left in themenu, but no, I'm going to
add a second because I had basicallyforgotten to put it into the menu this

(50:21):
afternoon, which is TST seven vseven the soccer tournament earlier this year that
was aired live on Peacock and onNBC and NBC Sports Network, and of
course Newtown Pride FC captured the milliondollar prize yourself, Gabriel Costa to Void
Morgan all on that club. Youhad the behind the back assist on the

(50:43):
million dollar goal, which is goingto be something sick that you're going to
show your kids and your kids kidsand they're already watching it, I bet,
But just look what was that experience? Like I thought that I thought
this was something that was really kindof experimental for US soccer scene, kind
of mixing mini football in which issomething I think a discipline a lot of

(51:07):
us outdoor fans are not very muchaware of. But I thought, in
particular, the target score was oneof the great innovations I've seen for any
kind of tournament. What was thatexperience, Like, what did you think
about that innovation and just the overallobviously bringing home the bag that didn't that
was nice. I will definitely say. I'll preface with this, it was

(51:30):
one of those things that nobody willremember. But we actually lost our first
game, and I remember that andI was I unfortunately got the touch for
the own it was an own goaland the target score, and we ended
up losing off that and I actuallyend up throwing those shoes in the trash.

(51:50):
Not superstitious, but I was like, you know what, I'm not
gonna wear those again, No chance, no chance. I just didn't feel
right in them. I was like, after that, it's done. And
so it's funny because there was ajoke with myself and Stepan Miatovich who's now
with Empire, and I had apair of Puma shoes that I just brought
just because I kind of like them, and we started calling them the money

(52:12):
shoes even before we made it.All the way to the last game,
and so you know, fast forwardto that, to that last play,
and you know, pulling off somethinglike that was was like you said,
I mean, it was a specialmoment. I'll never forget it. A
little bit of clout from it,you know, which which is kind of
cool. You never, you know, not one to look for it,
so when it happens, it wasdefinitely a cool experience. But yeah,

(52:35):
it was. It was the moneyshoes, man, I still got them
in the closet, never where neverbreaking them out again. But yeah,
what a what a tournament, Imean it was. It was fantastic from
start to finish. Obviously, thefacilities if anyone's familiar you know with Carrie's
Complex, I mean it's it's phenomenal. Everyone there was super helpful, super

(52:57):
friendly. I mean, it wasjust really well to get into the details
of it. I mean, man, that that target score was just something
else. It gave every team alifeline, which you know isn't always the
case in soccer. And obviously therewere still some scores where you know,
teams were up six to zero,whatever the case is, and the game
is still kind of out of myhand. But you know, for those

(53:20):
teams. I believe there was Ithink it was Zala that was down three
zero or something at target score.It ended up winning four to three,
and so it's like that's what thetarget score allows, that's what the the
you know, this this setup provides, and I mean, what a time
for fans to experience. You know, your team's never really out, like
you said, introducing you know,what is around the world one of the

(53:44):
more popular styles of soccer. Youknow, countries have champions leagues, they've
got you know, leagues that runlocally, they've got national teams that are
recognized by their federations. So it'sdefinitely a foreign concept to to you know,
the average US soccer fan. ButI think the people that showed up
really enjoyed it. You know,it's definitely a different style. Not everyone

(54:05):
who's a good player in their ownyou know, regard of you know,
outdoor eleven, a side five,a side foot sal you know, it's
not easy to make those transitions.And I think just the fact that we
had such a heavy indoor roster justyou know, one set us up from
the beginning. We all kind ofunderstand how we want to play, and
then just having Paolo come up anduse his feet. I think everyone kind

(54:28):
of saw that throughout the tournament.That was what was really killing teams and
was really making it difficult for thoseguys who were either coming from eleven A
side, you know, trying toplay spaces and stuff, and it's like,
well, you play a space,We're just gonna drive forward and Paulo
will shoot it. Like you know, it's that's fine with us. We'll
let that happen. So yeah,man, those little nuances. I think

(54:49):
after the first game we kind ofsettled in and really started to run away
with it. You know. Obviously, you never really think you're gonna be
the ones lifting the trophy at theend. You always hope. So when
it finally happened, it was itwas a super special moment. My both
my parents were able to be there, so that was really cool. Yeah,
man. And then the cash prizeat the end that was that was

(55:10):
nice. So yeah, man,what what a what a tournament. I
think that they're bringing it back tocarry if I'm not mistaken next year.
I was, man, I washoping, and I'm like, if they
they could do a Miami, theycould do in New York, they could
do you know any of these bigcities with you know, good facilities,

(55:30):
and I think it would just takeoff. But with the success they had
next year, I imagine there willbe more people flying into North Carolina to
witness it. So and and I'llend by saying, it's never going to
be easier than to win the firstone. So we got that out of
the way. Hey, you're you'reyou're the number one name on the trophy,

(55:51):
right, like, that's it.That's that's the first ever winners of
t st okay last thing. Andwe will let you go. My friend,
How hard is it to take careof your hair? Like? What
is what is the what is thegeneral routine for you whether on a day
to day, week to week basis, Because I mean, I've got to

(56:12):
imagine, sometimes it's hot, sometimesit's a total pain in the butt,
Like what what's what's the general amountof effort and work you have to do
to keep your hair the way youwant it. So I definitely I'll go
through phases where I want to Iwake up in the morning and I just
want to like buzz it off.But I've had it for longer than you

(56:32):
know, I've been with my wifeso I gotta, I gotta keep it.
But no, actually shout out tomy wife. She's the one who,
uh who does a lot of themaintenance. Actually she does pretty much
all of the maintenance. But i'dsay probably about once a week is you
know, a little a little retwist. You know, you gotta keep it

(56:52):
clean. For the most part,I will say, it's it's not as
heavy as you might think. Andwhether that's because I I'm just used to
it as it's grown, or it'sactually not as heavy, it's one of
those things I don't really notice unlessI go to like head the ball and
then like one like smacks me inthe eye and I'm like ah, or
the classic you know, hair getspulled in the game and my head goes

(57:15):
back and I'm like, man,if I just didn't have short hair,
If I had short hair, thatwouldn't be an issue, you know,
Like and then there's the other onewhere everyone's like, man, you'd be
so much faster, and I'm like, you got to beat me in a
race already, so I mean youwon't need to be faster, or like,
I don't know, but no,I mean it's it's fairly easy to
maintain. There's not not too muchmaintenance that goes into it. But that's

(57:36):
also personal preference for me. I'mmore of a laid back like I like
to look good. But if it'sgonna require me to spend, you know,
an extra twenty minutes in the morning, I'll probably just let slide.
That's a soccer player for you,right there. Yeah, I'll just get
up and deal with that before pictureday. Right. My wife is she's

(57:57):
on call tonight for a fresh youknow read twist for a picture day tomorrow.
So yeah, I appreciate that.Yeah, if there's one day,
right, it's tonight. Man,I'm a little scruffy right now. You'll
see a new look tomorrow, Okay, I'm looking forward to it. You
know, you'll see the same lookfor me, unless I can get my
wife to shake my head to that. But I don't think. I don't
think I'm going to get that.So I see, you'll see same old

(58:22):
me. Well drew incredible first appearanceon Soccer's over. No, I know
I'm a lost cause to begin with. Look, at a certain point,
at a certain point you stop carryingand that's good, but that's correct.
And you know I'm just trying tomake sure I fit into my flight gear.
You know, I was. Iwas given the flight gear on Monday,

(58:42):
and it's usually like a half sizesmall, and so I was very
nervous when they gave me largs andit all fit and so I've watched it
and I'm hanged drying them. Idon't need anything to right. Yeah,
I'm old line man. Yeah,t L d R. I'm old in
fat. Okay, Drew incredible firstappearance Soccers overtime. First of many,

(59:04):
Thank you so much for joining uson the show of record in the m
A. S L. And we'llsee you tomorrow at Photoday. Sounds good.
I appreciate you guys having me thegreat through ruggles you get it this
year. Thank you guys. Thankyou. Drew. There he is man.
I always love having the live guestson Tony incredible stuff, really really

(59:27):
fun. Hey Chip for ocean side, I'm really not that fat. You're
not supposed to agree. I didnot agree. I actually said I can
go over and help you out withthat hair situation and if you need an
extra hand, you know, I'llyou know, blend it easy, guy,
Chip, I can bag on me. You can't bag on me.

(59:53):
I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I'mnot that fat, though you know I
ran yesterday, ran a solid fivek yesterday. My legs are killing me
today. Couldn't possibly do it again. Okay, let's I mean tomorrow,
maybe I is going to get outof there, are going to get to
work in a minute. All right, let's get into our announcements. We
did knock out two of them earlier. So you know, just once again

(01:00:16):
noting photo days tomorrow. You heardyou mention that season ticket member party Sunday
afternoon. I did see somebody whilewe were talking to Drew in the chat
asking where the club's training facility wasin El cahoone, and the answer is
nowhere. I think maybe someone gotconfused or misheard, but the generally the
soccer's train at Bradley Park in SanMarcos, San Marcos. So I'm very

(01:00:40):
much not alcohol and I very muchwish they trained in Alkoholm because I live
in le Mesa and it would bea very short drive as opposed to a
very long drive. But so BradleyPark and in San Marcos generally weekday mornings
at eight now when it rains andit is supposed to rain this week,

(01:01:01):
correct, But when it does rain, and when the club knows in advance
that it's going to rain, they'lloften punt the training session to La Mesa
indoors. So I'm only happy whenit rains, as the old song by
Garbage went, because that means Ionly have to drive like literally four and
a half minutes to get to LaMesa Indoor as opposed to much longer to

(01:01:25):
get to San Marcos. But yeah, so that's that's generally what happens.
And every once in a while theclub gets to practice in the arena and
can't go in there either. Buteither Bradley Park in San Marcos or if
it's raining, Lea Mesa Indoor inLa Masa off seven and there's your practice.

(01:01:45):
Monday through Friday are tibbets. Generallyweekdays is when they train. So
there you have it. Okay,here's our big announcement, and this is
something we've been working on for acouple of weeks. It's a very different
time, as you know, Tony, and if folks don't know, I
want to just remind everyone. Everyweek you host uh the San Diego soccer

(01:02:09):
podcast of record in the City TwoBalls and a Mic. Tony are you
there? I think Tony's frozen.Hmm, Tony is frozen. I'm here.
Hey, It's just me, Bye, Hi, everybody. Tony'll be

(01:02:34):
back. So, uh, Tony'sback. There we go. All right.
You talked about rain and it justit just messed up with the San
Diego mojo of it and just butwe're back. We're back. Looking at
you and I thought you were justholding you damn it. Oh my golly.

(01:02:58):
Okay, like Tony's back. Tony'sback. Okay. So this is
something we've been working on for thelast couple of weeks. And as you
know, what I was just sayingbefore you froze, Tony, is that
you are the host of Two Ballsand a Mic, the podcast of record
for San Diego soccer in general.We're the podcast record for the MAASL You're
the podcast record for San Diego soccerin general, and so you know as

(01:03:19):
well or better than anybody else,what a weird time it is in San
Diego soccer because San Diego Loyal isgone. They're literally selling the office furniture
on Saturday, and I might goand see if I can buy a chair.
Like it's pathetic, but it's true. The Wave incredible, incredible season

(01:03:40):
for San Diego Wave but did notwin the championship. San Diego FC on
the way MLS coming to San Diego, but a full year, a full
calendar year where there will be noyou know, outside of Albion pro outdoor
soccer. They'll be you know,first or second division pro outdoor soccer played

(01:04:04):
inside San Diego County. They'll betop flight women's soccer in the NWSL.
So, as you also know,both of us have been members of the
Locals Chavo State Loyal There's also theSan Diego Sirens, which have developed around
San Diego Wave and is the officialsupporter club of San Diego Wave. And

(01:04:29):
with SANTYGOFC coming in now you havethe Chavos Frontera Ultras, who are kind
of the dedicated offshoot to San DiegoFC. And you've got the Riptides,
a new supporters group that is exclusiveto San Diego FC as well. So
there's a lot of supporter energy inSan Diego and right now there's not a

(01:04:50):
lot of homes for San Diego supporterenergy. Put on top of all of
that, the locals have been ina bit of an existential crisis, like
we had a bye law that wasexclusive to supporting the loyal, and now
the loyal don't exist, so thereforea bylaw is defunct. So now now
what right? And they've been doingcanvasaying, they've been doing surveys, they're

(01:05:14):
trying to figure out their identity.Well over here at Soccer's we've been trying
to develop the soccer supporter culture indoors, something that's really never existed in the
history of the sport. Soccer supporterculture has always been associated with outdoors.
There's been some very little crossover fromoutdoor to indoor, you know. And

(01:05:41):
of course we are so thankful andrespectful of the Great Adrian and what he
has done to help bring that supporterculture inside our arena. In section nineteen
with Los brus de Setente Iocho,which is the chralvelest loyal offshoot group that
supports indoor and supports our San DiegoSoccers, we are looking to grow supporter

(01:06:09):
culture around the San Diego Soccers.We want those who have become big outdoor
fans and are searching for a teamthat is locally owned, that is independently
owned, that has not only awinning tradition, but in fact is the
holder of the tradition of San Diego'ssoccer history, so dating back to nineteen

(01:06:34):
seventy six as the San Diego Jawsoutdoors at Jack Murphy Stadium, which then
was called San Diego Stadium, youknow, and now is the parking lot
for Snaptracken Stadium. Yeah. Sohere's what we're doing for the home opener

(01:06:56):
on December third. We are havinga support summit. And what that means
is if you are a member ofthe Locals, if you are a member
of Chavost Loyal, if you area member of the Sirens, if you
are a member of the Riptides,you have a free opportunity for two tickets
for every person to come to thematch on Sunday, December third, And

(01:07:23):
and of course the match is atfive, but we're gonna hold a supporter
summit at three point thirty. It'llbe in a little outdoor alcove inside you
go inside the arena and then they'vegot a send me out side staged area
kind of on the west side,and that's where we're gonna hold it.
Today they were telling me that there'swe're gonna figure out the logistics, we'll

(01:07:45):
have stuff for you to eat,we'll have stuff for you to drink while
we're there, and we'll have anopportunity to kind of chat up what what
the history of San Diego Soccers isand what we're hoping to achieve with our
supporter culture here. And then ofcourse every one of those supporters has the
opportunity to walk right over into Sectionnineteen to get rowdy, to have fun,

(01:08:08):
to get behind the club as theytake on Nick Pereira and the Tacoma
Stars and Jeered Danny Waltman from youKnow Kindly but uh, Jeer Danny Walllman,
is Tony frozen again? Tony,Tony's frozen again? I looked at
that depth stare. I was likeyou, that can't possibly be right.

(01:08:31):
So we'll unfreeze Tony. But reallyexcited about this The Supporters Summit Sunday,
December third, and uh, interms of if you are a supporter and
you're watching this and you want toknow how to get involved, get into
your discords. I'm going to beputting stuff up tomorrow with a link that
everyone can click to sign up andbe in line for your tickets. Welcome

(01:08:57):
back, Tony just I think othersupporter groups from around the MASL just darted
me in the neck and just justcoming on down. But yeah, I
love, I love what is happeninghere with the supporter or something. I'll
throw that info back up here rightthere there it is. It's that was
hilarious. Man, I'm like talking, I look down, you look so

(01:09:19):
serious. I'm like, oh no, yeah, yeah. That's might tell
when whenever the frown comes up andit's just like pensive, it's like,
yeah, technology no, I mean, uh if I can. It's just
a great opportunity because that's something thatI've been really young men, old man,

(01:09:41):
me man, the San Diego manyelling at cloud of hey, come
support the San Diego Socers, comesupport. Be about it. There was
a huge explosion of that supporter culturewhere really, you know what the reality
of it is, people responded tothe outdoor game as as they should in
order to represent their city. DanielSockers has always been here, but now

(01:10:01):
guess what, San Diego Soccers arestill here. And that is an effervescent
essence of the spirit of San Diegothat will not go away. And I
really don't care if it's South CountyNorth County, East County literally off of
one of the the carriers out thereand nimme, its like it's part of

(01:10:23):
San Diego. And if the ifthe soccers were to play, actually that
would be a really good idea.Let's play out the midway, uh,
in one of the aircraft carriers.You know, if you fly that free
kick and it's just in the water, so is to dive off the side
of the midway and grab that ball. Get it. I'll go get it.
It's fine. But no, it'ssomething that you know, the spirit

(01:10:44):
of local soccer and even the hashtagsupport local Soccer was made a parent.
It was made you know, reallythrown in people's faces at times by by
like hey, like come and supportand be about it. Well, this
isn't a million getting thrown in people'sfaces. It's it's another opportunity to be
about it. It's another opportunity tocome together and support San Diego for what

(01:11:05):
it is and what everybody's known ithas been for years. And I really
think it's a really good chance toyou know, just like Drew Ruggles was
talking about, like if you're notwhere you're supposed to be the preseasons for
but this is a chance to reallybe in season with something and give it
your all, and that's something thatis a rare opportunity, and the San

(01:11:28):
Diego Sockers deserve that because they've beena part of this city and the fabric
of soccer in San Diego. AndI'll even put it to you this way,
Craig, I don't think I've toldyou this. When I was five
years old over in Furati and TJ, I played a halftime show with the
San Diego Soccers and they kicked ourbutt. And I'm telling you, I
was like five years old, butthey kicked our button. I was just

(01:11:50):
in awe of these guys came overfrom the Littrolalo the United States, and
they're better at there's so much betterthan anything I've ever seen. And really
it's a team that unites Las Fronterrasand on both sides. And this sport
really speaks highly. It's spoken highlyof in the Ijuana as well. A

(01:12:11):
lot of the players come from overthere, but I digress, come over
be part of it. Be loudand proud, exactly loud and proud,
Be proud to be loud and helpcreate the culture inside the arena that makes
it miserable for the opponent, makesit great for the viewer, and makes

(01:12:33):
it easier for the Soccers to claimanother championship, to win another shield.
It's a supporter's shield. We've hadthat connection to our supporter culture for the
last two years by winning the SupporterShield, and we just want to grow
it. So, Hey, ifyou're a part of the Riptides and you're
excited about what you're going to bringas a fledgling supporters organization, you have

(01:12:55):
no match to go work on asong or a chant or a cheer until
February twenty twenty five. Maybe you'regonna go cheer at some friendly or some
high school game or something. Whynot support an authentic professional team that has
been here, like I said,since nineteen seventy eight, is the Soccers
and has won sixteen championships, islocally owned, is independent, is fighting

(01:13:19):
for its life, you know,and has all of the culture of San
Diego success in its DNA. Ifyou are with the Sirens and you guys
want to tune up for the nextseason, you know, hey, why
not. If you're a member ofthe Locals and you're looking for a new

(01:13:39):
identity, you're looking for something thatyou can hang your supporter scarf around,
so to speak. You know,the soccers are there for you. Inexpensive
an opportunity, a chance to stillconnect, a chance for that community to
still come together, that incredible localscommunity that is so giving and so warm

(01:14:02):
to have that group come together.And of course for Chavos, Chavos have
done a great job of positioning themselvesover the last year and Bruhoste Santantiocho has
led the way. Adrian has ledthe way. But I've spoken to him,
I've spoken to Kevin. They aregrowing, they want to grow,
they are getting new people in theirorganization. Will where else We're better to

(01:14:26):
show that you are, in factChavos de San Diego and that you are
about more than just one club,then to come and be a part of
what Adrian is building in section nineteen. So it's really a chance, a
free opportunity to come to that openingmatch. I love that. I love
the local scarves are coming out,the Javo scarves are coming out. I
really appreciate that. And like Isaid, everyone check your discords in the

(01:14:50):
various supporters groups. Will have thoselinks by tomorrow, and very much hoping
and you can go to st soccersdot com slash summit to find out more
or just see a written version ofwhat I've said, but nonetheless really looking
forward to that, very excited forit. We've done it before, we
did it a few years ago,and I'm very excited to do this once

(01:15:14):
again. And transitioning Tony and justbacking up our brothers at Chavos, brothers
and sisters at Chavos. This istheir annual Thanksgiving drive for the last four
years, Chavos Chavo Epavosavami. Therewe go where they give out free turkeys
canned food down in Barrio Logan onLogan Avenue. It's this Saturday at twelve

(01:15:41):
o'clock. You can literally Venmo Adrianto help support. You can come down
to volunteer to help give things out. Just go to the Chavos social media
feeds Chavos de Loyl on Instagram,on x on Facebook, wherever you want
to go find it. You canfind the Venmo link for Adrian. You

(01:16:03):
can help donate. I've donated,the clubs donated. You know, It's
something that I'm really thrilled that theydo every year and really their connection Chavos
connection to the community is indisputable.So if anyone is watching and can help
them out with a small donation,you know, five, ten, twenty

(01:16:24):
bucks, you know, all ofthat leads to really helping out some of
the less advantageous people, you know, people with fewer advantages than we have
here in San Diego at a timewhen it's absolutely needed. So Chavoi Pavos
fourth annual Saturday, twelve o'clock downon Logan Avenue. But if you want

(01:16:44):
to get involved, you can dothat wherever you are. You can do
that watching across the country. Justsearch for chavast loyal on Instagram, do
so on Facebook, on Twitter whichis called x and you can find that
Venmo link and you can donate toAdrian did it myself today. Absolutely a
worthy cause. Yeah, wonderful whata round ball and a simple game can

(01:17:06):
really do for a community. Andthat's one of the great things that have
come out from soccer in San Diego'sthis beautiful community, So how about be
about it. Last soccer's announcement issomething that came out last week is that
the United Soccer Coaches Convention, thebiggest soccer coaches convention in the Country is

(01:17:29):
taking place this year in Anaheim,California, on January eleventh. The Soccers
and Empire Strikers will play an exhibitionmatch inside the Anaheim Convention Center, which
is the host of the USC Convention, at five pm January eleventh, and
it's the first time that a proindoor soccer match has been held inside the

(01:17:54):
convention itself. Previously. Previously theyhave done this like in Kansas City at
Kemper Arena or at Cable Doamer Arena, but this will be actually in the
venue itself where the Convention is.The match will be televised on Twitch.

(01:18:15):
I believe that Philly and myself willbe calling that game. I know all
of our staff will be there.And if you'd like to be there,
there are limited tickets available and youcan go to sdsoccers dot com. You
can call the Soccers eight sixty sixseven nine nine goal to get your ticket
and get your opportunity to go seethe m ASL Pro Indoor Cup. Now.

(01:18:39):
It's also the seventh meeting of theyear between the Soccers and Strikers,
but the only one which doesn't count. So and Suzanne noting She's like,
wait, but but isn't there agame in Tacoma two days later? And
then chiwala, yes there is,yes, yes there is, Yes,
there is, Susan uh and Ihave a strong suspicion that it won't be

(01:19:06):
the starting lineup for the San DiegoSoccers that day in them ASL Pro Indoor
Cup, that there may be someof those maybe the tall guy and the
guy with the mohawk and the goalieand the other guy. Yeah, and
importantly the other guy might get someplaying time. There might be a few

(01:19:26):
other other guys that sneak their wayin. Maybe Eddie Veleska and Brian Farber
come out of retirement that day.You know, like there could be Ze
Roberto, you know, find hisway out of the weeds. You know,
it's all of it is a possibility. Yeah. Yeah, now that
you bring it up, Susan,why the hell are we doing this right?

(01:19:47):
Because it's a really good opportunity forthem ASL is the answer. It's
a great opportunity for connection. Theleague is trying to create connections. They're
trying to create and forge these connectionsbetween the indoor and out to a world,
just like we were talking about withour summit they're doing it at corporate
levels, they're doing it at coachinglevels. So you know, we're thrilled
to be a part of it,or at least modestly thrilled to be a

(01:20:09):
part of it, and just hopethat nobody gets hurt or overly tired.
On January eleventh. Yeah, absolutely, it's a good opportunity because again,
the soccers are that beacon of MASL, and who else do you want to
represent the MASL as a whole thanthe San Diego soccer So there you go.
Now, I just want to notethat the media game will have been

(01:20:30):
played prior to this week, soit'll have been the weekend before. So
if anybody happens to have like reallystood out in the media game, the
opportunity to get signed for the exhibitionmatch is like, it's a non zero
chance. I'm just saying it's ahigher chance than it normally would be.
Yeah, I mean, look,i think I've put a resume together of

(01:20:56):
some performances of certain I mean Ithink like I'm picking up what you're putting
down, Craig. I think Ilike that. You know, maybe Paul
Right will activate himself and then youcan do a diving save on Paul Wright,
you know, and you can stopa Women's Hall of Famer and a
Men's Hall of Famer like you know. See, if you can do that,

(01:21:23):
I'd love to see it. Okay. So that's January eleventh. That's
soccer's news briefly, because we're approachingninety minutes, which is my maximum for
when we have a guest unless Iget really worked up. Masl news Strikers
made a trade, we say,for the second straight week. They announced
it prior to the Show of Record. I appreciate Empire doing their moves prior

(01:21:44):
to the Show of Record coming on. They recognize where the Show of Record
is and they get out those releaseson Tuesdays in the middle of the day
to make sure that we get iton. Lucas Roquet, one of the
great Baltimore Blast players, a thirtyfive year old veteran, a four time
champion. I want to say,but a Baltimore fan. If Geo's in

(01:22:09):
the chat, you know, youcan let me know. I don't think
I read that in the Empire pressrelease. They did put some specific numbers
in for Lucas rok I appreciated that, but Lucas Broquet acquired from Baltimore a
trade. Jesus Sweetpea Pacheco is goingto Baltimore and Roque comes to Empire and

(01:22:32):
for a team that's looked to getyounger and faster. Tony obviously, Lucas
Roque is not that he's a careerfootsal player. He brings that Brazilian flair.
He is a really good player,though, a really good player who's
been clutch in the past. Ithink Tony's frozen again. It has been

(01:22:55):
clutch in the past, and ohhe's back and he FROs again and I
hear you say it, and I'mlike, no, I'm not, No,
I'm not frozen. It starts movingaround. I love it. So
I don't know, Tony. I'mjust gonna say, bottom line, I
think this is a really, reallygood trade for Empire. You know,

(01:23:16):
Baltimore had to probably make some changes. I saw a little bit of an
ed Hail press conference on Twitter acouple of weeks ago where they talked about,
you know, making some changes forthat franchise. Lucas Roquet is one
of their most established best players.He's one of the most respected players in
the league, and I think hecan't help but make Empire better, and

(01:23:40):
he's going to be the focal pointof their attack. You're frozen again.
Oh you're back, ash h therego along with the youth. Rokay seems

(01:24:06):
like that focal point where they haveyoung kids run around just to him and
he'll finish it then and he'll he'llmake those place concrete. So I mean,
it's an interesting strategy. We'll behow it develops. And and there
he goes. He was hanging onby a technological inch. Kve Ribert asks

(01:24:29):
a couple of weeks ago, youlisted Empire's top scores. Hey, welcome
back, Tony. Are any ofthe top five left? Yes? The
answer to Kate Ribert's question is JustinStintson is left. So the stinger,
Justin Stinton or the shooter I thinkhe wanted to call himself last year bang
bang uh. Stinton is still there. Roku is going to step right in.

(01:24:51):
I think he's the kind of playerthat can fit. And to be
honest, I mean Tayu for forRoke. That's what it was. That
was the exchange, right, ifyou know, at face value, I
think Empire did okay. Yeah,and I love you know, Frank,

(01:25:15):
I have all the respect in theworld for Frank, but I think I
think Empire did okay on that,and then they get steff On Miatovic and
Quentin Swift as well, and Meetovichin particular is somebody who you know will
be on the scouting report. Let'sjust put it that way. You know,
in terms of dangerous from outside physicalhas bite to him, likes to
get into it. Obviously, Empiresfaster, and I think the Rokee trade

(01:25:40):
gives them at least a chance achance to put some scoring pop together.
The biggest difference I would say inTyu's favor between Tayu and Roke is dependability.
Availability. Lucas Rok has dealt withinjury many times in his career.
He's been out for extended periods forBaltimore many different times, and I certainly

(01:26:02):
don't wish any of that on anyone. But at thirty five, you always
wonder about injury. Frank a coupleof years younger, but somebody who generally
posts up every single game every singleyear, Frank Tayus so Hey. Overall,
I think Empire wound up in adecent place. Yeah, it's going

(01:26:25):
to make for better games than itwould have without this trade, I think
at the end of the day,and so again, you never want to
go ahead and to take your footoff the gas because that's when you get
a little bit too confident. Andyou know, last year we saw with
Empire actually and the soccers got themselvessome of their own medicine at times.

(01:26:45):
Absolutely, And you know we'll wrapon this Soccer Dynasty asks a question in
the chat saying which team gained themost from the Florida collapse the dissolution of
the Florida Tropics. I just wantto say, let's talk about that next
week on the show, because that'swhen we're going to get closer to conference
previews. And I still think someof the Florida players at least have not

(01:27:08):
been announced in their new teams,or some might still be catching on.
So right now I'd say the socceris getting ruggles is pretty darn awesome.
I think Ugo Silva, the keepergoing to Harrisburg, that's a big help
for the Heat because he's a qualitykeeper. And I think Ricardo called Carvallo

(01:27:28):
going to Milwaukee is a big adfor the Wave because he's a clutch goal
scorer and has been a clutch goalscorer for years, but I want to
know everyone from Vandergriff to Pereiras anddown the line. Where does everyone settle
in and settle out? At whichpoint maybe we'll have a good answer for
that question. But now, Tony, now's the time to play the music,

(01:27:50):
because we've reached the ninety minute markand it's time to get on out
of here. Man. It's greatto be back with all of our friends
on soccers over time, Tony knowabsolutely thank you for everybody who joined us,
Mister Craig senor I see it onthere, but please tell everyone where
we can find you. Find meon Instagram at six one nine Sports and

(01:28:10):
Life still on X at six onenine sports as well, without the with
no life you have no life,No, you're on X. You can
follow me on six nine sports.If you have a life, you can
follow me on Instagram six one nineSports and life friends as well. I
don't think i've threaded since the weekit came out, but maybe I will
eventually, so you can follow methere. And Tony, how about you

(01:28:32):
find me at Underscore Tony Sanchez.It's literally it underscore Tony Sanchez on Twitter
X. At best point, it'son there and if you want, Tony
Sanchez on Instagram as well. Outstandingfor Tony Sanchez for Drew Ruggles. I'm
Craig Elston saying thanks to all ofyou for joining us here on Soccer's Overtime.

(01:28:53):
Hope to see many of you atthe season ticket member party on Sunday
afternoon, and for the rest ofyou, we'll see you next Tuesday,
right back here at five o'clock.Until then, have a great week and
go Sockers.