00:00All right, the dust has settled from the U.S. men's national team's loss to Belgium,
00:04so let's talk to a U.S. men's national team legend, the keeper of all keepers, Tim Howard.
00:10Appreciate you hopping on with this, man.
00:12We just wrapped up eBay Live for eBay and Icons.
00:15We'll talk about your involvement with those two companies in a little bit.
00:20But, I mean, that's, what, three wins, two losses, obviously the last loss to Belgium,
00:26but the hype was there to get knocked out in the round of 16.
00:30But we saw American fans, both diehards and casuals, get behind this team.
00:36So kind of give us how you feel the tournament went as a whole for the U.S.A. team.
00:43Yeah, our guys did some really good things, and you touched on some of them there.
00:47They did some things that no U.S. men's team has done before, so they deserve a ton of credit.
00:52The final game, I think for everybody, was a disappointment.
00:55I mean, sort of the scoreline and the way that they went out.
00:59But that doesn't, maybe it diminishes it a little bit, but not for me.
01:03I mean, I think they deserve a ton of credit.
01:05Yes, it was a big moment against Belgium, and it didn't go the way they wanted.
01:11So, again, as much energy and emotion that you put into this, yeah,
01:18when you go home and you sort of go out and don't play the game you were actually hoping to
01:23play,
01:23that's very disappointing.
01:24You've played in three World Cups.
01:28You've had ultimate success against a Belgium team, 16 saves.
01:32It's a World Cup record there.
01:34Going into this year's World Cup on home soil, everyone kept talking about the pressure,
01:39the pressure, the pressure that's facing this team.
01:41How do you think they handled the pressure throughout the course of the World Cup?
01:46They did a great job, and I sort of knew that they would harness that energy because with the world
01:53watching,
01:54with all of America sort of dragging them into every game, that's an amazing thing.
02:01But there's also â it could also be daunting.
02:03And I thought this team did a really good job of harnessing that energy, using it for them in terms
02:07of inspiring them,
02:09motivating them, and ultimately when I look at â I was at two of those games, one in L.A.,
02:15one in Seattle.
02:15It was incredible watching sort of them feed off the crowd and the crowd pouring into them in the stadium
02:22and outside in those cities.
02:25Do you feel like that energy is sustainable?
02:28Like how much do you think that hype that we got to see and that crowd pouring into these guys,
02:34how does that help American soccer culture going forward?
02:39Because there's major storylines right now about, oh, we got to start from the youth.
02:43The youth isn't like it is over in Europe.
02:46You've played both here and in Europe.
02:48Like how do we keep this thing sustainable?
02:51Well, I think we continue to support our men's and women's national teams.
02:56You know, I've talked before about, you know, England are doing brilliant this World Cup, as are Spain.
03:03I mean, there's already a friendly booked at Wembley in London in August, England versus Spain,
03:08and there will be 90,000-plus people there.
03:10So our job as fans is to continue this momentum, and the next time the U.S. plays, back them,
03:17fill the cities, fill the stadiums.
03:19That onus is on us.
03:20There's some reports out there that the U.S. Soccer Federation has had some positive talks
03:25with Maurizio Pochettino to remain as this team's head coach.
03:30One, how do you think Poch did as this team's head coach in turning around soccer culture here in America?
03:39And do you think, like, he's that guy that can get Team USA over the hump?
03:44Yeah, so I think Maurizio Pochettino did a great job.
03:47He had a really difficult task.
03:50You know, sort of get this team firing in 18 months.
03:53It's not easy to do when you're a national team manager.
03:54And he did that.
03:56They got him to believe.
03:57They got him to buy in and ultimately have a good tournament.
03:59So does that mean he deserves another four years?
04:02Maybe.
04:03I think U.S. Soccer will sort of look at all their different options.
04:08He's certainly one that would be a front runner for me.
04:12But he has to want to do that too.
04:14And only people on the inside understand, and I'm not on the inside,
04:18but they'll understand whether he has a pulse to this team,
04:22whether he has the ability to continue to motivate this team.
04:24And if he does, and all parties accept, then he might very well be the next manager.
04:30When you look at some of the teams that have, I mean, they eat, breathe, sleep soccer culture.
04:37I mean, you look at Norway.
04:39There's Haaland and Odegaard.
04:40You look at Brazil.
04:42There's Casemiro and Vinny Jr.
04:44England, Jude Bellingham and Harry Kaye.
04:50How do we develop those type of superstars here in America?
04:56Yeah, we've had trouble doing that.
04:59You know, it is.
05:00There's a crack in the youth system.
05:02There's a lot of other sports.
05:06You know, as you rightfully know, when you're a young player in America,
05:10you can enjoy soccer, baseball, football, basketball, hockey.
05:13Other countries don't operate that way.
05:15They don't have, there isn't money put into other youth leagues.
05:19There isn't other sports for these kids to play.
05:21Not at the level that it is in America.
05:22So it is difficult.
05:25We don't have a system that allows young kids to thrive and climb that ladder.
05:30So that's why you see a lot of late bloomers in our country.
05:33And so, you know, will we ever get there?
05:35Maybe, maybe, but it's a hard system.
05:37And lastly, we just wrapped up the eBay Live with icons.com.
05:41We got a chance to bid or auction off some great historical soccer pieces
05:48and some of the pieces from your career as well.
05:53One thing we said in prompter is a kid from Jersey goes to Old Trafford
05:59playing for, you know, Man U.
06:01Talk to us about, like, is there a young Tim Howard?
06:04Like, how can someone be a Tim Howard that's playing right now that's a teenager or such?
06:10Well, I think you have to be bullish in terms of your dreams.
06:14You know, your dreams should always be bigger than anything you think you can do.
06:20And so I wanted to play in Europe, and I wanted to play the biggest and best.
06:24I didn't know if I could, but I did, and I believed in myself.
06:28And believing in yourself isn't, like, just on the good days.
06:31It's when things are tough and other people are betting against you.
06:35And I did that, and I'm a testament to, you know, yeah, I had some talent,
06:41but I nurtured that by working as hard as humanly possible.
06:44All right, my man.
06:45We appreciate you for this five minutes, my guy.
06:47Appreciate you.
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