July 9, 2026 • 20 mins
Jerry Brewer, award winning writer now with The Athletic, joins Dick Fain and Hugh Millen to talk about the United States loss on Monday to Belgium after a positive run through the World Cup until that point, the growth of soccer in the country and lack of the big moment by the USA to grow the game more, plus the problem with young talent.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's time for our weekly conversation with award winning columnist
Jerry Brewer, brought to you by Northwest Handling Systems. From
forklifts to Pella jashs conveyors to loading duck equipment, we sell,
rent and service all your warehouse he needs request a
quote today at NWHS dot com or give us a
call at four two five two five five zero five hundred.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Now with Jerry Brewer.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Here's SOFTI and Dick.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yes, indeed, it's Jerry Brewer time. Brought to my Northwest
Handling Systems. My friend Eric down there at NWHS. Jerry,
how are you, my friend.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I'm doing great, man, a little road weary, but good.
I bet, I bet give everybody.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Give everybody the Jerry Brewer itinerary over the last couple
of weeks.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, I mean I've been all World Cup all the time.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Since like a couple of weeks before the World Cup.
But I mean I've been with Team USA while they
were there.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Like that made life a little bit easier back and
forth from LA three times I went to the Bay Area.
When I was in the Bay Area, they were just like, hey,
you know what we forgot that it's the fourth of July,
and there's a match, and we would love for you
to write about America and soccer on the fourth. So
go to Philadelphia where it was one hundred degrees the
(01:21):
day before. So I went to Philly it was like
extreme heat advisory ninety nine degrees and I had to
like go and like you know, go to the rocky
steps in the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall and all
that survived not having a heat stroke, and you know
did that.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
I was there for like twenty five hours, came.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Back to Seattle, watched that that awful, awful US performance
in their oulster. Now I am. I am going to
Whidbey Island with the family for a day and then
the family island driving to the airport to go to
Kansas City, uh, to see Argentina in Switzerland, and then
(02:08):
I've got Dallas next week in the semi final, and
then on my way to New York for the final.
Speaker 5 (02:13):
Well, that's a lot of time on the road to
think about US soccer and the World Cup event and
festivities as it were, and and is uh that we're
enjoying here domestically Just kind of what's top of mind
for you in all.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Of that, Well, I mean, I'm still Hugh thinking about uh,
just a fallout from the from the US. I mean,
it was a political story, it was a sports story.
It was a story about like our never ending seeming
battle to to get.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Relevant in men's soccer.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I'm thinking about all that stuff, and then also like comparatively,
like I'm doing a little bit of revisionists, thinking the cycle,
why did we know?
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Why did we think that this team.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Could shock the world when you look at like how
good Spain is and they haven't even played great yet Argentina,
I mean that they flirted with losing, but you see
how good they are. France, I mean, France looks like
the Showtown Lakers on a pitch. It's ridiculous how how
good they are. England Norway with Holland, and we're sitting
(03:21):
here thinking that we could go to a final, like
get get real, like just because all time told us
that we are a generation away from being able to
win the Cup and it seems like we've always been
a generation away.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yeah, that's the thing. It's is which generation is gonna
gonna finally do it?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Well? Was this run at all?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
It was specifically talking about the soccer part of it
and then we'll talk about the other things as well.
But was this US men's national team run a success
at all?
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Or because of the way it.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Ended, we're going to look back on it with not
very much fondness, even though.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
When when when your kids will tell you when they
were little and they'd be like, yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Look at what I can do, Dad, Look what I
can do?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Right, And then you finally come in there and it's like, yeah,
they're jumping a little higher, but like they're still not
getting there and like their head like you know, it
hits the ceiling or they fall over in some awkward
way and you just kind of clap and say good job, buddy,
and then you go back to doing what you were doing.
Like that kind of felt like that this run, right, Like,
(04:28):
I don't think as dominant as we are in general
in sports, I don't think we can look at a
team that just lost in around is sixteen again and
say that was a success and lost in around of
sixteen at home. Now, if you go back and you
think about where US soccer was a few years ago
(04:51):
versus like how they've had to rebuild some things and
how late Mauricio got.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
The team and how much.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
He kind of push things like stylistically, there's some things
that looked a lot better and are encouraging to me.
But we wouldn't be who we are if we're you know,
pounding our pound in our chests talking about this was
a success like this, This was a tiny, little incremental
(05:21):
step that may lead to some success, but this was
a major, major letdown.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Yeah, Jerry Brewer with us and Jerry you said, it's
always been a generation a way. You know, what what
I'm observing is what we're getting a lot of pundits.
You know, it's like the once every four year site.
We're getting pundits that are coming on. They know their soccer,
they're brilliant in their knowledge, certainly exponentially more than me.
(05:48):
And then they're inevitably they're asked, well, hey, is us
soccer close? And because they're you know that they have
a dog in the hunt, and and it's it's almost
like the fallacy of wishful thinking invariable. Every one of
them says, yeah, we're close. But I heard that back
when Pele was in the mid seventies playing for the
(06:09):
New York Cosmos and in ninety one when the women
wanted and then you get Beckham and you get Messy,
and you think all of these inflection points are going
to be Okay, that's going to be the springboard. But
I feel like I've been hearing this for fifty plus
years and and and yet, you know, the Commissioner last
(06:30):
July comes on and he brags that they're getting one
hundred and twenty thousand viewers per game and they had
under a million for the MLS Championship. So I feel
like this is a big boon for World Cup, you know,
because we're the host nation.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
But I don't.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
I'm just falling where the evidence leads, and I don't
see evidence that there's any notable increase in soccer's popularity
or proficiency. So that that's kind of what you said,
perhaps with always been a generation, but respond to my
observations over the last fifty years.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, I mean, I think there is a maybe a
mark different difference, you know, the last thirty years. Would
say that the MLS era of the US versus like
when we got it in ninety four, it was like
y'all got to start.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
A league almost as a condition to get.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
The World Cup, right, Like the MLS wasn't even around then,
and yeah, like, I mean I think this, I think
this could could be positive for the MLS in some way, like,
but still we're we're not one of overall one of
the top leagues in the world, you know. I mean,
(07:43):
I think we've got a couple of clubs, like the
Sounders being one of them, who have those aspirations and
have been able to accomplish some things on the global stage.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
But as a league, like, it's.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Not a league in which you want our very best
who are going to play on the national team to
go and shine in the MLS and then that's going
to play up on the World Cup stage, right Like,
we're still you know, wanting people in the Premier League
or La Liga or whatever to go play over there and.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
See if you can become a star. And then the
other thing is is is that.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
And I know Polistic is wearing a big time right now,
right uh And and he supposedly, I mean, maybe Balligan
is is our best player just as a as a striker,
but I think most people, even with the poor performance,
probably put Polistic still as the best all around player. Uh,
(08:42):
you know, you put him He's just a role player internationally,
right Like, And so we still have a team of
a bunch of guys who it's great that that that
they're playing in these other leagues, but they're not standouts.
They're not stars. And all of a sudden, like you
see France and you see Jim and Bape and you
(09:03):
see you see Holland, and you see Harry Kane and
you see Messy and yeah, Messy's in the MLS, but
Messi is just just here as an investor, really, right,
and you see how easy it is for him in
the MLS, right like until we get and it's not
like we need a savior, right Like, it's like you
(09:24):
need but you need multiple dudes who are are really
significant players overseas and just.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Burn to get us to the next level.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
We don't have that, right and like we're still a
good distance away from having that. And I think we
saw that, like all of a sudden, like we go
up in quality against a team like Belgium who is
old and didn't look good. I mean they've been in
Seattle pretty much the whole time, right like that they
didn't look good when we saw him, like earlier in
the tournament. And then all of a sudden, like strategically though,
(10:00):
and they're seasoning, They're able to call upon something and
they were able to break the one thing I think
that the US was pretty elite at early in the tournament,
which was their counterpress, and all of a sudden, like
it's like, we have no idea what to do, and
emotionally we had no desire and no resilience to find a.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
Second way to do things, and that was pretty sad.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Well, Jerry, I almost see that there's like a three
headed monster working against us having a soccer superstar here
in the States, And I want to know kind of
how you would rank these monsters that is going against it. One,
the cost of playing soccer in this country, particularly for
the players that are eight, nine, ten, eleven years old
before they would get to that you know sounders, you
(10:45):
know Sounders circuit. So you got the cost. You don't
have the greatest athletes playing soccer. So when you had
when you're let's say an eight year old minority kid,
you don't have somebody looking up to that that's twenty
five right now, that's doing great things as an American
in the sport. And then you also and the reason
for that is you don't have the money invested in
(11:06):
the sport. You're tens of millionaires, hundreds of millionaires are
all in baseball, basketball, and football. So which of those
three monsters is the biggest and the most the hardest
to slay?
Speaker 2 (11:21):
I mean, I think the hardest to slay is probably
a combination of just how expensive it is to play
the sport if you want to stay in the States
and play the sport, and the fact that we just don't.
We don't have peers, right, There's no Patrick Mahomes, there's
no Lebron James, there's no Bryce Harper, like, there's just
(11:46):
not not somebody to look up to and say like
that that isn't an American soccer star. And I think
I think that that hurts. It's it's it's a strange
deal and I know, and it's not as easy. I
hate this And I'd love Hughes feedback on this because
he hears it all the time, just like when we
(12:06):
start like trying to make these cross sport comparisons and like, yeah,
on the surface, like you look at Holland from Norway
and he's six' five to, twenty he's got a burst
like it kind of reminds you of somebody on a
football field and we're kind of, like, well we got
a lot of guys who are six y five and
two twenty and they can run four forwards and we
can just need to put soccer ball in their hands
(12:27):
and they're gonna do, it and we do all the,
time Right, like, well what If lebron had played, football
he would have been at this one of, that and you,
know and what what if what If Tony gonzalez had
focused on basketball.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
To the football and da da.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Dah like there's a lot of nuance to these sports
that we need to. Respect and there's kind of a
reason when you look at like soccer, players like most of.
Them messi is kind of bite, sized Right, like if
you didn't know it Was Lionel messi and you walk
past him and they, airport you wouldn't you wouldn't probably recognize,
(13:03):
them And bape probably the same, thing Right, Like so
it's it's not always just about like our size speed. Athleticism,
uh THE us team in, fact athletically was one of
the more athletics. Groups but like in terms of skill
and nuance and like all of these things that that
are involved in the, game you could tell that, like you,
(13:24):
know our players are are just wired differently than somebody
who is playing it out in the streets in some,
country likely in some poor neighborhood of some, country and
they just have this pure love of the game and
just just this. Feel. Right we do not have a
great feel for the. Game and you don't even have
(13:45):
to know which sport it. Is like anybody who's watched.
Sports you can parachute them into a situation and watch
teams play and not know the names and the accolades
and all, that and you could just, say, hey that
guy right, here that girl right, there they got a
feel for the, game, right like you, know you just
(14:07):
know it looks different than the. Others and it's the
same thing whenever we're on the international stage against any
of the top, ten top twelve teams in the, country
it's just, like, well you, know we got some, speed
we got some, athleticism we do some interesting, things but,
man these people really know how to play.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
Soccer, Yeah Jerry brewer with us. Up you, know to
answer your, QUESTION i was, watching you, know earlier the
game With France morocco and just Watching himbope and you,
know and, Look i'm essentially a soccer neo. FIGHT i,
mean watching very isolated for through the. Decades BUT i
just you, KNOW i said to my, son you know
that that's AN nfl corner right, there or you, KNOW
(14:46):
i don't know If mbope has good hand eye. Coordination
he's got great foot eye, coordination we know, that but
if you had the hand eye coordination that he has
a foot eye. Coordination It's Jackson smith And jigba right
and SO i SO i just, think you, know you
look at those, guys you know That france, team you
know you reference the athleticism, then and it reminds me of, This,
(15:07):
jerry if you were if you were a calm, list
let's get in the wayback machine around nineteen, seventy, okay
and you're a calumnist for The Atlanta Journal, constitution and
And dick And jackson AND i are doing, radio you
Know Softy, show and you know what we'd be talking about.
Then we'd be talking about WHEN usc came, out the
(15:27):
Famous Sam cunningham, game WHEN usc came out and Played
alabama and had five hundred and sixty yards of offense
and blew out The Crimson. Tide you would be writing
and we'd all be talking, About, hey we got to
get more black players or the black players we do
because because we're gonna fall. Behind AND i feel, like you,
know and you're just watching The World Cup, FRANCE i don't,
(15:50):
know just just, eyeball and it looks like they got
about ten of their their field players or black. DUDES
i know that that there's a lot more black guys
on all these countries that we kind Of Northern, european.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Uh, uh being you, know.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
White so SO i think IF i close my, eyes,
dearie AND i think of a miracle on grass in the,
future it's gonna be populated by mostly black, dudes you,
know kind of for obvious. Reasons so what about that
the idea that That AND i know that we've got
we've got black guys on our team, obviously BUT i
think that if we're, saying how are our best athletes
(16:25):
gonna you, know rise the level we can play at this,
LEVEL i, think As dick, mentioned the cost of the
money invested in what have, you somehow you got to
put your focus right on on how to bring more
black kids into the. Game or AM i missing?
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Something?
Speaker 4 (16:40):
No, NO i MEAN i think you make a really
interesting Point.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Hugh, uh let's just take it even broader and more
globally and just, say like The Africa african diaspora is
very dominant in This World, cup regardless of what country you,
know whether It's, England, france Or morocco, Whatever, Right and you,
know you look at the team Like morocco that made
(17:04):
it to the, quarterfinals like really interesting. Team like they
they've had a had a great deal of. Success. Uh
and AND i think they've been really intentional about in
terms of their citizenship and their investment that they've made
sure that they've invested uh in players that Are moroccan.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
ENOUGH i mean they they even tried to.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Get jamal uh to to play for them and not For.
Spain and, uh LIKE i think you, KNOW i mean
when you think About baligan and what we did there
with with a with a birthright citizen and competing with
two other, countries, uh to have him in our, System,
uh that's something that we got to think about. More
and it's not just about like if you wanted to,
(17:50):
say like to Take African american athletes and try to
tilt them towards soccer and invest.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
And and and cases like.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Like even change your system so that it cost them,
nothing you.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
Know almost to.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Play that would take a long time to kind of
continue like the progress that we, made you, know in
in diversifying the, sport diversifying the national. Team but THEN
i think it also takes like we need to think
about people who who are who Are americans who are
(18:28):
elsewhere and like like how how how can that like you,
know help the?
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Team, Right like so it's not all like this is the.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Hard part for us is like we always think that
like in our own, system we've got enough and like
if we just do it our way and we just
focus on, us we will solve all. Problems AND i
don't think in terms of us being a real consistent
global factor in, Men SO i don't think what we're
(19:02):
doing is.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
Enough and we have.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
To think we have to think even more outside the
box than like let's go get the best international coach
to coach a national. Team we have to think about
that in terms of. Players, yes we also have to
maybe think about that in terms of like if you
had to if you had to create like a bizarre
of our soccer, federation who's gonna build it from the ground?
(19:26):
Up it better not be An american person that you.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Pick, yeah, no that's that's totally. FAIR a creative. Recruiting
i'll call it creative Creating americans out of people that
are from other. Countries, jerry great, stuff, Man we appreciate.
It we'll talk to you more about it next. Week all, right,
anytime you. Bet thanks You Jerry brewer joining. Us we
got a lot to get to coming. Up rest of the.
(19:51):
Show Brian schmittzer was going to join us at six
o'clock to give us his thoughts on The World. Cup
more of you and myself And jackson next on ninety
three point three GAY rfm
It's time for our weekly conversation with award winning columnist
Jerry Brewer, brought to you by Northwest Handling Systems. From
forklifts to Pella jashs conveyors to loading duck equipment, we sell,
rent and service all your warehouse he needs request a
quote today at NWHS dot com or give us a
call at four two five two five five zero five hundred.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Now with Jerry Brewer.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
Here's SOFTI and Dick.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yes, indeed, it's Jerry Brewer time. Brought to my Northwest
Handling Systems. My friend Eric down there at NWHS. Jerry,
how are you, my friend.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I'm doing great, man, a little road weary, but good.
I bet, I bet give everybody.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Give everybody the Jerry Brewer itinerary over the last couple
of weeks.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, I mean I've been all World Cup all the time.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Since like a couple of weeks before the World Cup.
But I mean I've been with Team USA while they
were there.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Like that made life a little bit easier back and
forth from LA three times I went to the Bay Area.
When I was in the Bay Area, they were just like, hey,
you know what we forgot that it's the fourth of July,
and there's a match, and we would love for you
to write about America and soccer on the fourth. So
go to Philadelphia where it was one hundred degrees the
(01:21):
day before. So I went to Philly it was like
extreme heat advisory ninety nine degrees and I had to
like go and like you know, go to the rocky
steps in the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall and all
that survived not having a heat stroke, and you know
did that.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
I was there for like twenty five hours, came.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Back to Seattle, watched that that awful, awful US performance
in their oulster. Now I am. I am going to
Whidbey Island with the family for a day and then
the family island driving to the airport to go to
Kansas City, uh, to see Argentina in Switzerland, and then
(02:08):
I've got Dallas next week in the semi final, and
then on my way to New York for the final.
Speaker 5 (02:13):
Well, that's a lot of time on the road to
think about US soccer and the World Cup event and
festivities as it were, and and is uh that we're
enjoying here domestically Just kind of what's top of mind
for you in all.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Of that, Well, I mean, I'm still Hugh thinking about uh,
just a fallout from the from the US. I mean,
it was a political story, it was a sports story.
It was a story about like our never ending seeming
battle to to get.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Relevant in men's soccer.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
I'm thinking about all that stuff, and then also like comparatively,
like I'm doing a little bit of revisionists, thinking the cycle,
why did we know?
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Why did we think that this team.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Could shock the world when you look at like how
good Spain is and they haven't even played great yet Argentina,
I mean that they flirted with losing, but you see
how good they are. France, I mean, France looks like
the Showtown Lakers on a pitch. It's ridiculous how how
good they are. England Norway with Holland, and we're sitting
(03:21):
here thinking that we could go to a final, like
get get real, like just because all time told us
that we are a generation away from being able to
win the Cup and it seems like we've always been
a generation away.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yeah, that's the thing. It's is which generation is gonna
gonna finally do it?
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Well? Was this run at all?
Speaker 3 (03:41):
It was specifically talking about the soccer part of it
and then we'll talk about the other things as well.
But was this US men's national team run a success
at all?
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Or because of the way it.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Ended, we're going to look back on it with not
very much fondness, even though.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
When when when your kids will tell you when they
were little and they'd be like, yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Look at what I can do, Dad, Look what I
can do?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Right, And then you finally come in there and it's like, yeah,
they're jumping a little higher, but like they're still not
getting there and like their head like you know, it
hits the ceiling or they fall over in some awkward
way and you just kind of clap and say good job, buddy,
and then you go back to doing what you were doing.
Like that kind of felt like that this run, right, Like,
(04:28):
I don't think as dominant as we are in general
in sports, I don't think we can look at a
team that just lost in around is sixteen again and
say that was a success and lost in around of
sixteen at home. Now, if you go back and you
think about where US soccer was a few years ago
(04:51):
versus like how they've had to rebuild some things and
how late Mauricio got.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
The team and how much.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
He kind of push things like stylistically, there's some things
that looked a lot better and are encouraging to me.
But we wouldn't be who we are if we're you know,
pounding our pound in our chests talking about this was
a success like this, This was a tiny, little incremental
(05:21):
step that may lead to some success, but this was
a major, major letdown.
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Yeah, Jerry Brewer with us and Jerry you said, it's
always been a generation a way. You know, what what
I'm observing is what we're getting a lot of pundits.
You know, it's like the once every four year site.
We're getting pundits that are coming on. They know their soccer,
they're brilliant in their knowledge, certainly exponentially more than me.
(05:48):
And then they're inevitably they're asked, well, hey, is us
soccer close? And because they're you know that they have
a dog in the hunt, and and it's it's almost
like the fallacy of wishful thinking invariable. Every one of
them says, yeah, we're close. But I heard that back
when Pele was in the mid seventies playing for the
(06:09):
New York Cosmos and in ninety one when the women
wanted and then you get Beckham and you get Messy,
and you think all of these inflection points are going
to be Okay, that's going to be the springboard. But
I feel like I've been hearing this for fifty plus
years and and and yet, you know, the Commissioner last
(06:30):
July comes on and he brags that they're getting one
hundred and twenty thousand viewers per game and they had
under a million for the MLS Championship. So I feel
like this is a big boon for World Cup, you know,
because we're the host nation.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
But I don't.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
I'm just falling where the evidence leads, and I don't
see evidence that there's any notable increase in soccer's popularity
or proficiency. So that that's kind of what you said,
perhaps with always been a generation, but respond to my
observations over the last fifty years.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, I mean, I think there is a maybe a
mark different difference, you know, the last thirty years. Would
say that the MLS era of the US versus like
when we got it in ninety four, it was like
y'all got to start.
Speaker 4 (07:21):
A league almost as a condition to get.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
The World Cup, right, Like the MLS wasn't even around then,
and yeah, like, I mean I think this, I think
this could could be positive for the MLS in some way, like,
but still we're we're not one of overall one of
the top leagues in the world, you know. I mean,
(07:43):
I think we've got a couple of clubs, like the
Sounders being one of them, who have those aspirations and
have been able to accomplish some things on the global stage.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
But as a league, like, it's.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Not a league in which you want our very best
who are going to play on the national team to
go and shine in the MLS and then that's going
to play up on the World Cup stage, right Like,
we're still you know, wanting people in the Premier League
or La Liga or whatever to go play over there and.
Speaker 4 (08:18):
See if you can become a star. And then the
other thing is is is that.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
And I know Polistic is wearing a big time right now,
right uh And and he supposedly, I mean, maybe Balligan
is is our best player just as a as a striker,
but I think most people, even with the poor performance,
probably put Polistic still as the best all around player. Uh,
(08:42):
you know, you put him He's just a role player internationally,
right Like, And so we still have a team of
a bunch of guys who it's great that that that
they're playing in these other leagues, but they're not standouts.
They're not stars. And all of a sudden, like you
see France and you see Jim and Bape and you
(09:03):
see you see Holland, and you see Harry Kane and
you see Messy and yeah, Messy's in the MLS, but
Messi is just just here as an investor, really, right,
and you see how easy it is for him in
the MLS, right like until we get and it's not
like we need a savior, right Like, it's like you
(09:24):
need but you need multiple dudes who are are really
significant players overseas and just.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Burn to get us to the next level.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
We don't have that, right and like we're still a
good distance away from having that. And I think we
saw that, like all of a sudden, like we go
up in quality against a team like Belgium who is
old and didn't look good. I mean they've been in
Seattle pretty much the whole time, right like that they
didn't look good when we saw him, like earlier in
the tournament. And then all of a sudden, like strategically though,
(10:00):
and they're seasoning, They're able to call upon something and
they were able to break the one thing I think
that the US was pretty elite at early in the tournament,
which was their counterpress, and all of a sudden, like
it's like, we have no idea what to do, and
emotionally we had no desire and no resilience to find a.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
Second way to do things, and that was pretty sad.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Well, Jerry, I almost see that there's like a three
headed monster working against us having a soccer superstar here
in the States, And I want to know kind of
how you would rank these monsters that is going against it. One,
the cost of playing soccer in this country, particularly for
the players that are eight, nine, ten, eleven years old
before they would get to that you know sounders, you
(10:45):
know Sounders circuit. So you got the cost. You don't
have the greatest athletes playing soccer. So when you had
when you're let's say an eight year old minority kid,
you don't have somebody looking up to that that's twenty
five right now, that's doing great things as an American
in the sport. And then you also and the reason
for that is you don't have the money invested in
(11:06):
the sport. You're tens of millionaires, hundreds of millionaires are
all in baseball, basketball, and football. So which of those
three monsters is the biggest and the most the hardest
to slay?
Speaker 2 (11:21):
I mean, I think the hardest to slay is probably
a combination of just how expensive it is to play
the sport if you want to stay in the States
and play the sport, and the fact that we just don't.
We don't have peers, right, There's no Patrick Mahomes, there's
no Lebron James, there's no Bryce Harper, like, there's just
(11:46):
not not somebody to look up to and say like
that that isn't an American soccer star. And I think
I think that that hurts. It's it's it's a strange
deal and I know, and it's not as easy. I
hate this And I'd love Hughes feedback on this because
he hears it all the time, just like when we
(12:06):
start like trying to make these cross sport comparisons and like, yeah,
on the surface, like you look at Holland from Norway
and he's six' five to, twenty he's got a burst
like it kind of reminds you of somebody on a
football field and we're kind of, like, well we got
a lot of guys who are six y five and
two twenty and they can run four forwards and we
can just need to put soccer ball in their hands
(12:27):
and they're gonna do, it and we do all the,
time Right, like, well what If lebron had played, football
he would have been at this one of, that and you,
know and what what if what If Tony gonzalez had
focused on basketball.
Speaker 4 (12:40):
To the football and da da.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Dah like there's a lot of nuance to these sports
that we need to. Respect and there's kind of a
reason when you look at like soccer, players like most of.
Them messi is kind of bite, sized Right, like if
you didn't know it Was Lionel messi and you walk
past him and they, airport you wouldn't you wouldn't probably recognize,
(13:03):
them And bape probably the same, thing Right, Like so
it's it's not always just about like our size speed. Athleticism,
uh THE us team in, fact athletically was one of
the more athletics. Groups but like in terms of skill
and nuance and like all of these things that that
are involved in the, game you could tell that, like you,
(13:24):
know our players are are just wired differently than somebody
who is playing it out in the streets in some,
country likely in some poor neighborhood of some, country and
they just have this pure love of the game and
just just this. Feel. Right we do not have a
great feel for the. Game and you don't even have
(13:45):
to know which sport it. Is like anybody who's watched.
Sports you can parachute them into a situation and watch
teams play and not know the names and the accolades
and all, that and you could just, say, hey that
guy right, here that girl right, there they got a
feel for the, game, right like you, know you just
(14:07):
know it looks different than the. Others and it's the
same thing whenever we're on the international stage against any
of the top, ten top twelve teams in the, country
it's just, like, well you, know we got some, speed
we got some, athleticism we do some interesting, things but,
man these people really know how to play.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
Soccer, Yeah Jerry brewer with us. Up you, know to
answer your, QUESTION i was, watching you, know earlier the
game With France morocco and just Watching himbope and you,
know and, Look i'm essentially a soccer neo. FIGHT i,
mean watching very isolated for through the. Decades BUT i
just you, KNOW i said to my, son you know
that that's AN nfl corner right, there or you, KNOW
(14:46):
i don't know If mbope has good hand eye. Coordination
he's got great foot eye, coordination we know, that but
if you had the hand eye coordination that he has
a foot eye. Coordination It's Jackson smith And jigba right
and SO i SO i just, think you, know you
look at those, guys you know That france, team you
know you reference the athleticism, then and it reminds me of, This,
(15:07):
jerry if you were if you were a calm, list
let's get in the wayback machine around nineteen, seventy, okay
and you're a calumnist for The Atlanta Journal, constitution and
And dick And jackson AND i are doing, radio you
Know Softy, show and you know what we'd be talking about.
Then we'd be talking about WHEN usc came, out the
(15:27):
Famous Sam cunningham, game WHEN usc came out and Played
alabama and had five hundred and sixty yards of offense
and blew out The Crimson. Tide you would be writing
and we'd all be talking, About, hey we got to
get more black players or the black players we do
because because we're gonna fall. Behind AND i feel, like you,
know and you're just watching The World Cup, FRANCE i don't,
(15:50):
know just just, eyeball and it looks like they got
about ten of their their field players or black. DUDES
i know that that there's a lot more black guys
on all these countries that we kind Of Northern, european.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Uh, uh being you, know.
Speaker 5 (16:03):
White so SO i think IF i close my, eyes,
dearie AND i think of a miracle on grass in the,
future it's gonna be populated by mostly black, dudes you,
know kind of for obvious. Reasons so what about that
the idea that That AND i know that we've got
we've got black guys on our team, obviously BUT i
think that if we're, saying how are our best athletes
(16:25):
gonna you, know rise the level we can play at this,
LEVEL i, think As dick, mentioned the cost of the
money invested in what have, you somehow you got to
put your focus right on on how to bring more
black kids into the. Game or AM i missing?
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Something?
Speaker 4 (16:40):
No, NO i MEAN i think you make a really
interesting Point.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Hugh, uh let's just take it even broader and more
globally and just, say like The Africa african diaspora is
very dominant in This World, cup regardless of what country you,
know whether It's, England, france Or morocco, Whatever, Right and you,
know you look at the team Like morocco that made
(17:04):
it to the, quarterfinals like really interesting. Team like they
they've had a had a great deal of. Success. Uh
and AND i think they've been really intentional about in
terms of their citizenship and their investment that they've made
sure that they've invested uh in players that Are moroccan.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
ENOUGH i mean they they even tried to.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Get jamal uh to to play for them and not For.
Spain and, uh LIKE i think you, KNOW i mean
when you think About baligan and what we did there
with with a with a birthright citizen and competing with
two other, countries, uh to have him in our, System,
uh that's something that we got to think about. More
and it's not just about like if you wanted to,
(17:50):
say like to Take African american athletes and try to
tilt them towards soccer and invest.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
And and and cases like.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Like even change your system so that it cost them,
nothing you.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
Know almost to.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Play that would take a long time to kind of
continue like the progress that we, made you, know in
in diversifying the, sport diversifying the national. Team but THEN
i think it also takes like we need to think
about people who who are who Are americans who are
(18:28):
elsewhere and like like how how how can that like you,
know help the?
Speaker 4 (18:35):
Team, Right like so it's not all like this is the.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
Hard part for us is like we always think that
like in our own, system we've got enough and like
if we just do it our way and we just
focus on, us we will solve all. Problems AND i
don't think in terms of us being a real consistent
global factor in, Men SO i don't think what we're
(19:02):
doing is.
Speaker 4 (19:02):
Enough and we have.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
To think we have to think even more outside the
box than like let's go get the best international coach
to coach a national. Team we have to think about
that in terms of. Players, yes we also have to
maybe think about that in terms of like if you
had to if you had to create like a bizarre
of our soccer, federation who's gonna build it from the ground?
(19:26):
Up it better not be An american person that you.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Pick, yeah, no that's that's totally. FAIR a creative. Recruiting
i'll call it creative Creating americans out of people that
are from other. Countries, jerry great, stuff, Man we appreciate.
It we'll talk to you more about it next. Week all, right,
anytime you. Bet thanks You Jerry brewer joining. Us we
got a lot to get to coming. Up rest of the.
(19:51):
Show Brian schmittzer was going to join us at six
o'clock to give us his thoughts on The World. Cup
more of you and myself And jackson next on ninety
three point three GAY rfm
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