S8E2: And Away We Go (Special Guest: Kraig Chiles)

ON THE SHOW TONIGHT

• We get season eight of Sockers Overtime rolling for good with our first weekly installment
• The Sockers lock up Luiz Morales long term and the Hall of Fame comes calling for an all-time great, we’ll break down the latest Sockers News, including a loan of Xavier Snaer-Williams to Utica 
• Sockers captain and legend Kraig Chiles will be our first guest of the season coming up live at 6:30
• We’ll tell you about what’s changing at Frontwave Arena for Sockers matches in 2025-26 and why you’re going to want to get there early

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Hello once again everybody, and welcome back to Soccers Overtime,
your once again weekly look inside the San Diego Soccers
and the Major Arena Soccer League. My name is Craig Elston.
Surely by Tony stands for season eight, episode two of
Soccers Overtime. What's going on, Tony? How are you well?
I woke at the calendar and it's right around the corner.

(00:55):
The season is here, and it was really exciting.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
To see some of these new posts and just people
getting repped up for the season. It's it's gonna be here,
Harry Perry soon a couple of weeks.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
The sudeye away from It's nine nine days away as
we record on November nineteenth, Amber twenty eighth is the
day for the home opener for the San Diego Soccers,
the season opener as they take on Empire Strikers. We
are here again, Soccer's Overtime, Season eight, Episode two, and

(01:32):
Away we go in the immortal words of Trevor Denman
at the Delmarrow Racetrack and the way they go, away
we go. For season eight, we did have an episode one,
a season premiere of Soccers over Time. It was about
three four weeks back. You can find it one back
in the feed. Whether you're on YouTube or whether you're

(01:52):
listening to us on Apple Podcasts or any other audio platform,
feel free to go check it out. But now here
we go. We're going on Role our first weekly installment,
and we'll be returning for you every week, probably with
the exception of Christmas Week when there's no game and
our broadcast would fall on Christmas Eve, so we probably

(02:14):
won't do that one, probably move the one for New
Year's Eve. Nonetheless, you know, wtll wiggle here and there.
We're gonna be on every week between now and the
week after either the soccers who are eliminated or the
Ron Newman Cup is lifted, or hopefully the Soccers lift
the Ron Newman Cup, and then we'll have one more

(02:36):
show after that. Here's what's coming up on this evening's program.
We'll get you up to date on the latest soccers news,
including locking up Louise Morales, long term, the Hall of
Fame coming calling for the Great Kevin Crow. We'll break
it all down for you. Then at six point thirty
we'll be joined live by the man himself, soccer's legend

(02:59):
and Captain Greig Chiles, who announced that this will be
his final season with the San Diego Soccers at age
forty one. He's getting ready to transition into more of
a coaching role, but he is still very much the captain,
the voice, the heartbeat, the soul of this team. He'll
join us at six p thirty. We'll find out what's
what because training has been underway with Captain's workouts for

(03:22):
about a month and then official preseason is in its
second week. We'll get all the latest from KSE. Then
we'll give you some exciting look inside what's changing at
Front Wave Arena for the twenty twenty five to twenty
six soccers season. Or we'll give you a look at
the promotional schedule that the club has come up with,
and we'll let you know why you're gonna want to

(03:44):
start showing up early for soccers matches. You're gonna start
wanting to get there right when the gates open for
soccers matches this season. We're gonna roll it all out.
We talk to the team about it today, we'll talk
to you about it here on Soccers Overtime, the show
of record in the Major Arena Soccer League. Thanks to

(04:05):
all of you for being here. Please note this timeslot
Wednesday at six pm. We've been Tuesdays most of the
soccer's overtime run over the years. We used to be
Tuesdays at five with me and Jerry, and then it
kind of migrated to six with you and me, Tony,
at least for now. At least for now, we're going

(04:28):
to do Wednesdays. And the main reason is why my son,
who's now a freshman in high school fourteen years old.
He's on a swim team, and the swim team practices
Tuesday's Thursdays, and I have to take him on Tuesdays.
I'm the show for so I'm not going to do
the show from the car. So you know, we're can

(04:48):
move it to Wednesdays for now. It can absolutely move
over the course of time. It could move to a Tuesday,
like I said, New Year's Eve week, It could move
to a Tuesday once. If his schedule changes, it could
move back to Tuesday. If one of our schedules changes,
it can move back to Tuesday. But for now we're
gonna be on Wednesday at six pm, and hopefully we'll
hold the time slot for the whole year. Also, we

(05:11):
were off audio for a season, we're back on audio.
So if you're catching this on YouTube, but you used
to prefer to take in this show audio way, check
us out on Apple Podcasts. We're back distributed through Spreaker.
The show will be up by the morning on audio,
so you can check that out either way and wherever
you are, if you can give us the kindness if

(05:32):
you're here with us live on YouTube of hitting that
thumbs up right now, if you happen to be watching
a little bit later, hitting that thumbs up right now
on the course of the replay that you're watching, that
would be super appreciated. Leaving comments helping with the engagement
of the show is also super helpful. Of course, subscribe
to this get you put the alarm bell on so

(05:54):
you know when we go live. Because I said it
might migrate over the course of the year, it's a
great idea just to subscribe and then you'll know not
only when we go live, but when Tony and Chieva
go live, et cetera, so on and so forth. Lastly,
if you are listening to us on audio, because we've
been off for a while, got to rebuild that audience
over there, so if you can hit that five star review,
offer a quick written review on Apple podcasts or on Spotify.

(06:17):
All of those things help on behalf of small content
creators everywhere on the internet. Thank you for your support. Okay,
I'm done ambling and preambling, my friend. Let's get into it.
So let's start with let's start with soccer's on the
field news. So I'll just let you know this deal

(06:39):
was done a long time ago, but it was announced
a week ago. The soccer is locking up Louise Morales
long term five year contract extension that keeps him in
San Diego through twenty twenty nine, two thousand and thirty.
Tony and of course Louisa player in high demand. He
plays in Kingsley, he plays for US footsal So he

(07:03):
is a guy that kind of comes in and out
of the soccer's ecosystem over the course of the year.
But I'm happy to have him a board because this
is a young man twenty four coming on twenty five
to see what the rest of his twenties have to
hold in the indoor game. I'm really excited for what
that could be. Yeah, and that's exactly what it is. Right.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
You see the movements that are happening with some of
the veteran players, including Craig, including Boris, just that transition
into the next phase and the biggest question that even
fans had was like, well, what's next?

Speaker 1 (07:33):
How are they investing in this future?

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Here you go, Luis Modles, you already sebas already locked
up as well and extended. You have a good platform
of players that can go ahead and go long term
for this. And so it's really excited to see what
the future of the San Diego soccers hold. And it's
really excited to see a Mexican international player like Moraleis

(07:55):
being able to say, Hey, I like what I'm doing here,
and let's go ahead and run it back.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
Now, let's be technical. Born in McKinney, Texas, US of
a Louis mora als, Hey power plays at CHI only. Yeah,
all right, it's the modern game. Nonetheless, I'm just saying,
we get to have him on our team, not your team.
But and by that, I just meet our national teams

(08:21):
where we are only place where Tony and I are
Contra pretty much is right there. But that's okay, that's fine.
You guys can figure that out on your side. Yeah,
I think this is really exciting and just for the
continued maturation of the San Diego Soccers midfield because obviously
you've got a lot of age at the forward position

(08:41):
outside of Tavoi da Voi just entering his age thirty season,
but Nikki's thirty nine. You know, Craig Or in his
age forty one year and heading to I wouldn't say
warmer pastures on the bench, but you know, just you know,
transitioning along as we go. But that midfield feld lost

(09:02):
a young or in his prime spark plug in Brandon Escoto,
who for two years has been in Visa hell for
the San Diego Soccers. And listen, nothing's changed this year.
Brandon's not in the plans for twenty twenty five, twenty six.
So you added Louisa Morales and a Sebastian Mendez and

(09:25):
you get them on long term deals. And then you've
got these two young guys. You've got Costa, who's you know,
three years older I think than those guys, but still
a young player. Then you've got Charlie who's right in
his prime in his early thirties. You've got in his
later thirties. You've really got this lovely Kego Goontan in

(09:45):
a similar age and experience situation. So you've got this
really lovely mix. I think tony of youth, electricity, ball, handling, skill, speed, power,
Like there's a little bit have everything to love in
the soccer's midfield.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
Yeah, and it's get them while they're still young, where
they're still you know, able to learn and really have
a moment to say, you know what, I'm not the
master here where look at what Morales and said by
Stan Mendez, we're doing over it with tech over Texas.
It was just them, like those kids, those guys, those
young guys powered an entire team forward and we're part

(10:24):
of the one of the most prolific UH front and
threes that the league had. And so for them to
then transition into somewhere where you can learn a philosophy,
a style of play that's going to elevate your game
is definitely something that these young players are looking for
and they're looking for that for those leaders.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
They're looking for those people to go ahead and teach
them and mature with.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
And so it's it's awesome to see the soccers invest
in such a way for the future.

Speaker 1 (10:51):
Look around, you know, the team's got staying powered for
the most part, I think, you know, there's obviously, you know,
there's a lot of core players on this team that
have been aging and continue to get, you know, a
little bit longer in the tooth every year. But I
still think you've got prime guys like Cardin iss Incerta
on the back line. You've got prime guys really at

(11:11):
every position, and the opportunity now for transitions to take place,
and you know, it's not out of the realm of
possibility that a guy like Luis Morales could go to
a forward position down the road for the soccers as
Childs and eventually Perera probably you know, a John Can
I just pause and say, it's crazy to me that

(11:33):
Nick Perera is thirty nine, because he looks exactly the
same as when he was thirty two, as when he
was twenty six, is when he was twenty seven, as
when he was thirty four, like pick any age between
twenty two and thirty nine, and he's kind of looked
about the same. And I watch him and look at him,
and I'm like, well, Nick is in the prime of
his career.

Speaker 2 (11:58):
This young whipper snapper, right, I mean, look like some
people maybe maybe even like like Craig looks over and
it's like, hey, like, that's that's that's the young young,
young pot of one, Nick.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
Pereira, and yeah, he used to be. But at that time,
Craig was the young gun. You know. Craig was just
like five years out of college and just ripping and
tearing the nets. And Nick was like, hey, hey, rook.
You know, hey kid, what's going on Now? It's Master
and Master working together. It's going to be fun. We'll
talk to Craig about that coming up in about fifteen

(12:29):
minutes from now. About fifteen minutes from our live interview
with Craig childs Angus asks in the chat, is Keiko
coming back? Yes? I don't believe he is on the
current m ASL soccer roster, and I'm not exactly sure
what the thing is behind that, but I mean he
was at training today. I've seen him at all the

(12:50):
trainings I've attended, so he's he's there, of life sense,
got it exactly Like if he's I think he's going
to be on the team. So uh excited to have
Keiko and to see what the second year has to
offer for a guy like that, Tony, because as you know,

(13:10):
the transition to indoor, you know, whether you're a Young
Buck or whether you're an Elijah Martin, or whether you're
a Landon Donovan or whether you're a Keiko Gontan, there's
this there's a change going from out toward to indoor. Yeah, absolutely,
and that's.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Something where you can really tell where the soccer IQBA
individual is and Keiko has it. He's able to go
ahead and slow the game down in a game that
requires speed and uh incredible movement, and he's able to
still play at his pace but also move up in
tempo and move up in the rate whenever he needs to,
so him being able to really have a have a

(13:46):
look and he was almost, you know, a game changer
when he started in the season last last year, and
it was something that a down shift even or up shifts,
a different shift, a different gear than what the soccers
had because.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
You didn't know what Oke was going to do.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
And when usually a play calls for a pass and move,
he'll go ahead and do a fancy dribbling past somebody
or just look past and live to play another day
and pass it back. And it's those little interesting notes
that hopefully once now acclimated into the year with the
team a little bit more he can go ahead and
develop into the same soccer's philosophy, like it's going to

(14:21):
be incredible seeing him grow.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
Next item on Soccer's On Field News. I think it's
a net positive for the San Diego Soccers, Tony and
for eventually Xavier Snare Williams, although certainly his winter clothing
budget had to be extended a little bit so as
his contract. Xavier Snaire Williams signed to a three year
contract with the San Diego Soccers and then loaned to

(14:48):
Tommy Tanner and to Utica City FC, where he will
play the entirety of this season, but the Soccers retain
his rights for twenty twenty six, twenty seven, twenty twenty seven,
twenty eight. This is not an MLS deal. I don't
believe we received any gam or any tam uh and
there's no purchase option that I am aware of either.

(15:12):
There's also no restriction option. You might remember Frank Tayu
last year. Whenever Unica plays the Soccers, Xavier is available
for selection for UCFC against US. But uh, you know,
with the with the writing on the wall, Tony of
a boris parto Chris Toath tandem in net the two

(15:35):
greatest keepers in the history of the m ASL working
together one last time. You know, this incredible last dance
feel to what's going on in net Uh, Xavier wasn't
going to have a place to play this year. There's
no soccers too. There wouldn't be the chance for him
to draw every day starts or every every game starts,

(15:58):
I should say, uh in MAASL two. So instead, what
better thing for a young man at this stage of
his career than to play in ma ASL one, to
play for Utica, to play for a team that, as
Andrew Kaughlin moves on, there is in desperate need of
a regular goalkeeper, and he's going to face the fire

(16:18):
in Utica. You know, he's going to face all the shots,
and he'll play on the small field in Baltimore, and
he'll get this opportunity to grow in front of great
fans and a really good organization in Utica. I think
it's great for Xavier, and I think it's great for
the soccers because as Xavier grows, he's growing into his

(16:39):
future role. To come back here with us.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
Yeah, absolutely, and definitely the prime of a goalkeeper, you know,
might vary from indoor to outdoor, but it's around the
thirty thirty one to thirty two range, and so you know,
Xavier has a lot of time for him to kind
of mature into that role and become the keeper that
he wants to become. Right it's almost having a chance
to go and do a residency as a doctor. You

(17:03):
get to choose your specialty. What kind of a goalkeeper
are you going to be? Develop into it? And this
is very exciting for him to say, you know what,
a different play style, a different side of the ball.
But look, honestly, with the amount of play there's going
to be a lot of parody in the eight teams
this season, and that means that he's gonna face sometimes

(17:25):
where twenty upwards of twenty shots a game, and that's
just reps. Every single shot that a goalkeeper take is
is a rep an opportunity to grow, an opportunity to
have the bout your feet and distribute and you know,
work with the small field because you know, who knows
what might happen in a couple of years, and you know,
Mexican teams are allowed back and say, all right, you

(17:45):
can use the different little field, but hopefully we'll see
what that entails.

Speaker 1 (17:51):
What if I speak, I get in trouble. Look, you know,
I wish Chiuawu was there. I wish we had the
mountain to climb this year. I'll probably say that. You'll
probably hear me say that twenty times over the course
of the season. I wish we had that mountain to climb.

(18:11):
I wish we had that challenge to face and to defeat.
I think this team might have been up for it,
you know. I think this might be the best team
that's been put together. Bringing Chris and Nick back to
a team that still has all the other guys like unbelievable.
So I think this team could have done it. But
we'll never know. As Kanye West famously said, I guess

(18:33):
we'll never know. But they get to fight for this
Ron Newman Cup, which counts just the same as last
Ron Newman Cup, and Xavier will be fighting for that
same cup. He'll be doing it with a pretty good
team in Utica. Who knows what other moves Utica makes
soon as what kind of year they have, but they're
gonna have Xavier in net and we'll see what that
looks like. And I'm really excited, honestly to see what

(18:56):
it looks like preseason training is underway. As I'm mentioned earlier,
coaches practice, or I should say captain's practices had started
earlier than that had started back in October. But this
has been rolling now for a couple of weeks. They
had a full scrimmage today at the q Y M
c A and then Sinidas, which I was told was

(19:22):
what's the best way to put this, like all not
all time soccers, but only soccers, soccers versus soccers who
were former strikers or at some point played for Empire
along along the way. The soccers won, just like normal,
the soccers won. But good stuff, hearing good things. You know,

(19:47):
there's as always there's little Nixon bruises over the course
of preseason. And also like Costa was coming back from
Kings League, so I don't know what he might have,
you know, picked up over there, but you know, stay
tuned in terms of our first sixteen. We'll find that
out altogether nine days from now. But full scrimmage, a

(20:09):
lot of high spirits. I was at their La Mesa
training which was when it was raining last week as well.
You know, everyone's looking good. That was the last day
Zavier was there and really excited. I know they're doing
some team bonding stuff tomorrow and they're ready to get
after it in about nine days. Here's a quick little

(20:29):
thing for you. Get though. Number changes. Oh, those are exact.
Guerrera can't wear ten, just like no one's been able
to wear ten ever since Castina tragically passed away and
the club retired the number ten with Castana. It's not
you know, no matter what, that was pretty a good
decision to have Kastana and that number ten all time

(20:54):
put up in the rafters. So what to do? Nick
is going back to the number he wore as a
rookie in twenty ten eleven. He is number seventy seven. Nice.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
It's kind of interesting that number because Brian Farber has
worn seventy seven at one point in his career. I
think Felipe might have worn seventy seven at one point
in his career him are one Gonzales and Nick twice now,
so it's kind of cool. It's kind of a hockey number.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
Seventy seven, Yeah, to throw back to, you know, a
different sport you start looking at. But then again, look
there's legendary number. There's a thirty seven that's absolutely legendary too, right,
Like that's not a typical football number, but it's been
made into one here locally.

Speaker 1 (21:50):
He's just Pacheco had been wearing nine elsewhere. To Voyd
Morgan has number nine here in San Diego, Jesus, but
Checa will wear ninety one. Okay, all right, he'll be
the one. Right as you know, I do a numerical roster.
He'll be that last name on the roster. Uh, every time,
but last on the roster. First in our heart, Caesars,

(22:12):
don't worry all love, all love, but ninety one for Pacheco.
This is the one that's interesting. Chris Toaf in his
entire career, has worn thirty one. Mm. He wore that here,
he wore that in Empire, he wore that in Tacoma.

(22:34):
Mitchell Cardiner says, thirty one. That's Mitchell's Yeah, let me
tell you yeah yeah apparently, uh, he still has thirty one.
So guess what dad did, Oh Wow, Zultan Toath Hall

(22:58):
of Famers, Zultan Toath Wow has asked for and received
for Chris to wear number one. That's issuable. Isn't that incredible?
That is what? What a story?

Speaker 2 (23:13):
What a story within that story or and I mean
a goalkeeper.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
That's that's that's the number.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
That's why we like being goalkeeper sometimes because yeah, who's
number one?

Speaker 1 (23:22):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (23:22):
Me the goalkeeper, right, and that was retired and to
unretire it and have your have your pops beat. Wow,
that's that is an incredible story. Like that's that's a
jersey to get for sure.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah. Like I have chills talking about it, Like that's
so exciting. You're talking about decades of history, decades of
history of the greatest goalkeeping in indoor history, and and
the the tie back you know, to to the to
Hungary and to everything, and all the times I've talked

(23:53):
to Zolie and been with Chris since he was eighteen
years old, and for him to be back and wearing one.
I saw it at Media Day and I was like
double take. I was like, wait, is that? I had
to double check. I had to check with the inimitable
Paul Savage that his number. Yep, that's his number number one.

(24:15):
Let's go. It's really exciting to me. It's like, you know,
as a soccer's historian slash geek, slash appreciator whatever, aficionado, like,
I love it.

Speaker 2 (24:26):
Yeah, it's like a Luchador getting the mask from the
predecessor in here you're bequeath the Luchador and carry the
name now and you are now number one and honor it.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
And that's gonna be incredibly be able to see that
out at front wave all right, last thing before we
get Greigor on board. Great announcement and if you saw it,
it came at the very end of last week with
Marcelo Baboa showing up to Kevin Crowe's classroom to I

(25:00):
just surprise him and say, hey, guess who's here. You've
just been selected and elected to the National Soccer Hall
of Fame Kevin Crow, who is the greatest defender in
the history of the San Diego soccers. There's just no
two ways about it there. It is that surprise announcement.

(25:20):
I mean, how sick is this right? Kevin Crow's like,
wait a second, I know you. Why are you at
my door? I'm talking to coaches right now. Why are
you here? What's going on? Why is there a camera?
Because you're going into the Hall of Fame and again

(25:43):
you want to talk about goosebumps. I mean, like, this
is a guy who was the backbone of the great
soccers teams with the ten championships in eleven years. He
was part of eight of them. He was a rookie
in nineteen eighty three when the team was in ASL.
He played outdoors and indoors. In the same year. He

(26:08):
went on to play in the nineteen eighty four Olympics
for Team USA, but he was the Rookie of the
Year in the NASL. Then the team moved to the
MIL where he was part of seven championships in eight seasons,
winning first Team All League six times and Defender of

(26:29):
the Year five times. The True Ones No. Nineteen eighty
five team down three to two on the road to
Minnesota Strikers, and he kicks the game winning goal off
the line in the final minute. That's incredible, That's great. No,

(26:53):
he's and he played with San Diego all the way
till nineteen ninety six. He played through the CISL his career.
In Phil Silvaggio's career, actually you know connected at one
point he was when Philly was in gold for them
in nineteen ninety four and Kevin Crowe elected. Now he

(27:14):
played in two Olympics, nineteen eighty four in nineteen eighty eight.
He was twelve times capped for the US men's national
team at a time when they weren't playing like they
are now, you know, forty matches a year or whatever.
It was much rarer back then and just an incredible,

(27:36):
incredible achievement. And I salute the National Soccer Hall of
Fame for recognizing the greatness of Kevin Crow, who I
mean absolutely is in the all time starting six of
just soccer. Ever, you know, it would be hard for
the soccers to land some of their great forwards, whether

(27:57):
it would be Craig or Segoda or v up there
when you've got the guys who scored a thousand goals
up you know, up there. Uh, there'd be arguments in
the midfield. I don't think anyone could argue that Kevin
Crow is one of the two best defenders in the
history of the sport.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
No, It's incredible, And it's with this this sense of
path of pride that I get, you know, just you know,
being from San Diego to San Diego Soccer is now
being fortunate enough to be involved in the with with
the soccers, but in doing this San Diego FC Verse
and going and doing different podcasts from around the country,
I always kind of sneak in like hey, like, you know,
check out the soccers.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
And then if you ever in town like this and
this and that.

Speaker 2 (28:36):
And more often than not, I get a pop nationally
for Wow, the soccers.

Speaker 1 (28:42):
This is who was there? This is who was there?

Speaker 2 (28:44):
I remember I know the soccers because of this and
just knowing that soccers means so much to the fabric
of this country. The story of soccer is incredible and
and the far region. It just fills me up with
joy whenever whenever I see that because at the end
of the guess what the name San Diego is put
up top where it deserves to be.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
That's exactly right, and it's a true part of the
history of American soccer that so many American soccer fans
don't know. That's why it just always like kind of
lights me up to know that I'm involved with this
organization and what it stands for. And I'm sure it'll
be alumni night, but it's not locked in. We are

(29:28):
going to honor Kevin Crow this year at a matchup
from Waverna. Obviously, you know, I guess we could drop
down a twelve to raise it back up, I know.
I mean, we don't have to do that, but you know,
just bring him out to have him be celebrated by
our fans because this is an amazing achievement. All right,

(29:48):
it's the bottom of the hour. We are live on
YouTube it Soccer's Overtime, Season eight, Episode two. Let's welcome in.
The Captain of the soccer is the all time goal
scoring leader of the soccer over five hundred goals in
his soccer's career, wild to think right, and heading into

(30:08):
a season that he's describing as his farewell run. I mean,
Zeba Barda retired fifty times, so you never know. But
here he is. Here's Craig Childs.

Speaker 4 (30:22):
Thank you for the intro. No, I'm not pulling a
Brett Farm. It's definitely definitely the last year we could
start off with that. But I love seeing z come
back the international game. Just put the cherry on the
on the ice dream too.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
Right, Hey, still on the MAASL website. Eddie's on there
and I'm like, wait, we did the retirement ceremony, like
heh heh, god, yeah that's right. Well, let's let's get
things rolling. Craigor just his thoughts. We talked about it,
from Captain's practices to full preseason. What have you seen
so far?

Speaker 4 (31:00):
So far, so good. You know, we've got a really
good squad, a couple of key additions with Toath and Pereira,
Pacheco and a few others, but you know, the core
group is kind of staying the same. So you know,
we feel really good about this year. And I think
the emphasis inside of our locker room and our group
is to focus on ourselves and make sure that internally,

(31:23):
you know, we're not stepping on each other's toes. Because
if the players we have in our group can come
together as a team, you know, we're as talented as
anybody in the league, you know, without question. So we
just want to focus on ourselves. We want to make
sure that we're being good teammates, that we're kind of
taking care of the little details inside the locker room

(31:46):
and come together as a group. And it'll take a
little bit of time, but so far everything's coming together great.

Speaker 1 (31:53):
And I mean, as you're mentioning this right like it's
the start of a new.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
Season, the body, yeallociente, you're feeling it.

Speaker 1 (32:00):
I mean, you mentioned the Brett Farres, but like, is
this is this really it?

Speaker 2 (32:04):
Like you were just kind of going on to it
like you're not going to get that itch, because I mean,
as a soccer player like that has to be probably
the most difficult choice to just come come to.

Speaker 1 (32:13):
Right.

Speaker 4 (32:14):
Yeah, you know, it's it's a little surreal, but but
they say when you know, you know, and something kind
of click for me, you know, inside of my brain
a little bit that you know, it's my time is up,
you know, and I'm I'm comfortable with it. I'm in
such a unique position where I'm able to kind of

(32:35):
call my own shot like this and not get pushed
out the back door. And so I don't want to
want to be the one that they're like, you know,
looking at as somebody who's not adding a lot to
the team. I think this year I can still add
a little bit on power plays and free kicks. I'm
gonna be limiting my shifts in the run of play,
just like the last couple of years, maybe even a
little bit more so. But you know, there's such an

(32:58):
opportunity to be involved in such a good team and
have a chance to win another championship, and I don't
I never wanted to retire too early, but I never
wanted to get pushed out either, and so being able
to kind of start the season by saying, like, let's
give it hell, boys, this is this is the last dance,

(33:19):
you know, I think is a unique and special feeling.
I watched Anthony Medina do it, and I I was
a little envious, you know. And then I've watched players
like Cheeky and many others, fantastic players, huge legends in
the in the you know, trajectory of this organization, and
they maybe didn't get the applause or kind of the
you know, the kudos they deserve. So I just think

(33:42):
it's the best way to do it. And I'm lucky
enough to have the support of the organization to uh
to be able to kind of call that shot as well.
So it's nice.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
And along those lines, Craig, you always want to have
a line of succession in a situation like yourself. And
here comes Nick, who I was just talking about earlier
in the show. I mean, he's thirty nine, he looks
like he was thirty two or he was twenty seven.
I mean, Nick just is Nick, you know, and he
just keeps rolling. And the fact that you've got two

(34:14):
of you to kind of be great minds to work
together this final year, Why you seed some of that time,
You're giving it to the most dominant passing big man
in the history of modern indoor soccer. Like, that's got
to be very pleasant for you.

Speaker 4 (34:30):
Yeah, you know, there was a lot of There were
a couple phone calls made when Nick was considering coming back,
and I think there was a lot of concern about
how it would make me feel, you know, and how
you know I would be now in this competitive environment
with with Nick Pereira and back to the twenty eleven
days or whatever. And the truth day is, you know, I,

(34:54):
you know, really wanted Nick to come back, and I
was a fan of Nick coming back. I think he
brings a lot to the table and I really just
want to put together a group to win the championship.
And I think he added something that we don't have
our in our front line. And you know, his his
pedigree speaks for itself, and what he's done in this
league over the last ten and fifteen years speaks for itself.

(35:15):
And so being able to have him in Tavoi, you know,
kind of counterbalance off of each other and me kind
of shoot in there randomly and maybe throw off the
rotation a little bit, I think is something that is
really going to be you know, positive for that front line,
and I think it sets up, you know, the future
of the organization well in the next few years. You know,

(35:38):
Nick is like you're saying, Craig Nick is not young.
Nick is not young, right, He's like thirty nine years old,
I think. But he is a really good professionally, takes
very good care of his body. He is in very
good shape, and he has multiple years left in the tank.
You know's there's players that play long careers in short careers.

(35:59):
And I heard land And say this on his podcast,
but it's really the wear and tear that your body
handles over your career. And some players, you know, like Nick,
Nick chose the beach route and maybe it saved his
body a little bit, and I chose the footsal route
and maybe it banged me up a little bit. But
you know, when it's all said and done, those those
are the moments that kind of make you a player.

(36:20):
I may have a little bit less in the tank
than Nick, for sure, and you know him and Tavoy
and Taylor Bond, to give him credit, has been in
very good form too. And the front line, the target
group looks uber competitive and and we're set. We're set
for the next few years. We just got to make
sure we can all find our our place within the team.

(36:41):
We can all find our role and kind of job
within the group, you know, and and and do it
as a collective unit.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
And so you mentioned exactly that like setting up the future,
setting up that competition in that midfield and already stacked midfield,
you add a check on, so what does it look
like for player like that to be able to break
into an already established team, And how does that bode
for a young player to just come in and have
a chance to be part of something incredibly special here.

Speaker 4 (37:11):
Yeah, you know a lot of the guys in the league,
you know, and you played with And I knew Pacheco
from when he was in Ontario as a young player.
Then he made that trip to the East Coast, which
for a lot of people is a huge learning experience,
and they go out there and they're kind of a
street baller and they come back like a well oiled
indoor machine. Pat heally does a lot of work out there,

(37:31):
and a lot of the Baltimore guys do the same.
And so I've been very surprised with Pacheco. He's a
very good player. He's well rounded. He is I think,
very very solid in every asset of the game. He
defends well, he runs off the ball well, he's technical,
his left foot is very good, and he is a
you know, he's an all around, top, top level indoor player.

(37:55):
And you know, we might have guys like Gabby and
Charlie and Leo that have a little bit more maybe
flash or flair, but Pachecko is a grinder and he
works hard, and he's very smart, and he runs well
off the ball and he kind of does a lot
of the the X factor stuff, similar to Mendez, similar
to Keeco last year too, you know, kind of that
like gritty, do it all defending midfielder that can be

(38:18):
a box to box player. He can get up there
and score goals and he's not going to lose his
runner in front of the goal defensively. So he's been
a great signing. And you know, we need the depth.
We need the depth. We we have a lot of
games and it's going to take the entire team to
get out there and compete in all these games. And
I don't think there'll be tons of games where it's

(38:39):
like every single lineup is the same, and I think
there'll be some times where players are in and players
are out, and you know, Pacheco will be a He'll
be an influential member in that. In that very talented
midfield group we have.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
Well, you you mentioned Taylor Bond earlier, and it's a
good precursor to what I was about to ask you,
because while this team has is an absolute wealth of
depth at all three levels and in goalkeeping to the
point that you send out X to Utica, Christian Gutierrez
is a gigantic part of this team. I mean golden

(39:12):
gutierres and everything he's been able to do. And unfortunately,
you know, the Visa monster snaps up and gets another guy,
and that's a guy that would run on for you
when you were running off on the free kick. A
lot of the time, is it maybe Taylor for that spot?

Speaker 4 (39:28):
You think you know he's in the running to do that.
There there have been a couple other young, dynamic players
kind of in camp that they're looking at, and Bond
is definitely an aggressive, workhorse kind of player and he
could he could do that role. But he's been actually
very good in front of goal this preseason. I think
he's been scoring a lot of goals and maybe needs

(39:49):
the reins to be how you know, pulled off of
him a little bit. Gutierres is a is a devastating
hit for the whole club. You know, it's a that
you know, the visa issue is a huge bummer. And
I know there was a lot to be said about
the Chihuahua scenario and the field and the dimensions and
the quality of broadcasting. The truth is, you know, losing

(40:11):
all of the Hispanic players in the American teams to
visas and the and them being allowed to gain all
of those players was an epic advantage in Christian and
Thescoto and the Rojos and Pyo and Contreras. I mean,
you can go down the list the players that we
had that we no longer have. Mohika Perez. We were
just talking about the hit that that's had on the

(40:32):
team and what that does do is it puts a
priority on Americans. It puts a priority on finding some
young college kids maybe that you think you can develop
in mentor to bump up into the level in the
near future. Because our Tia Wanna pipeline, which is unbelievably
talented over the last decade. Is going to be running
dry here for a little bit, so we're going to

(40:53):
have to detour and find players. I was just messaging
with Christian. He's a huge loss, and you know, we're
internally scrambling to figure out how to replace him, and
it's not going to be easy. But you know, at
the same time, we have such a talented group that
you know, we lost toskto and we thought, I thought
that would be a huge hit, and we kind of
seamlessly moved on and all drop out next year and

(41:16):
I'm sure everyone will just be fine, hunky Doris. So
it's kind of like, you know, when ninety eight percent
of the group is moving in one direction, if one
dude falls off the train, it just keeps going.

Speaker 2 (41:27):
And then in this one direction that you're you're heading, right,
is this now kind of looking into you know, because
we've seen Nick and what he's capable of doing, and
it seems like teams that he's been involved in, it
just kind of means, hey, we have a listener of
the ball, look up, where's Nick. Let's find him. Is
this gonna be similar in that case for the soccers
or is this going to be a little bit more

(41:47):
well rounded. Is it going to be very Nick centric?
What can people expect here as soccers come into this year.

Speaker 4 (41:53):
Yeah, I do not think it'll be Nick centric. I
think the game plan for Nick is to do his
thing and score goals and be a good team he
made and make assists like he can do and help
us win a championship. But you know, we've got midfielders
that can take over a game and the drop of
a dying. This is not the same team Tacoma has
been on. You know, Nick has been on with Tacoma,

(42:14):
and so there's a lot of really talented players here
and Nick's going to be a huge part of that.
And I'm sure he'll single handedly win a six games,
but I'm sure fifteen of those games. He just needs
to be a really good player that plays target and
lays the ball off for the players and does what
he needs to do. And if we can get that, Perreira,
then then the championship is like righting our fingertips. And

(42:36):
so Tavoy is a huge part of the game plan.
Charligan's always is a huge part of the game plan.
Gabby coach, They getting Gabby and Charlie on the ball
and Leo on the ball is like everything for some
of the target play as well. And so I really
think you throw Tavoi out there and he bangs his
body around, and then you get Nicki out there with
his technical ability and his frame, and then you kind

(42:56):
of sneak a Bond or Akeko or somebody who's high
pressing and kind of running and gunning at them, and
it just throws it throws everything off, and it gives
us that, you know, ability to kind of have targets
that are doing different things and it's very hard for
them to kind of match up with us. And so
nicks Nick's going to be, you know, a big part
of this group, but there there's gonna be no one

(43:17):
that the offense is you know, kind of centered around.
And you know, the last five years we've been we've
been focused on defense mostly and a lot of this
preseason is defense and low block and how we're going
to defend and all this stuff, because you know, attacking
players attack, and we know how to score goals, whether
it's transitional or whether it's you know, us having possession

(43:38):
in their half and them in a low block and
so we you know, the game plan for us is
to limit limit opportunities for the other team, and we
will find our moments to win the game. We have
so many pieces to the puzzle that if we can
just get you know, bodies behind the ball, defend, defend properly,
we'll we'll get the goals we need to compete for
every game.

Speaker 1 (43:59):
Along those lines, Craig, you're down to eight teams now,
and we talked about the why, you know, with Chihuahua,
but also you've got Harrisburg stepping back. The Dallas you know,
the Dallas Texas zombie team situation resolved temporarily to them
stepping back. But as a result, a lot of those players,
appropriately the ones who can at least, have filtered out

(44:22):
to the other teams in the league. I know that
Empire has picked up several players from the Dallas, Texas area.
So what do you think about having eight good teams
in the league this year?

Speaker 4 (44:36):
You know, sometimes it's it's two steps forward, one step back,
and maybe this half a step back was what was
needed to kind of reset the trajectory of the league
and get the right franchises in and kind of you know,
continue to push it in the right direction. But we
saw this a little bit in the COVID run, where

(44:58):
the talent just gets consolid you know. Unfortunately for the players,
which is for me, the bigger hit, not the franchise.
All of those talented Mexican players are not going to
be in our league, and people are wondering, why don't
we pick up Bisco Lante, why don't you grab you know,
Viejo and all these like unbelievably talented players. They're not
going to qualify to play for Milwaukee. They won't qualify

(45:21):
to play for US, and so it's really unfortunate to
those players. They won't be able to filter into the league.
But Don Francis goes to case some of the Harrisburg
guys kind of jump Baltimore my pickup one or two.
And so I feel like the eight teams in the
league are really solid and kind of well balanced, and

(45:41):
it looks to be a fun schedule for the last year.
You know, I've looked at some schedules where I've been like,
oh my god, it's the same team every single time,
and I like going to k C a few times.
Milwaukee on the schedule's great. Baltimore a couple of times
is also fun. So for me, that schedule is a
little bit more balanced because there's less teams. It makes
it a little bit more fun and you don't have

(46:03):
to constantly play the West Coast kind of rivalry games,
although we have a lot of those. It makes for
an enjoyable kind of spectator situation. So I'm excited for
the league and you know, fifteen teams, twelve teams, it
doesn't matter. We're going to win this thing and hopefully
grab that trophy and right off into the sunset.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
I mean that's encouraging to hear and and again makes
me want to just have nine days, like, let's get
it going already. But I mean, knowing that obviously it's
still a competition. You still have to make sure that
you are the best of the best. So what does
it mean for the soccers to go ahead and just
what are the things that the soccers need to work
on moving forward and working on throughout the year as

(46:50):
we have the years kicking off here in nine days.

Speaker 4 (46:54):
Yeah, you know, indoor soccer is really about the small details.
You know, power plays and free kicks become critic goal
whether you want to set up kind of in a
transition in a low block counter situation, or you want
to high press up the field. Are things that that
we need to continue to put a little work in,
you know, the build out through toth, a little bit
of a new scenario to really like you know, central run,

(47:18):
central check in and kind of that short pass to
the bounce out and and sometimes we skip lines a
little bit more direct kind of dumping it into the
glass too. So we just have to get continue to
gel get those little details correct, kind of dial in
and and make sure we take care of the small
things because you know, we've got the talent, we've got,

(47:39):
we've got kind of the game understanding, and I think
the balance of the team with some young, dynamic players
and some some some wily veterans, and so we just
got to stay together, bunker in every single game. The
expectation is the same. You know, we're gonna we're gonna
play to win the game, and we're gonna play one
game at a time and kind of push as much
as we can. We have you know, our front rate,

(48:01):
our front wave winning streak kind of on the line
that we want to uphold. And I think this year,
you know, as Craig discussed today at practice. We're we're
looking to entertain the fans, and we're looking to continue
to like, you know, build that momentum in front Wave
and bring those fans in early and dominate some performances
and score a lot of goals and get the fans
involved in and try to bring them back. You know,

(48:23):
our sport is is unique and it's different, but it's
honestly entertaining, you know, And I don't think there's another
sports you know, person whether it's basketball or baseball or
whatever that would come to a game and be like, God,
that was boring. You know, I don't think that's the case.
And so it's like can we get can we get

(48:43):
him in the door, and can we make it fun?
Can we give them a good experience? And can we
do it early enough to kind of keep building that
that home field fortress because you know, people, it's it's
tough to come down and play in San Diego and
we don't want to lose that that mental edge We
have a little bit on teams where it's like this
is the Lions Den and we're going to go to
war to win every single game on our turf and

(49:06):
on the road, and so people know they have to bring,
you know, one hundred and ten percent to even be
competitive in front wave.

Speaker 1 (49:13):
And I know Poppy Travel and the Brujos are going
to be right there to help make that fortress impenetrable
this year. And we're really excited and we'll be talking
more about that right after this. But last thing, and
we'll let you go. Craig, you mentioned it kind of
you get your Kareem Abdul Jabbar farewell tour here. I
hope every city will have a gift for you. I

(49:35):
don't know, but it would be amazing. Wouldn't that be
hilarious if that were true? But I know that the
club is giving away at Craig Child's bobblehead this year.
Are you Are you ready for your bobblehead?

Speaker 4 (49:49):
Yeah? I mean, honestly that that's flattering, you know, exciting.
I think my mom was like beyond thrilled, and a
few of the Cardiff contingency and board members we're so
you know, I'll probably try to reserve a hundred of
them or something and see if I maybe pay and
put him in a box or something. But that's exciting,

(50:09):
you know. Obviously I've been here a long time. I
know that that they haven't done a lot of Bibblehead nights.
I think Julie Bee might honestly be the only one
I've ever been involved with. And it was seven eighty
nine years ago even and so I know it's not
like every year we do a bibblehead and we pick
a random dude. So I appreciate that. I know it's
a financial investment, and I will say I don't know

(50:32):
if it's gotten approved, but I would like to publicly
say Juan Gamboa, the goalie of the Dallas Sidekicks, the
former Dallas Sidekicks, was the one who mocked up the
image potentially getting used to read so it's a cool spin.
Maybe I should ask him for his permission. I did
not do that are but I'm at least giving him

(50:56):
a public credit, I think right now. So he's a
fantastic artist. He drew this, like you know, one of
those character kind of things you would get at Disneyland
or something, and I sent it over. I'm like, hey,
I don't have a lot of big head pictures, but
Wong get going through this and they kind of they
were like, oh, that's not bad. So it was cool.
It was cool of him. Yeah, funny, small world. He

(51:17):
ended up drawing the whole thing, and it's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
That's amazing. That's well. Fun season ahead, keep on rolling.
It was great to see you and all the boys today.
We'll keep doing it and we'll see you down the road.
But thank you for helping kick off our week by
week coverage here of the twenty twenty five twenty six
season on Soccer's Overtime.

Speaker 4 (51:37):
Appreciate it, looking forward to it. I'm yeah, I'm a
weekly listener and I can't wait to catch the next one.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
All right, buddy, see that and take out Well bye, guys,
there he goes, Craig Chiles. When's the best?

Speaker 2 (51:51):
That's that's that's your guy, Guys, like everybody like, that's
what the excellence of execution looks like in the indoor
soccer game. And I mean to get a chance to
have that farewell tour for him. He's just gonna he's
gonna enjoy every second of it. And you know, it's
it's one of those things where you always hear just

(52:12):
any sort of professional athlete just have that moment of like, hey,
this might be it, and that is the hardest decision
that an athlete can can make is walking away from
the game. But you can tell that he still has
a passion and he's not walking too.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
Far away from the game anyways.

Speaker 2 (52:29):
He's still he's still living breathing soccers and through and
through Bleeds Blue and Gold.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
No, and he always will and that's it's just so
awesome to see and to see where this club is
and and where he is in his stage of his career.
I love the last dance feel for this season. I
think that's just the exact right kind of feel and
vibe you can have going into it and understanding that

(52:58):
this is going to be a special year. To WET,
Let's wrap things up with some off the field soccer's
news and tell you what, for the last several months,
you know, we haven't just been sitting around, you know,
picking daisies. I've been trying to figure out different ways

(53:18):
to make both from waver Arena a fortress and also
a place that families are going to want to come
to a little bit earlier and stick around for over
the course of the year. To wit, Let's just talk
about some of those initiatives very briefly. Supporters are back,

(53:40):
you know, as the growth of Los Brujos was something
I was very proud of while we were at Pachanga
Arena when the club moved to front Wave Arena and
I was working on the radio, they you know, had
a group one game, but otherwise we didn't really have
a supporter presence last year. But this year Section one

(54:00):
nineteen is for Les Brujos and those tickets are on sale,
and I just wanted to make sure that for somebody,
and you know, I don't know, like I see easy
moneys in the crowd, just for example, who might not
be on a discord of one of the groups but
might want to be a supporter and be in Section

(54:22):
one nineteen where you're going to be expected to be.
It's even slightly different, honestly, Tony, than what you know
will be doing in the north end at Snapdragon Stadium
on Monday, because the outdoor game doesn't have timeouts. You know,
there's there's fouls, there's goalkeepers rolling around, you know, holding

(54:47):
their knee or whatever, or midfielders I shouldn't try to
pick on you try to pick on you, try to
pick on you goalkeepers. No, I was just remembering it
was one of the NWSL matches I watched, but the
Gotham keeper just like right as it was time for

(55:08):
extra time just was like, oh my knee hurts, laid
down for a couple of minutes and then just got
right back up and kept playing. Anyways, you can find
it if you are a member of any of the Chavos,
the Locals, the riptides. I believe Bara because my man

(55:34):
Poppy Chavo is moving the link around. Or you can
call the front office at from Way Verna with the
code Brewhosts to get either single match or full season tickets.
As always it's the best deal around. It's always going
to be the best deal around for supporters. So full

(55:54):
season tickets pencil out to around fifteen bucks a game
before taxes and single match eighteen you know, and then
those are great deals. And it's all in Section one
nineteen and go and if you're a part of it,
check it out. If you already know, you know. But
I want to let everybody who's coming know that that
field that has made it so special to be at SDFC,

(56:18):
to be at San Diego Wave matches, that field is
going to be at our matches because those people are
committed to this team this season, and it's really really
exciting to hear.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
Yeah, it's part of the the you know, the the
essence of soccer is that supporter group and that the
palpitation of the heartbeat and going up and just you know,
you see the people just bobbing their heads uncontrollably, like
it's like, what's even happening, Like, oh, you're going with
the drums of the supporter section. So really great job

(56:53):
with Pappy Joe Chawa has been able to do and
I'm glad that it's back. That's that's something that I
will always look at the supporter sections too, be like, hey,
it's your turney, guys, Like, let's let's.

Speaker 1 (57:02):
Go ahead and put san Diego up top.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
You guys want to say, hey, we'd support all San
Diego teams, Sandy, what's better than San Diego soccers.

Speaker 1 (57:10):
So be a part of it.

Speaker 2 (57:12):
Be a friend, tell a friend, and bring as many
people as you can for that section.

Speaker 1 (57:15):
It's a great deal. Yeah, ec money asks will flags
be allowed. Yeah, everything short of you know, the smoke
bombs will be allowed because you can't have smoke bombs
inside the arena because the smoke doesn't go away. It's
funny how that works. But yeah, that is an absolute
part of it, and I'm really excited, you know, to
see how it all comes together. Oh, what I was

(57:36):
going to say was different is when we start, like
I said, there's no timehouts. There's timeouts in our game,
so the supporter section actually gets to chill, like you know,
in between what once per quarter and then in between
quarters they don't have to roll through and that allows
the soccers to do their run of show in the arena,
to do their run of show because it's kind of

(57:57):
a handshake types situation between the arena and what we're doing,
the team and what we're doing, and the supporters and
what they're doing, and working together we create hopefully seamlessly
high energy all the way through to win first matches

(58:20):
at seven thirty five. But I suggest bring your family
out at six thirty five, when the club will already
be out on the field for warm ups, because warm
ups are going to start five minutes earlier than they
used to because we are going to have throughout the
hour stuff going on.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
So at the very.

Speaker 1 (59:11):
Now, we're back. We're back, We're back. Hey, what do
you know that ten second gap that I told you
sometimes inexplicably happens with my internet. It happened again, all right.
As I was saying before, Yeah, I think it was
the Strikers. They've got an empire. Now I'm just kidding,

(59:35):
right Anyways, our group, while you're watching the club warming up,
our crew is going to be out finding kids, family
members in the stands to participate in what starts at
the half hour mark, with a half hour to go
before kickoff. So get there early to be a part

(59:58):
of the show. Get their early to watch the club
warm up. The club. We talked about this today. The club.
At the moment that their warm up is over, they're
going to split up, heads straight to the wall and
sign autographs for five minutes. Oh wow, let's go, let's go.

(01:00:22):
I love that. How about that? How about that? And
then they're going to head to the locker room to
get ready for the game, except for one representative from
our team and one representative from the opposing team. Those
two are going to go to center circle for a
brand new thing called trick off for the kickoff. Wow,

(01:00:46):
let's go, let's go. And this is how it's going
to work. We're going to find again, we're going to
be looking for people before the half hour mark, so
get there early. We're going to get three people out
of the stands to be our judges. They're going to
be sworn to objectivity and be sworn to be a

(01:01:08):
fair and impartial arbiters. And then one player from our
team and one player from their team are going to
have twenty seconds each to do the best or as
many tricks as they can with the football. Spin it,
balance it, put it on your back. What can you do?

(01:01:30):
You know? Lt. Gray, as far as I know, hasn't
been hired yet in this league, so I don't think
anyone's got a ringer yet. But who's got the best
tricks on the team? Go and show everybody in the crowd,
and then our panel will determine who was the best,
and whichever team wins gets the kickoff for first quarter.

Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
Oh so wait, there are actual stakes for this, Yes,
like actual in game stakes. That's actually really cool, Like, y, yeah,
it's a kick and that's incredible.

Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
I actually you want to have the kickoff, you better
win the trick off.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
Heck yeah, I didn't even know this was a mechanic
that was possible.

Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
I'm like okay, like tricks. I want to kind of
put it out there because in point of fact, the
competition committee has to find say the final ok next week.
But it's been brought up to the league. It's been
put through the league. Uh you know, everyone here listen,
do you know how they currently determine the kickoff? I'm

(01:02:39):
not sure I do. Well, let me hear. Let me
tell you it's a coin flip. Oh, I was really
expecting something different. I don't know why. It's literally a
coin flip. So we're replacing a coin flip with something fun. Yeah,
you know, there's a little there's been a little pushback
about well, that just means the home team's going to

(01:02:59):
have the opening kickoff all twelve times. What the fuck?
Guy sucks it drops the ball. You know, I think
the crowd would be fair, but to be sure, we're
gonna impanel three judges and they're gonna have to be fair.

(01:03:20):
I love this so much.

Speaker 2 (01:03:25):
It's a trick off for the kickoff like that that
puts immediate stakes. Like again, it sounds it's fun and
it's exciting, but that does put an element of pressure
onto that one player, right, Like imagine being the player
that you know Soccers have been winning every single time,
undefeated at home at Front Wave Arena. And then you're

(01:03:46):
the guy that drops the dribble the ball and then
you're just there and you you lose, go back to
training the next day, you're gonna be called out as
the guy that dropped the ball. And you know that
does we create some pressure in internal competition. But I
love every aspect of this. I'm so in right.

Speaker 1 (01:04:07):
I mean, it's just exactly elicias, something fun always going on,
and that's our goal. And from three. So the games
at seven thirty five on opening nine, so six thirty five,
the gates open, the team's already out on the field
when they finish warm ups. They immediately sign autographs immediately

(01:04:29):
into the trick off, and then as they go off
the field, some of the guys who are not playing
that night will form the super soccers who are out
there for the Super Soccers pregame show, which will involve
fun goofiness races, you know, various fan interactive activity bringing

(01:05:01):
people out of the stands to compete in this or that.
Sometimes our super soccers competing against each other in this
or that, and that'll take place in those fifteen minutes
where they used to just have like music playing or
something before we get to the actual introduction of the

(01:05:25):
teams and the game itself. So by the time the
gates open, you want to be there because you want
to see the team warm up, but you also want
to get the chance to have your son or daughter
get picked to be in one of our races or
one of our whatever's right, one of our various games
that we're playing that night you want to see. You

(01:05:48):
want to get those autographs right away. Why not get
those even before the game, So get those right away.
You want to see the trick off, and you want
to see the Super Soccers pregame show. There's something for
every minute all the way up until kickoff, where you're
going to have the best team in indoor playing the

(01:06:09):
best schedule against an eighteen condensed, exciting major arena Soccer
League schedule, with the best supporters in the history of indoor,
Los Brujos right there to bang the drums, wave the flags,
sing the songs and carry the energy that we know
is San Diego soccer, a soccer city, a soccer stronghold,

(01:06:30):
a place of greatness. That energy that we know fulfills
the eighteen cities of our.

Speaker 2 (01:06:36):
County flow into Front Wave Arena.

Speaker 1 (01:06:45):
Guys. That's it. Bring the flow into Front Wave Arena.
That's what's happening game by game. Oh what if we
did also a promotional schedule where we're giving away at
least something every single game this year. Check tick that box.
Soccers are doing that too. Here's what's going on, Soccers

(01:07:09):
theme nights and giveaways all right, T shirt on opening
night in addition to just seeing whether we can you know,
get this plane in the air on the first night
or not. Come see the spectacle and T shirt giveaway
on opening night. Then on our second match against the
Wave with a special ticket, you get a soccer's ugly

(01:07:32):
Christmas sweater. Incredible, but everyone gets these very nice cruise
socks San Diego's soccers cruise socks. You know I'll be
wearing those chilly winter nights. There's the hat giveaway for
December thirtieth. How about that a sick hat. You know
I'm wearing that for sure. Nice little white band there

(01:07:53):
that looks like when you could wear at the golf
tournament for the soccers this year Jan third, before they
go on the rest of the month. On the road trip.
Everyone gets a car flag on Military Night and with
a special ticket package you get a really slick cooler
with the Soccer's cursive script on it. That's already the

(01:08:14):
one that was asked of me. Hey, like how cooler?

Speaker 2 (01:08:17):
I was like, okay, well you're gonna have to get
a special ticket, so it's not gonna come easy.

Speaker 1 (01:08:22):
Theme game. It's don and Muddleways too. Theme game February first. Oh,
that's cute. Soccer's Friendship bracelet and cow bell giveaway on
Kids' Day. And by the way, I just love the
three o'clock starts. Oh, starting on December seventh. Yeah, let's

(01:08:44):
go Sunday's at three. Why do we have to wait
till five? W do we have to wait till six?
You know, let's let's go ahead and do this and
still get out when you can see some sun in
the distance, and you can still get home for Sunday dinner,
and you can still get homework in and get everyone
to bed at the regular time, and you're not worried

(01:09:05):
about that even if you're in East County watching the game,
you know, or South County watching the game. So three
o'clock the only times it's four o'clock is when the
team has played the night before and is traveling. Got it. Yeah,
So there you see. Alumni Night February seventh, Craigchilds bobblehead giveaway,

(01:09:26):
and I would imagine the night that we honor Kevin
Crow as well. I would just suspect that that would
be the case. Let's sell out Front Wave Arena on
February seventh for this incredible night and honor both Crow
and Childs that night and see all the rest of
the alums out there running around. I mean, come on,

(01:09:48):
we love seeing Quinny out there every year. It's incredible.
So we'll check that out. February fifteenth, Scarf Giveaway and
Community Day and that's where is going to be rocking
it and bringing in all of the different community connections
from throughout North County. February twenty seventh, Star Wars Night.

(01:10:08):
Everybody gets a Lightsaber thunderstick, of course, because Lightsaber thundersticks.
You do this, and then special ticket package get a
Star Wars Soccers themed T shirt. Ooh hey, right, because
of course they always have the jerseys, the Star Wars
themed jerseys, and you can get that and that's special too.

(01:10:31):
But you know, for somebody who doesn't want to spend
the whatever it is eighty bucks or whatever, you know,
you could just do the slightly upgraded ticket package and
get the T shirt. And that's the only way to
get the T shirt. So pretty sick deal. That's Star
Wars Night, February twenty seventh. Wow, sunglasses give away March eighth.

(01:10:52):
It's like back to the future. I just watched that
with my son over the course of the last weekend.
That's pretty much what Doc Brown was wearing on the
way back at the very end of the future.

Speaker 2 (01:11:03):
And here we are in twenty twenty five, given away
these sick glasses.

Speaker 1 (01:11:09):
Right right, Yeah, just ten years after Doc Brown visited
the future where all the cars were flying. What happened
to flying cars? I'm still trying to figure that part out.

Speaker 2 (01:11:20):
Yeah, they're out there, they just yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:11:24):
Hispanic Heritage Night is March fifteenth, and I unbelievably, everybody's
going home with this Lucha Libri mask. That is incredible.
I love that. Yes, could they get through security on
the way out? I guess so. And then with a
special ticket package you get it's a different Hispanic Heritage

(01:11:46):
themed super sick soccer scarf probably the one you really
want this year. I assume we're playing someone we want
to beat. On March twenty second from Ruba sella giveaway night,
please come nonetheless on National Soccer Night. You almost don't
want to promote VUFAZELI giveaway night. You just wanted to
do it, you know what I mean. Last, but not least,

(01:12:11):
I mean on a year of honoring Craig Chiles Fan
Appreciation Day, March twenty ninth, the regular season finale, Craig
Childs replica jersey giveaway. Holy cow, So you got the
bibblehead and the replica jersey at the end of the year.
What a way to remember the greatest soccer scorer of

(01:12:31):
all time and the modern soccer the modern mister San
Diego Soccers, Craig Chiles. You'll have that bobblehead and you'll
have that replica jersey. So super super sick. I think
the best giveaways they've ever done. I can't take any credit.
I'm just watching it, going, wow, this is great.

Speaker 2 (01:12:53):
That Luca Door mask is the one for me? Like
that's that? That was a circle. I'm like, what, like,
is ticket special ticket?

Speaker 4 (01:13:00):
No?

Speaker 2 (01:13:00):
Oh okay, everybody gets it and and you know there
was a there is a divide between you know some
some some my personal connections and and and lady friends
also say, hey, this is a cool cooler I like that.
Most of my guy friends are like that, Luca, leave
it a mask.

Speaker 1 (01:13:19):
That's mine. So with that, another promotion from the Soccers,
your friends, the Soccers for the opener. Of course, our
home opener is next Friday, which is the day after Thanksgiving,
which is known from corporate buy everything land as Black Friday. Well,
the Soccers say, how about how about a completely different turn.

(01:13:43):
How about Blanco Friday. Four tickets to the Soccers home opener,
two Soccers scarves, and a bottle of Blanco welcome you better,
courtesy of our friends Califino Tequila. Blanco Friday ticket package

(01:14:04):
is available now. Go to sd Soccers dot com, go
to Frontwave Arena dot com, or give them a call
and get yours from Blanco Friday. Now, if you drink
the whole thing, that's going to turn into a Black
Friday of a different kind, black out Friday. We do

(01:14:24):
not recommend that please drink responsibly. Nonetheless, what a deal
I mean you could bring home most of that whole
bottle of tequila. You could just sip it responsibly and
then bring the rest home. And and the and the
Califino bottles.

Speaker 2 (01:14:39):
Are so nice. Yes, And I mean and I guess
the job done for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:14:50):
For sure. If that appeals to you, check out the
Blanco Friday deal, you know. And if it doesn't, I
hopefully have given you a lot of excitement and reasons
why you'd like to come out to Front Wave Arena
this season through the twenties twenty five twenty six campaign.
I'm really excited, Tony. I think if we can pull

(01:15:10):
this off, it's going to be a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (01:15:14):
Yeah, and look like independently too, Like there was feedback
from the fans and you can tell that the club
is listening and being intentional about these things and making
a stride to make sure that the community is built.

Speaker 1 (01:15:26):
I mean, even Craig said it like it.

Speaker 2 (01:15:28):
The fans are so much a part of this team
and the community aspect that you know, the questions were
there and hey, they're moving up to ocean side, what's
gonna what is it gonna look like? And people have
come out and people who are there are enjoying it.
Fans of the soccers who are who are been fans
for years are welcoming everybody with open.

Speaker 1 (01:15:47):
Arms, and now it's time to build.

Speaker 2 (01:15:49):
And I think these are the steps in the right
direction in order to make sure that that happens.

Speaker 1 (01:15:54):
And those giveaways are just fun.

Speaker 2 (01:15:56):
I mean, you're talking about the pre match, all these
different ways to really get a value for your entertainment
right too, you're competing against so many other things, and
now you know this San Diego Soccer's ticket has exponentially
almost doubled an entertainment value on its own. So by that, Hey,
you enjoy something indoor soccer, great, You want to see

(01:16:19):
the smiles on people's faces. Great, we combine that and
have a great time out there. Great, let's go ahead
and do that all at front Waive Arena.

Speaker 1 (01:16:27):
That's it, man, that's it. Let's you know, if it's
a three o'clock game, let's get the family out there
at two o'clock on a Sunday. Be there when the
gates open. Get ready for all of the craziness and
the fun that's going to be happening. That's going to
revue right up into the most fun sporting event that
you go see around and you come out of it
and you go, oh my gosh, I want to be

(01:16:47):
back for the next one. I want to see what
they do next. I want to see how many of
these crazy goals score. I want to see who wins
Soccer task Master this week Soccer task I like to
put a pin in it.

Speaker 2 (01:17:05):
The creativity flowing and look you had before the season started,
had told me about all these ideas, and I'm really
happy that they're coming to Fruition too, because again, it's
something that is going to be extraordinary, not just for
every of the fans, but the players involved too. Like
it's something different, it's a change of pace, it's a
it's having fun with it and and and it's an
aspect of of soccer that you know, at the end

(01:17:27):
of the day's for everybody. It's put out the whole scent.
And this is going to really cement that. So I'm
looking forward to it. I'm kind of bummed that, you know,
I won't be able to jump into some of those
I just.

Speaker 1 (01:17:38):
I mean, you know, I don't know how how quick
you can do the Superman and like jump into the
phone booth and flip out of your suit and and uh,
you know, flip into your super soccer's outfit.

Speaker 2 (01:17:50):
But yeah, no, I think the timer we did the
last media game was about ten minutes of winded going up.

Speaker 1 (01:17:59):
A chunk arena. Well, I mean it's one definitely at
least one level less get down, so really two if
you think about it, so you know, maybe maybe the
windedness would would decrease. But regardless, looking forward to everything.
It's great to have everyone. I saw Eli signor Jerry

(01:18:22):
Jimenez in the chat. Great to see you my friend, Hope.
Everything's great to see you Monday night. I'll look a
little different, but nonetheless we'll be back next Wednesday with
season eight, episode three, our official season slash season opener preview,
and I'll tell you already that our friend Christian Philly

(01:18:43):
Fillemon from the Empire Strikers but also from the m
ASL front office will be there to help us preview
Soccers and Strikers and we'll get ready for what I
hope will be a really fun night at front Wave
Arena next Friday night. Uh Tony. Always indebted to you,
my friends, as well as the incredible infrastructure difference because

(01:19:05):
of the infrastructure of San Diego, the football with yourself
and Chieza and Abe tell everyone how they can support
and follow you. Absolutely so.

Speaker 2 (01:19:15):
San Diego Punto Football is the name of the game,
that is the website, that is the outlet anything soccer
in San Diego. I'm glad that we have. The San
Diego Soccer is involved in it too, and like GASA,
that football the outlet for the people. San Diego Punto Football.
Go ahead and check it out, Greg.

Speaker 1 (01:19:31):
I mean no question about it, the independent source of
soccer journalism in San Diego. The number one. There's some
other folks working hard doing good things, but number one
San Diego Punto Food Bowl. You can follow me on
Instagram at six one nine Sports and Life. You can
of course follow our San Diego FC venture through Cromaniacs.

(01:19:56):
Will be recording that tomorrow to get ready for that
Western Conference. Send me find on Instagram at the Cremaniacs
or watch us every Thursday. We're on YouTube. We're right
over here. We are on audio. Wherever you get this podcast,
you can get that podcast as well. Check us out
on Thursday. Of course, check out Tony on Monday Nights
with two Balls in the Mic Mondays at eight o'clock.

(01:20:17):
Padres Hot Tub is my Padre's Venture. We are in
the winter now, but we do not sleep. So check
it out Patreon dot com, slash padres hot tub that
helps me directly as a content creator. So and my
patrons and friends Chris Reid and Rafie Cantor as well.
So with all that, we've done plugging and we'll just

(01:20:40):
plug on out of here. For Tony Sanchez, for great
childs On Craig Elston saying thank you for watching, and
go Soccers.