00:00Oof, so many exciting things this World Cup, so many good players, so many nice stories.
00:06But what is the important thing that the U.S. needs to do now to capitalize on all the attention,
00:11to capitalize on everything that we can harvest from this unique tournament that for many was a success?
00:18Many, you know, with the political climate that we are living in, many were hoping for a disaster.
00:24They were hoping for the World Cup not to go sweet, you know, nicely.
00:27Yeah. What is it that we need to do to harvest all these good vibes and make them something good
00:34for the development of U.S. soccer?
00:36I mean, I think we need to focus at U.S. as a whole as more of a team sport.
00:43Yes. I think we see Pulisic and we see these big leader, big names, and it doesn't work for U
00:48.S.
00:48There's a lot of ego, and I think that's why they weren't able to survive the whole tournament.
00:53They started off very strong, and they lost it, I think, because they don't have that fire.
01:00The commitment to the group?
01:01Mm-hmm.
01:01We see teams like Argentina.
01:04Mm-hmm.
01:05You know, they have—
01:06England.
01:06They have this—Mexico, they have this fire, because they're fighting for something more than just football.
01:13And U.S., I didn't see it.
01:15I really didn't see that fire.
01:16I didn't.
01:17It is true. It's very true.
01:18I think that we need to harvest that identity, that football identity, because we still have
01:24that problem where there is the saying, if our best athletes will play soccer, we'll
01:30be world champions.
01:31But I don't think that it's a lack of athletes.
01:32I think there's a lack of access.
01:34I think, like, if you give access to the right people, they will play.
01:36You don't need to have six, four tall, muscular athletes to win the World Cup.
01:43Definitely not.
01:44That's not the type of sport.
01:46No.
01:46You need kids that play one-on-one, you know?
01:49Kids that know how to have, you know, a good relationship with the ball.
01:53Mm-hmm.
01:53And I like what you are doing with your development of players.
01:57I love what Uprising is doing with the development of players, along with many, many other clubs
02:00that are actually working on providing access and getting the kids to grow holistically.
02:06Not only as a great skilled player, but also as a human and as a person that allows you
02:10to actually survive this environment, because it's not an easy journey for the football players.
02:14It's not an easy journey for players who want to play in the U.S., players who want
02:18to go professional.
02:19Even to the MLS, it's so difficult.
02:22Players who are playing for UCLA and the top D1 schools don't even get a chance to play
02:27at MLS.
02:28So it's very, like 0.001% if you want to go professional.
02:32It's a tough journey, my friends, and we are supporting and celebrating every single
02:36player that has been able to fulfill their dream of becoming a professional, representing
02:42their nation, and finally getting to play in a World Cup.
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