00:00well charlie davies we everyone knows him he obviously is a uh a major star and also revs
00:05radio and he is somebody that we like to bring on who could set us straight when it comes to
00:10all
00:10things the world cup and whether or not this american team has a shot because my god i did
00:16not expect the performance that i saw there hey charlie thanks for coming out with us man we
00:20appreciate it uh thanks for having me on guys i'm i'm proud to be making my debut with you guys
00:27there we go it's awesome charlie well and what a time to do it too because i'm literally looking
00:31outside and seeing men in kilts this is something else hey it's it's incredible for me you know i
00:37grew up in manchester new hampshire you know i went to boston college uh new england is is my home
00:43it's
00:43in my blood and i've always felt felt like i've had to fight the good fight you know soccer was
00:49never
00:49popular growing up you know that we were too busy watching the patriots do their work you know the
00:54red sauce the bruins and i always felt like i had to prove to everybody hey soccer is a cool
00:59sport
01:00it's a global sport um and now it feels like the bostonians are understanding that through you know
01:06their experiences with the scots it's it's a generational celebration everybody's getting
01:11an understanding now of why you know having people visit and bringing their songs their clothing
01:17their food their traditions their personalities into a city like boston is is such a fantastic experience
01:24it's been i mean definitely we we've talked about how they're like they're kind of putting american
01:30fans to shame sports fans it's a it's a new level it's an extreme type of fan isn't it charlie
01:37uh so i left boston college to to go play in in stockholm sweden and then i went to france
01:42and
01:43denmark and everyone always asked me is it is it that much different playing soccer in europe than it
01:47is in the united states and the and the answer is a thousand percent and you're getting the under you're
01:53getting to understand why because it's it's so much more than sports you know it's it's a religion
01:59it's what brings people together it's what brings communities together and i've been very fortunate
02:04to to play for some of the greatest fans uh in the world if you go to stockholm sweden you
02:09get to go to
02:10a hammer b game in the south of stockholm you will be amazed at what it means to these people
02:16the week in and week out when you win free food you go to places you get free drinks
02:22and when you lose you better stay at home and and make sure that you get a win uh the
02:29next time you
02:29play in front of your fans well charlie this was a uh you know the the first game from the
02:34u.s
02:35men's national team was definitely not something that i expected i mean i hate to say it but
02:41you know you you you didn't expect greatness coming out of of them and and what we saw was
02:46a team that was dominant and i don't know whether or not i don't know enough about the team or
02:51what i
02:51watched to figure out whether or not they're actually that good or this was a fluke what what do you
02:57what
02:57can you tell us about this american team and what our expectations should be well well i think there
03:03are a lot of people in the same boat as you were um in terms of not knowing what to
03:08expect from this u.s
03:09team now but after watching them play against the paraguay side now paraguay is not france and
03:15they're not argentina okay so you know there there can be true truths when when it comes to this
03:20performance paraguay are not the best team but they are a resilient team and a tough team to score
03:26goals on so the fact that the u.s scored four against paraguay is is something to be said that's
03:32that's a tremendous accomplishment um in saying that i think the u.s are on an incredible path it's a
03:38great start to the tournament they set the tone and so this is a team if they're playing the way
03:43they did against paraguay there's no reason why they shouldn't be in the quarterfinal at least which
03:49is the ultimate i think barometer for success for this group charlie considering how big you know
03:55the united states is i mean it feels like the game should be more advanced than it's that it is
04:01maybe
04:02at this point i'm just curious what you think about that and how how how do we get you know
04:07better you know teams because i mean the athletes there's we have so many athletes in this country
04:11but yet you know our soccer team maybe isn't up to where it needs to be and i'm just curious
04:16what
04:17you think if this new college soccer schedule system i guess they're going to a two semester
04:21year-round model for division one men's soccer uh starting uh you know in uh next year and if you
04:27think that's going to help or just how do we kind of identify the better players in this country so
04:32that we can put a better team out there well i think it's important to note we're probably a hundred
04:39years behind the rest of the world you know because the last world cup um that the u.s really
04:46had a
04:47significant impact was 1990 before that it was 1950 so there's a 40-year gap we're talking about
04:52generation on generation on generation and so you know growing up i think you found some some people
05:00that were you know well versed in the game but there weren't a number of top coaches around the
05:05country now we're looking at 2026 it feels like there are a number of top coaches and the infrastructure
05:11is is improved drastically so i i don't think it's not going to be um too long before you're starting
05:17to see a u.s team that can really realistically be in a semi-final of a world cup because
05:22in in 2009
05:23we got to the the finals of the confederations cup and we beat spain in the semi-final and spain
05:28hadn't lost in two years and they won the 2010 world cup so we're right there and i think the
05:32college
05:33setup now changing um now is is going to be seen as a place where you can go to develop
05:38because
05:40realistically a college season in three months and you're playing every two or days and you're playing
05:45and on turf and you kids can't really you know have training so the practices aren't really
05:51beneficial for kids you're just trying to manage time um it's not great so if you're you're in the
05:56pro environment you're saying if you go to college you're setting yourself back that's not a place you
06:00want to go whereas now you can look at it and say okay this is this is more of a
06:05holistic approach now
06:06guys can really train coaches have the freedom to really practice and train and grow grow kids so i'm all
06:13for it hey charlie of the three great stars we saw yesterday with uh kilina boppy and holland here
06:19in boston and messy who's the best of that group and why like what separates them or those three from
06:26the rest of the pack well can we really have this type of uh debate when leonel messy has has
06:34now scored
06:34105 world cups um he has he has scored now a record 16 goals he's tied for the most goals
06:43ever scored
06:44uh in a world cup um in total and messy is just he's in a different plan he's in a
06:50different category
06:50now with that being said kilian mbappe you know at such a young age had won a world cup in
06:562018
06:57he scored a hat trick in the last world cup final against argentina and leonel messy so he still has
07:04another world cup or two in in in his in his future uh but messy is is in a whole
07:10different category of
07:11fish i mean this this is a a really a special player he's the michael jordan he's the tom brady
07:17uh for anybody here listening in new england that maybe isn't too familiar with with where messy is in
07:23terms of all-time great he's the first player probably uh etched in i i don't want no disrespect
07:29to pele because pele was was you know the the kid who scored at 17 years old in a world
07:34cup final is
07:35the youngest player to score in a world cup and the youngest player to score in a world cup final
07:38so
07:39maybe pele is one uh for me just on the that that historical piece but messy is right there as
07:44number
07:45two charlie tell us what chances our scottish friends have you know i love the scots and i
07:53love the energy and i love how the bostonians have embraced them but i love how they've also
07:57embraced boston and by the way i think there are a number of people who said oh my god the
08:03world
08:03cup is going to add so much traffic and boo world cup and boo soccer and now people can't get
08:09enough
08:09i can't tell you how many bostonians have said i don't want this world cup to end i don't want
08:14the
08:14stats to leave and by the way the the the moroccans and the iraqis and the haitians have been
08:19incredible as well and they all clean up after themselves so not only do they spend all the money
08:25uh here in bostonian to help our small businesses and help our cities uh continue to grow and thrive
08:31but they also clean up after themselves and there's been no uh violence and no fighting so uh let's let's
08:38make that first and foremost uh how how great it's been for for the world to come visit boston but
08:44um i think the scots will get out of the group uh for sure you know whether it's first second
08:50or
08:50third because there's three uh uh eight third place teams will advance uh out of the group stage
08:57so that's great for the scots they're going to continue to live at least one more day after the
09:01group stage yeah i'll tell you what we had uh one of the radio hosts here kat and uh she's
09:07covering
09:08the scotland team and just when we played in her headphones the crowd singing their national
09:14anthem she started tearing up if they make it out of the group i mean it's gonna be a lot
09:20of
09:20grown men crying there's gonna be a lot of kilts of flying all over uh all over fanny hall
09:27just think a small country like cape verde they they get a point against uh spain because they
09:34hide zero zero yeah yeah everybody's everybody's crying you know a team i feel like uh they lose
09:42seven one but they scored that one goal everybody's crying yep yep yep you're just you're just so happy
09:49to to be in the conversation to have your your country um be highlighted uh around the globe it's
09:57just it's just an incredible incredible tournament well charlie davies we're we'll check in with you as
10:02this thing moves on and as i said you know if america continues to impress i mean that that's i
10:10no
10:10one expected that none but if they don't my heart's a scholar but charlie would it be i mean if
10:15the u.s
10:15men's national team does show out doesn't it just help so much to as far as inspire kids to uh
10:21want to
10:21play the game it'd be huge if they could do that right yeah yeah i i went to 1994 world
10:28cup and i went to
10:29south korea bolivia i had no idea about the game of soccer i had never seen it played i'd never
10:35heard
10:35of those countries and the game of zero zero was the worst game of that world cup it happened to
10:40be
10:40here in foxborough and i was inspired for the rest of my life i said this is what i want
10:45to do so
10:45imagine the u.s now doing uh incredible things and making it and making a long run in this tournament
10:52by the way you guys might be talking about the new england revolution over the patriots and the red
10:57stocks and the bruins and then that investment will say hey soccer has made it yeah i would i
11:03would temper the expectations a little bit i can hold my breath hey hey hey can we all dream here
11:09come on yes there are some dreams here with the scott revolution war there we go there we go that's
11:18right all right well charlie great stuff man we'll keep in touch with you throughout the world cup buddy
11:22i appreciate you calling thanks charlie absolutely thank you guys
Comments