Mark McKenzie on USMNT’s Emotional World Cup Exit | Orange Slices w/ Heath Pearce

What is going on everybody? Welcome back to Orange Slices. I am Heath Pierce and I am back with my OG original co-host Mark McKenzie. We'll be right back after a quick word from our sponsors. The biggest stage in world soccer is here and every goal changes everything. Fendel is giving you a reason to root for every single one. Introducing every goal pays. Bed on a match and get bonus bets for every goal scored in that match. More goals means more bonus bets and all you have to do is turn on your token. The US look like they are truly poised for a dream run at this point. From the opening whistle to the final kick, let there be goals on Fendel. Visit Fendel.com to get started now. 21 and over select state for Kansas and affiliation with Kansas, start Casino, 18 and over in DC, Kentucky and Wyoming. Gambleing problem called 1-800 Gamble or 1-800 My Reset. In Connecticut, call 1-88-78-89-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat. In Maryland, visit mdgamblinghelp.org. In Massachusetts, visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 1-800-327-5050. In New York, call 1-877-8-HOP-E-N-Y or TEX, hope-N-Y. In Louisiana, call 1-877-770-7867. And listen to Orange Lices sponsored by Fendel Predicts, wherever you get your podcast. Now let's get back to the show. Mark, I gotta ask you and we'll talk about Belgium as a whole in a little bit, but for you as an experience for the World Cup. Everything that you've gone through, your role growing in terms of functions and responsibilities that are off the field that you're providing the team with, from seeing the full stadiums to traveling to everything in between. And maybe you haven't had a chance to really process it yet, but what has that experience been like for you? Yeah, it's hard because when you picture the World Cup, you picture it like you're making it to the final and you're lifting the trophy. And I think that's the part of it where you get caught in that. And you forget to appreciate the journey. You forget to appreciate kind of the steps that get you to that point. You forget to appreciate the pre-camps. You forget to appreciate the camp's building up to the actual roster reveal. And then finally you get to that point. And I think stepping into the tournament, I wanted to focus on just being present because I always had a tendency of thinking too far in advance. And I think that's one thing that I really focused on and that I felt like I was able to capitalize this moment because yeah, it was really just about being there. It was really just about seeing this dream kind of come to fruition. It was about stepping into the stadiums and feeling the energy from our supporters. It was about standing there on the pitch with the national anthem and to hear 60,000, 70,000 people singing together. It's to see the way that the kids are playing the game at a much higher rate than before. It's seeing little kids so emotional and sometimes crying after we've scored a goal or won a game or I think that is what made this moment so special. And then internally, as a player, being a part of a group that you had 13 guys who were previously in the World Cup, right? And you had another 13 who probably never thought of having this opportunity. And you mix that together. You have a group of guys who will summon you're some in MLS. You have a mix of guys, some playing in Champions League and Europa League coming off of winning the league, coming off of winning European trophies and some guys who haven't. I think that made this group so special. You had different personalities. You had guys who were more introverted and more extroverted. You had guys who ultimately were going to play more minutes and guys who were going to play less minutes. So naturally that happens, right? But when you have guys understanding and appreciating the moment, appreciating the fact that we get to say we're a part of this team. Get a group of guys who understand that there are roles like you talked about in different capacities within the group. It helps push the team in the direction we need to go. And ultimately it wasn't necessarily ending where we wanted it to end. But I think we were able to really inspire a lot of people just with the way we were honestly that the family that creates this wonderful thing we call as a country. So obviously for you, I think one, I want to thank you for coming to have a conversation with us. I think we've had a lot of loyal viewers and listeners over the years that have always respected your transparency of sharing what it's like to be on the inside and then to have this moment and take us on that journey. I appreciate that because right now, be honest with you, I probably wouldn't be talking to you because there's just not a lot of ways that you can take all of those big moments and sort of bring them to life without looking at the Belgium game. So just to talk about it a little bit because I think it would be weird not to what was the I wasn't there a full transparency. I was at Spain, Portugal. I was sitting nine rows up at the half line thinking I was going to get a masterclass six goals, all kinds of crazy stuff going on. I mean, those crazy stuff going on. I got to see the true technique of world class players but literally the most action I had was watching Cristiano warm up before the game where he was exploding into space and hitting the ball like a rocket. And outside of that, there was basically nothing else that happened for 90 minutes. I was a slow build up, you know, slow build up to that final. I do like that and it reminded me of the time that I played against Spain in Santander where it was just like a chess match the whole time except like we didn't have any chess pieces and they did and then they just kept using them and then in the 89th minute, Javi scored and then that was the end of the game. And I remember that deflating feeling of what was the you know like so much of football now is this rewards based system right you play counter attacking or you play against the ball and it requires you like there's a tendency to have to suffer to get the results of pull the team out of position you transition quick you get your goal. And I remember leaving that game other than like every single player telling me they wouldn't say Jersey's because they promised their grandma thinking like what a waste of time like what an absolute waste of time to have some team just chip away at you and wear down and you're like, oh, we got this discipline discipline. So anyways, I was there. I went to a place called Texas live, which is like this arena type thing with like this hundred something foot screen and then there's like bars all around it. And I knew what I was doing and I knew what I was doing was wrong, Mark. And I knew what I was doing is wrong because I don't like I have not gone to the US Games in this World Cup. I was working but also I don't I need to be in a vault just me and the team and my my belief that they can hear me you know and and so I watched it in a place where it was just not the appropriate thing to watch any US game. It was unbelievable atmosphere crazy and the USA chance and everything like that were going for 90 plus minutes of thousands of people. But for you was everything leading up to kick off the same as it had been all tournament long. Obviously we've got some of this flow Balagin stuff that we don't talk about but that just obviously is naturally going to hit the team in some ways. But for you was the day just the same as every other day or did it have a extra level of intensity knowing that you know it's not Bosnia that you're playing against is not a group stage. Everything gets a little bit more and more complicated. I don't think there was really much that that differed in the day. I think overall it was really the same way we've gone about business the entire tournament. I think whether we we want to match or whether we lost to match whether we felt we played well or we didn't play well whether we went into video. People like those things we need to work on. I don't really think there was a whole lot that that differed for us. We understood that it was a knockout game the same way Bosnia was a knockout game but we felt like the group stage games were also knockout games to some capacity and wanted to treat those in the same way with the same respect. So yeah I think that's that's the part of the game that's also sometimes difficult because I've been in games where I've gone into warm up and I felt like oh my warm up is fantastic. The team is on fire. The way the team's energy levels are you know whether at the what we're popping the ball around the rondo the possessions before the you know the sprints you can see guys are locked in and you start the game and it's like what what happened. You know what I mean on the flip side of it. I've gone into games where I felt like my individual one for the club to win but wasn't very good and we've gone out and it's been wow okay bet. Yeah you know we started that game a lot better than we actually probably thought we would have so it's hard to always correlate you know going into the game versus you know how it starts but the opening opening minutes I think of the crucial minutes right and I think those are the some of the more difficult ones because that can dictate your you know what what needs to happen and when you can see it early it makes it difficult and you have to give credit because Belgium's a quality team you know as we've learned in the past. In the previous window you know you give them chance to the the capitalize on them so yeah if I'm honest I don't think there was really much that the differ the team was locked in the teams focus training sessions were sharp to the point nothing really different from what we had done previously throughout the tournament or honestly in previous in other camps but yeah that's that's the game right that's football in the nutshell and unfortunately you know we came out on the the short end of the stick so yeah man tough one obviously. Yeah when I when I the thing that was most disappointing to me when I was at Portugal Spain was that it was a library for most of the game in there it was silent it was and I went to I went to France, France, Poland, at the last World Cup. And I remember-- Outside of behind the, one of the goals where there was like a France contingent, it was the same thing. And I remember thinking like, man, you wouldn't know that one of these teams is going home. Like I witnessed Bernaldo's last ever official competition in all likelihood, right? I witnessed like a moment of brilliance, but you wouldn't know that it was, there was a magnitude to it. And I think that's vastly different than some of the nations that had huge traveling support, but also the host nations, right? When I looked at Mexico and in 90 seconds, boom, you're now like fighting a battle, but the atmosphere is crazy. Was Seattle crazier in this game than it was the first time you went there? Because I remember you saying that it was different than even so-fi, which is obviously a crazy place. Yeah. I want to say, yeah, obviously it was, it had a different feel to it, right? You could feel like the tension. And maybe I think everybody else in the stadium was kind of buying into all the fluff going on outside of the game and what was happening with the appeal and the red car being rescinded. So I think all of that, you could kind of feel it in the air, but I don't think the team was really focused on that. I think the team was, and this is my feeling, and this is probably the same feeling for the rest of the group, but everybody was locked in on what needed to be done, right? Everybody was locked in on the fact that Belgium has a quality team, but in the same way, we have quality as well. And if we had the business in the right way, and we win certain areas of the pitch, we win the transition, and we win the intensity battle, and we win the second ball, and we're winning those moments that are so crucial, as you know, it makes it a lot more favorable for you to come out on the winning end, right? And it just wasn't us on the day, you know? I think that's the hard part, right? Because it was maybe performance as a collective, where we were like, "Man, maybe we let ourselves down "in certain phases of the game, "and that's what gave them an upper hand, "but obviously you can go into games, "and maybe you play not up to the par, "but you're able to get a chance." And I think the team showed it throughout the 90 minutes, that we could hurt them, and we had the ability to hurt them. We didn't capitalize on certain moments, right? That's the game. We came back, got into the game again after being, you know, conceding, and we tied one-on, and you know, that you go down again, two-on, so it makes it, you know, like, "Oh, it's like, you get yourself back," and then it's like a gut blow again, and you're like, "Okay, now we gotta grind through this again, "and try and get back even, and move from there." And you also see the respect that the bells showed us at certain points in the game, or we're connecting passes and have them pin back. But I don't think, look at, you know, you look at Spain, you know, Spain are maybe more direct than people would probably think in the previous Spanish teams, you know what I mean? Spanish teams where it's this constant, you know, four, five, six, hundred passes throughout the game. In some cases, they play more direct. In some cases, they play more into the channel, and they're trying to capitalize on the space behind. Some teams are gonna sit in the low block, where they're, you know, you look at Brazil Norway, Brazil Norway, people are like, "Oh, why is Brazil "sitting, you gotta show respect, 'cause Norway's ball, "and they're playing, everybody can take passes." So that's the beauty of the sport we play, right? And that's the beauty of the World Cup, 'cause you've got teams who maybe you would have thought do otherwise, but also understand the moment. So yeah, it's just, that's, well, that's what I've learned, honestly, from this tournament and just being here and being able to experience this is, it's not always what it seems, right? The game is not always what it seems, playing at this level is not always what it seems. It's like, "Oh, why aren't you guys doing this?" You know, you gotta should be, you know, connecting this, you gotta should be scoring this, and you gotta be, you know, dominating these teams, and these teams, you know, maybe you should, no, that's not the game anymore. The game is a lot more even than people think, and a lot more, I wouldn't say strategic, but I think teams are a lot more, the understanding of what it requires to go far. I mean, look, Argentina, look, Argentina, come here, people like, come here, they go, come here, you know, this small island, you know, this Argentina was talking about, the previous World Cup winner. - Bro, Argentina is put on this. - Argentina's put on the brink, by the way. - Bro, the brink, multiple times. - So it's like, you know what I mean? Like, you look at it, you know, the game is evolving. It's not what it used to be. So, yeah, in many ways, that's like, that's kind of my personal take, and that's my personal feel on it, but yeah, it's still fresh, it's still raw, 'cause now, it sucks 'cause you turn on the TV, and you watch it, it gave me like, man, like literally hours ago, we were right there, you know what I mean? You're your moments, you only 90 minutes, potentially away from advancing to the next stage, and watching teams go on and play, and eventually like, man, you know, so, yeah. - Yeah, I think, I think the hardest part for probably most fans, right, was just feeling like, and you know this, especially at the international level. At the club level, you can get away with five, sixes, and sevens in a game, because tactically you're sound, you're always in the environment, you know how to grind out results, you have a few tricks up your sleeve, things like that. The national team is harder to build that rhythm, and I think that's what inspired so many people in this World Cup is just how much rhythm the US played with in terms of, in the lead up to the round of 16, the belief, the cohesiveness, the passion, players having good games. It's first time that I remember in our national team, we're consistently when we're in and around the box. You know when you watch like, if you watch PSG, or you watch OG Brazil, or you watch, I'm just randomly streaming consciousness coming to mind, you could feel when a goal was coming, and then it would be the seven passes leading up, and then it would be the final ball, and then it would be a clinical finish that may be easier difficult. This is the first time I ever felt that about this team, prior to the Belgium game of just like, oh, we've got the individual quality we're seeing that. We've got, we know when to speed the game up, we've looked good when we need to slow the game down, we're comfortable in possession, we're comfortable pressing a team, we're comfortable getting pressed against, and we're able to solve problems, and that's, you know, having the sharpness of passing and changing the point of attack. And that requires a lot of players, yes, you have a game plan, and the coach is gonna come up with the coach's plan, and then game kicks off, and that plan might be right, that plan might be wrong, or you might not have any idea how that plan's gonna play out, right, until the game starts to present itself. And you know this, more than anyone, it takes, you know, most of your team at this round of the tournament, not just having okay games in round of 16. They need to have their best games, right? And Belgium kind of lucked their way in with individual quality of having big moments and into that round. They were brought back to life of again being on the brink of an exit, and then they had players having great games, and you need to be able to have that, and that's just unfortunately, especially at the national team level, you have more days where you have more guys that are off their game than usual, and you know, I look at, and we can move on from this, I look at Freeman, as somebody that I've grown so much respect for in this World Cup, is like versatile, young, hungry, confident, and then you forget that like, the career of a player of your games is just an ebb and flow, right? And so you, we see everybody, especially in the US because we love winners, we just go, oh yeah, rocket ship to the moon, you know? - Literally, everybody thinks it's that diagonal, just that perfect linear, you know, growth structure. - Yeah, and for him, he's one for me that I was like, okay, if I thought that he had a poor match and struggle, I thought that he was nervous, he was tied, his first touch was off for most of the game, some of the passing, some of the movements, ideas were slow, and that's my personal opinion of his performance. If you were to take the full World Cup, I would have, of course, he was gonna have an average performance at some point in the World Cup. He's young, he's inexperienced, he's, you know, going through all these things, and I was him, and I know that it wasn't like this, it was like a constant like evolution of like, some games, I'm like, well damn, I hope I get the call up for the next camp or I hope I get more minutes or men, I'm not that proud of that one. And then when you go across the board of players that have been the most consistent or players with the most experience, and it just, it becomes a perfect storm that ultimately sends you home, and I think that's tough to, it's kind of hard to defend on the inside just because we've seen everybody had better versions of themselves than we saw on the day, and so I get that it's a really hard thing to talk through and even process, and you may never, you know, by the way, you may never have fine peace in that type of moment in a world cup, you might never get that in your lifetime, but what you did get is experience, opportunity, a reason to inspire generations that are gonna look far beyond, you know, an individual thing, and yeah, I think it's net, net, I remember standing in the tunnel, and sorry, I'm on my soapbox right now, I remember standing in the tunnel. - No, no, no, no, we love a gate. - We love a gate, we love a gate, H.P. soapbox, well, you know what I mean? - I'm standing in the tunnel for Spain Portugal, and watching these players start to come out, and it just dawned on me, like, I had been watching from home, and, you know, I was like, you know, armchair analyst, like manager from my couch, type of thing of like, who's good, who's bad, who's whatever, and then I remember just looking and seeing as Spain and Portugal were walking out, we were like down below, I was like, you know, this is a world cup, and two of like the greatest national teams, two with players that will go on as one of the greatest ever, or could be the greatest ever when you think about L'Amin y'all, and you've got all these other guys in Spain's team, I was like, one of these teams has to go home, and they don't both get to go through, and no matter how you do it, like, it's easy right now for me to be like, hey, Mark, if you guys took Belgium to the end, and you lost in penalties, or you were a bit unlucky, or the ref hard did you. It's easy for me to say based on how the game ended in the round of 16 to what it would have been that would have made me been like, it's fine. You know, like at least we went out with our heads high type of thing. It's just tough. There's no easy way, there would be no performance that you could possibly do that didn't justify a feeling of fans who have been so inspired to think that like this high that I've had, right? This lack of sleep that I've had, the adrenaline that's like pumping through my body right now is like somebody said it to me when I was walking by earlier, they were like, you know, this feels like the worst breakup of my life. Like I just got dumped by my girlfriend and that's what I'm feeling right now. And I was like, that's an interesting take, but like this type of thing of like as a fan, you don't have control, you know? - Yeah, it's real. No, I get that, honestly, you know, from, I think from like to your first point about like performances, I think as a collective, we all came off feeling like we have the natural devastation of the tournament being over, but you also have the disappointment because we knew we could have been better, right? We knew where we should have done better and the moments that we didn't step up maybe or the moments that we should have been, whatever it was, you know, I think as a collective, we owned that, but it is that ebb and flow that I think we sometimes fail to realize that comes along with any player's growth and any team's growth. So we can sit here and talk about just these moments, right? We can talk about the one game, but if it was a, maybe the match against, I don't know, if it was the match against Australia, and it was that game, it would be like, okay, you know, the steam, you know, and then you get to this stage and it's like, oh, okay, well, we, you know, found our way into the next round. And then we find out, I don't know, 'cause I don't know how, how, the outside would have, you know, perceived it potentially because you have this feeling of internally like, oh man, we're kind of just kind of fumbling in, but yeah, we're making it, we're making it so it feels good, you know, but on the outside, maybe you guys feel like, oh, well, this team isn't really playing well, but the luck in their way through and maybe it doesn't create the same energy whereas, you know, we had that level of intensity and the performance is followed, you know, based on, so I think that's always an interesting dynamic when you look at it internally, but also externally. And then, I mean, to your second point about that heartbreak, you know, and that break up being a real thing, it's a real sentiment, you know what I mean? It's a real sentiment and just seeing, you know, we're walking through the hotel and you got people who are like, oh man, you guys, you know, you guys really made us proud, you know, you guys made us proud and, you know, sucks, 'cause we wanted to go all the way and then it's like, yeah, we wanted to do the same things too, bro, like, (laughing) you know, it was only 45 minutes ago, an hour ago, I was in the locker room, cried my eyes out, yeah, of course, you know, I wanted to make it to the final, but yeah, it's the hard part of this game, you know, where you see how much energy is behind you, and that's supporting that, that was, it was so, we felt it to our core, you know, we're so appreciative of it. And I'm sure many players will talk about just the amount of gratitude we have for so many who have been behind us this summer and encouraging us this summer, like yourself and so many others, but yeah, man, you know, the biggest thing is, you know, we wanna continue to push this thing, and now we got 20-30, you know, we got qualification going into 20-30, so that'll be here in the blink of an eye, and it'll be a new cycle, you know, a new chapter of what this, this national team look like. So yeah, this was a special summer for sure. My first World Cup, hopefully not my last, but yeah, man, definitely, definitely want to keep, my memory books. - We'll be right back after a quick word from our sponsors. The biggest stage in World Soccer is here, and every goal changes everything. Fandals giving you a reason to root for every single one, introducing every goal pays, bet on a match, and get bonus bets for every goal scored in that match. More goals means more bonus bets, and all you have to do is turn on your token. From the opening whistle to the final kick, let there be goals on Fandals. Visit fandall.com to get started now. 21 and over, select state. For Kansas, an affiliation with Kansas star casino, 18 and over in DC, Kentucky and Wyoming, gambling problem called 1-800-Gamble, or 1-800-Myreset. In Connecticut, call 1-888-789-77777, or visit ccpg.org/chat. In Massachusetts, visit gamblinghelplinema.org, or call 1-800-327-5050. In New York, call 1-877-8-H-O-P-E-N-Y, or text, hope, and Y. And listen to Orange Lices, sponsored by Fandall Predicts, wherever you get your podcast. What was your favorite match so far, that not from the US games, but just something that you've watched, like I think about. Mexico, England was crazy. This Argentina, Egypt game, crazy. Like it's also the most goals we've seen after the 75th. It's the most goals we've seen after the 90th. It's crazy, crazy. Do you have a favorite for you that when you sort of, if you were to build your board of World Cup memories, you're going to have-- I got the call from Puchetino. I got to make my debut. I've been leading this team post game moment. I've had this role. I've had these other things. And then in all of that, you have the Polaroid post cards. Is there any other memories that you currently have now, whether it's a game or a moment that you go, oh, yeah, this goes on like the mood board also? Honestly, I think the-- I mean, the Mexico England game was crazy, because that's obviously a rival, but you see them. And you see the way both teams are going to go ahead to head. Yeah, that was not the one. That was not the one. That was the intensity was the same. But it showed you 90 seconds, no matter how hard you fight. You think the Mexican fans-- I mean, I'm sure some are like, OK, go ahead because you're punching and everything. And you're going after everybody. Like you're going after the game. Sorry, not punching or going after everybody. Like you, you, you, like Mexico's still looking at it. Like, you know, we haven't lost. We haven't given up a goal. We've got all this momentum. We've got, you know, it's-- Unless you reach a semi-final, I'm pretty sure fans are going to be upset. But anyways, you are-- That's the truth. Pass my soapbox, but keep going. That's the truth, though. That's the truth. Like, I don't think there's-- unless you're the final, lifting the trophy, I don't think you're coming out of this tournament feeling like, oh, yeah, you know, I think everybody feels like you fell short of it, right? That's the feeling. And I think that's the-- Only the Norwegian seem chill no matter what. They're kind of like-- they're not caught up in the drama. They're hanging out in cities. They're winning games. And they just sort of seem to be like, I were in the World Cup. We're here. We got some ballers. Like, let's go. Like, you know, like-- Let's see how far we can take this thing. Yeah, where everybody else, it seems like, especially the ones that made it knockout rounds. Like, Bosnian didn't play against you guys being like, we're going home today. So, you know, we're way out master like, yo, we could beat the US. Like, why can't we? Yeah. Yeah, man. That's-- yeah, bro, this tournament-- this tournament's been one round for the ball. I think we've had just about everything in this tournament, honestly. So, yeah, I think the Mexico Inward game was up there for me. I think the Belgium Senegal game was also intense when you think about, you know, Senegal was up to zero. I think the Argentina-- Argentina, Egypt game. Senegal. -Cab, come here. -Can I see? No. No, I think-- Senegal, yeah. Screwed the US, for sure, because they brought a sleeping giant back to life that had so many good players, but they just did not look good in this tournament. And they flipped that switch, and they were like, oh, wait. We're Belgium? And then-- Bro. Boy. Literally, what was it? How long-- how long they've taken to-- Bro. Bro. Yeah, yeah. But, Cabo Verde, you were saying Cabo Verde? Yeah, yeah. We'll say that first one for another time. But I think Cabo-- I think the Cabo Verde Argentina game was crazy, just because, like, you saw how much confidence Cabo Verde was playing with, you know, they played with their sense of, you know, we're here. Like, we are in that way here, and we're going to go out in this tournament and just show that, you know. We're going to show the pride that we have for our country. We're going to show the fight and the quality that we have. And I think they did show that over, over, I think, what then-- was it extra time? Yeah. Over 120 minutes. You know what I mean? Like, they possessed them. They were popping the ball around them in moments. I mean, they were talking-- They were talking-- Bro, I was like-- I was like-- Shredging them to the corner flags. They could play direct. They could play underneath. You know? I was like, hold on. That was like, Cabo Verde, bro. And then, you know, you're looking at the celebrations, and then we're going back. I was like, God, Lee. I think maybe-- listen, listen. I'm always up for a good time. So, you know, shout out Cabo Verde for also bringing that-- I think that sense of, like, joy to this tournament. But, yeah, I think the Cabo Verde and Argentine against probably one of my top two top three basketball for-- Let me ask you this. And I know you got some things to do, and some vacation to take, and some healing that you got to work through. But what's it been like-- you know, we are creatures of routine, right? We like-- you're used to training at a certain time. You eat at a certain time, and now you've got a family, and you have your routine and stuff. But like, having hydration breaks-- that was the thing for me. The Portugal Span Game was my first game that I attended life. And I was like, it was already just like-- shout out to all the fans that went there and supported that's great. But like, from an atmosphere that you want in a World Cup knockout game, it was like pretty dull. And then when they came over, I was like, man, this is like, I just looked at everybody. Everybody kind of looked at each other, like, we're going to get a drink. It felt like, you know, felt like an emergency. - There we do know. - That's the thing. Yeah, it felt like it stuck some of the very little energy that there was around the stands. Like the craziest thing that happened was the wave because people were like, "Oh, this will get us all going," you know? - Yeah. - But having that, you know, the game, the modern game has, you know, got 26 players on a roster. You got five substitutions. You got a hydration break. Var is out of control in terms of like, its involvement and inconsistency. Has that been for you or at least some of the guys when you guys talk about it an interesting take or is it more of like sort of like, you have to do as an athlete which is like, "Get on with it." Like, what am I going to do? Waste all this energy? You thinking about it? Get on with it. - I think we were used to it already because I had to try implementing it at some point and domestically, so the hydration break. But it was a lot less, it was a lot less rigid. You know, it felt like this was, "Hey, you have three minutes." And this is like, "Oh, the clock, you know, you guys are done drinking. You still have one minute and 20 seconds left." You know, take your time. And guys are, "Okay, you know, okay, usually it's, hydration break, it feels like you're there for a minute." Boom, boom, boom. And then it's like, "All right, back on the pitch, the referee blows whistle." And then you got, now players waiting on the pitch, referees looking at the sideline, trying to figure out how much time is left before the, you know, you got the KFN, KMUP, you got music playing, you know. So it felt, you know, it felt different in that sense, but I don't think we paid much attention to it. I think you just get on with it. I think you utilize it because it's there. You use it as a timeout, I guess you can say, give it, work on some tactical things, make some adjustments. In some places where it actually gets hot, you know, it's actually useful in having that, you know, opportunity. - Hey, I was a Dallas. - And if that game was outside, I was asking for hydration break myself, you know, but it was in a air conditioning. - Bro, I'm telling you like, we were watching, you know, we'd watch the games in Miami and you're watching the games in Kansas City or you're watching the games in New York or Boston. And you're like, bro, like, where there's humidity, like it's real. Even our second game in Seattle was, was hot. It just felt like the sun was beaming down on us. So I think those hydration breaks do come out of good time, but I think it loses a bit of that real time fluidity, real time sensitivity, I guess you can call it, 'cause it feels so like fixated into a schedule or into a game plan, then it is kind of there as a resource to be able to get guys hydrated again because it's hot outside and then get the game back flowing. So, also, wait, I think that was so strange. And I think it took more getting used to was the clock, the game clock with the throw-ins and the goal kicks and the-- - And then the player, and then the player, if a player comes down. - Coming off the pitch. Right, the player off the pitch and whatnot. But yeah, it was just strange, 'cause it felt like at times it was enforced at times it really wasn't enforced. Even I felt like if they're gonna do the game clock, corner kicks are also a good time to get some, 'cause corner kicks, you can kill a lot of time on corner kicks, you know, said, "Oh, I'll go to the ball and know we're gonna play short." "Oh, okay, you know what?" So yeah, I'm curious to see how they continue to evolve this kind of regulation. I guess you can call it with the game clock and trying to get the game flowing as much as possible. And if they keep with this rigid three minutes of hydration breaks over the summer and hot plays. So yeah, a lot of stuff to keep an eye on. - But yeah, but guess what? You going back to club ball now. We heard that Mark McKenzie's got one year left on his contract. We heard that, you know, if I'm the club, if I'm senior to loose, I'm like, "Monstior to loose." I'm like, I'm taking a look. And so we wanna make sure that you get plenty of downtime because we hope that whether you re-up or go somewhere else, that it's a fruitful, fruitful next year for you and your family. So, I know you need a little bit of downtime, but then it's back to business, you know what I mean? Then it's back to business because we got a lot of work to do. - Bro, it goes fast, man. It goes fast, bro. Like, look at it now and you get a few weeks off. And by the time you put your head down or you get your feet in some sand, or you have that barbecue with the family, you look at the calendar and it's like, or you look at your phone and the team group chats popped up again and they're like, "Hey, you know, just sending your pre-season running program. Here's your lifting program and your pre-hab program as well. Go ahead and shoot us some videos and data as you do that." And you're like, "What they don't know, bro, is that you've had to play a role in the team, which means you have ran harder and smaller windows." I don't think, by the way, I don't think anybody knows. And I don't know who I was talking about this recently with, but how much worse it is to not play because they are trying to get your high-speed running of 90 minutes into 12 minutes on the field or at the training grounds the next day to simulate the body, whatever, that you need to hit the high-speed running and all those things to have you basically on the same schedules everybody else. It is horrible. Add that to the mental side of the fact that you want to play and it's brutal. So your club team, if they have any issues, I'll tell them, bro, I'll tell them to chill out. I'm telling them, listen, for all those who think, "Oh, you didn't play, oh, you do a little small, "small, solid game, four against four, "you're just laughing and taking, bro, it is not that. "It is not that, okay, it is not that. "There's no hydration breaks, okay?" There are teams strides and then a four V4 for one minute. And don't let your team get crushed either 'cause then there's a consequence of getting crushed. It's like you've lost the competitive edge of the training because you know what I mean? So like, that's, and then you play for pride as well. 'Cause you're like, bro, if we won, now we gotta do the match today, plus one training, you're already like, "Oh, you know what, I'm a competitor, "I wanna be out there, I gotta showcase why I deserve "to be out there." Then you got the other team trying to showcase why they wanna be out. So now it becomes head to head, now it's just a clash, you know what I mean? Then you got strides. You got strides. You're talking about boxed boxes, you're talking about an online or a box, midfield box. Then you got sprints. Then you, bro, almost post, let's save that for another day. And by the way, in a game, you've warmed up properly. You've got your second win, you can breathe. You know, when you get to the end of a game, you might have been sitting again because maybe you used all the subs or you've been kinda like jogging back and forth but you know that you're kinda eyes are on the game. And then when you gotta do post game fitness on those kinds of days, oh my gosh, dude. Like I start hyperventilating. I'm like, you know. - It's taking about it. Like, yeah, and then finally we'll see what we can do. - Oh, you know the punishment is coming. It's like a pre, it's like having like hell week. If anybody who listens has ever had like their hell week of like sports or anything in high school or whatever, it's like that where it's like you sit and you sit and like ruminate on the fact that you are about to get punished, whether you're a team 1-6-0 or lost by whatever, you're about to go on the field and do what feels like a punishment. I mean, obviously it's good for you, but like it feels like a punishment when you gotta do it. - Mind you, you've been already preparing for the match, right? So you've prepared the same way that the star has been preparing. And then if you're waiting for the second half, if you need to get in the game, so you're still locked in, right, you're still going, you took the caffeine pill, you're taking the gels, you're drinking excessive amounts of water, you've got the power rate on the side. You're looking at the clinical case in case I need to go in. I'm doing sprints on the side or I'm here, I'm jumping over the bench. Now the final whistle blows, you're like, oh gosh, I got another 60 minutes of grinding to do. So, you know, how am I gonna get myself, you know, so again, that's, that's it. - I'll ask you one more question then we'll let you go. Was it harder after this game to pull the group together for the prayer, was it more difficult, was it more challenging? Obviously you've got tears, you've got people sad. It's hard not to be in your own feelings, was it, was it different or was it sort of like, hey, you know, the good times in the bad, we bring it together. - It was, well, it was, I think that's it, you know, I think in the good times and the bad times, I think that was the whole key to it, right? We didn't want it to be just, oh, well we do it, 'cause you know, it's great and it looks like, no, we wanted to be something that was actually ingrained in us and I think the beautiful thing was everybody knew that we needed to come together in that moment. So yeah, it was obviously a tough moment 'cause now you've got 50 somewhat people standing there with different emotions and different feelings and thoughts running through their head but the biggest thing was just prayer for the group and the biggest way possible, right? And the way that I felt the Holy Spirit was kind of leading me to it's a prayer for the group. So yeah, it was obviously tough, especially even for myself in the moment where you have that feeling of feeling devastated because your dream run has come to an end. But in the same way, you know, we-- It's not like you're gonna write a speech either, right? That's like, oh yeah. In the case of a loss, I got this one, you know? In the case of a win, you know? You gotta just roll back. Exactly. So it was never something that was scripted, you know? It just comes as it needs to. So my thing for the group is important as well to kind of be together in that moment. And yeah, we wanted to be something that unified us but also unified the nation in many ways. So he had showed a lot of things, you know, about this team, but we represented our country, you know, to the full of our abilities. And that was always the goal. Yeah. All right. All right. A. He's been a while since we've done this. But why don't you take us out of this episode, man? All right. Still got it? Still got it. Yeah. Yeah. Let me see. All right. All right, guys. And that's going to wrap up. for this pie of heath as always thank you for joining me on today's episode it's always a pleasure getting to kind of hear your takes getting to hear thoughts your expert opinion and your view on everything so yeah man much love always thank you appreciate it and and and for everybody listening makes you guys subscribe to wherever you get your podcasts whether it's on Apple whether it's on Spotify whether it's on YouTube whatever it may be makes you guys like and subscribe also drop us some some some of what you guys want to hear drop us some some thoughts some takes that you guys want us to talk about and until next time peace peace the on slices podcast is a four-sucker production an association with Jim and I 13 executive producers are heath Pierce Charles Steinauer and Mark Orion associate producers Alexis Aroncio Jenna Martin and JJ Casio written and produced by Mike Milberger edited by Daniel Rue with a special thanks to Fandall predicts Scott Teish orange slices podcast 2026 all rights reserved