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Media Network. Suboptimal Radio.

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Quite hard to say. They're one

1:27

all together convincing. To

1:29

say. And

1:32

look who it is. Christian Polisic.

1:37

Don't look now, but that's another Christian

1:39

Polisic goal against Liverpool. That was the

1:41

call on Paramount Plus. The Christian Polisic

1:43

opener three minutes in against Liverpool in

1:45

the Champions League, then it falling. A

1:47

final score of three to one. But

1:49

Polisic again on the scoreboard. This is

1:52

Vamos presented by Nicolas Bultres, Superior Lightbeard.

1:54

And I'm your host, Tricky Lee Gomez.

1:56

In this episode, Marlon Fosse, an incredible,

1:58

incredible story about. perseverance, a

2:00

long journey, injuries, and how he

2:03

overcame to earn his latest US

2:05

Men's National Team call up. And

2:08

as always, I'll be shooting it straight. So what are

2:10

you waiting for? Vamos. All

2:13

right, now on Vamos, one of the

2:15

guys who we were almost interested to

2:17

see in this last international fixture window

2:19

for the US Men's National Team. That

2:22

is Marlon Fosse. Marlon, how you doing,

2:24

my man? First off, congratulations. You

2:26

gotta tell me what's it feel

2:28

like, you know, getting your first cap. Thanks

2:30

for having me firstly. And yeah, to

2:32

answer your question, it was to say

2:34

proud would probably be an understatement. I

2:37

think obviously the whole process of

2:39

it was fairly quick. Obviously,

2:42

as you know, you find out maybe a week

2:44

or so before that you're gonna be in

2:46

this selection. And it came

2:49

as a surprise to me because I'd been

2:51

away from it for so many years. You

2:53

know, it all pretty much kicked in when

2:55

I was standing before the game, listening

2:58

to the national anthem and just looking around.

3:00

And yeah, it was a beautiful moment and

3:02

took me a while to get there, but

3:04

the feeling was amazing. Marlon, you said you

3:06

were away for a few years. How many

3:08

years are we talking about that

3:10

you were away from any US Men's National

3:12

Team setup? Well, I think it was around

3:14

2019. I was in

3:17

like a preliminary camp for the Gold

3:19

Cup. And I actually had

3:21

to leave that camp due to injury. And

3:23

since then, yeah, I hadn't sort of had

3:25

any cool up. So, you know, five, six

3:27

years in total. Who was the first person

3:29

you told about this call up? I was my

3:31

mom. We had a couple of days off. So

3:33

I was actually on my way to London to

3:35

see my mom and to see some friends. And

3:37

you find out, you know, a couple of weeks

3:39

before that you were in the sort of big

3:41

squad, right? I was just curious, you know? So

3:43

I messaged the guy that normally reveals

3:46

it. And I said, when will it be released?

3:49

Because obviously, you know, I was very curious to

3:51

know if I'd been picked. I'm assuming

3:53

you're talking about the team manager for the US Men's

3:55

National Team. That's what you messaged. Like when does this

3:57

list come out? And that person immediately then told you.

4:00

This is who you're talking about, correct? Yes, correct.

4:02

Okay. And he told me at

4:04

that moment that I had been selected.

4:06

And yeah, I don't think I messaged him back

4:09

for another 10 minutes, cause I was just in

4:11

the train station, in Brussels, on

4:13

my way to London, just shocked, you know,

4:15

speechless. And obviously it probably wasn't the right

4:17

time to call my mom in the moment,

4:19

cause it was a busy train station. So

4:22

I messaged her and told her

4:24

the amazing news and ended up messaging a

4:26

few other people close to me as well.

4:28

What was your mother's immediate reaction? I'm

4:31

sure she must've been just overjoyed. Yeah, she was over the

4:33

moon. She was over the moon, just like me. You know,

4:35

I think also a little bit

4:37

speechless, like me. And, you know,

4:39

she saw firsthand, you know, what I went

4:41

through and, you know, the things I sacrificed

4:43

to get to that moment. So, you

4:46

know, I think above all of that, she

4:48

was also emotional and proud. You've had just such

4:50

an interesting journey. I mean, you're born in LA,

4:52

I was born in LA as well. So I

4:54

immediately saw that and I was like, all right,

4:56

what's the deal with this kid? Started researching you

4:58

and then I noticed that in your time in

5:00

England, you had a run

5:02

of misfortune with injuries. I

5:05

wanted to save the national team segment, but you

5:07

just kind of telling me how much

5:10

it meant to you and your mother and all you had to overcome. There

5:13

comes a time in every footballer's career

5:15

where things aren't happening, you start

5:18

questioning yourself. And I've been

5:20

there because of injury and you start doubting if

5:22

you're ever going to be the player or you

5:24

were, or that you think you could be. And

5:27

things like the national team seemed like a distant

5:30

dream. Throughout this from

5:33

2019 to before you got the call up,

5:35

the initial call up, what's going

5:37

through Marlon Fosse's mind? Do you think

5:39

the national team's gone? Do you think

5:41

like this isn't going

5:44

to happen? What's going through your

5:46

head? Before this 2019 period, I'd

5:49

had a pretty good sort of

5:51

youth running with the national team, playing for

5:53

the under 20s and winning

5:56

a CONCACAP tournament with them. And it

5:58

was off the back of this. of time when I was around 18, when

6:01

I was playing a lot of

6:03

football, and I was a young kid

6:05

that sort of fought like any

6:07

young kid thinks, injury is not going to

6:09

happen to me. So I was just, whenever

6:12

I get the opportunity, I'd play football. So

6:14

I'd play national team. Obviously, I

6:16

was playing for Fulham at the time. I'd

6:18

play in late night cage tournaments with

6:20

my friends and I would take no rest at all.

6:22

And it was around the time of

6:24

this under 20

6:26

time when I was with the US that, yeah, I

6:28

had my first real injury, where it was like a

6:32

pubic bone injury, just due to

6:34

overload, because I was just doing too much.

6:37

And it ends up taking me around seven, eight

6:39

months to get back from that. And a couple

6:41

setbacks here and there, and then I end up

6:44

one or two years later getting to the 2019 camp that we're

6:47

talking about. And yeah,

6:49

obviously I have to leave that camp due

6:52

to injury also. And

6:55

during this time, I would

6:57

say from 2019 till obviously

6:59

before I got my selection, it was like

7:01

you said, I

7:04

think there was never a lack

7:06

of belief that things would eventually turn out

7:08

how I wanted them to. And

7:11

that always stayed, but there

7:13

was definitely times where doubt

7:16

was creeping in. And

7:19

only making one men's

7:22

team appearance for Fulham due to this crazy

7:25

time I had there with injuries. And yeah,

7:28

it was just a process of having

7:30

that doubt creeping and

7:32

then reminding myself.

7:34

The main part for me was

7:37

feeling a sense of responsibility. I think

7:39

at the time I was obviously going

7:41

through injuries and I just had in

7:43

my mind that many other people at

7:47

the time and in the future would

7:49

probably go through something similar to me. So I

7:51

sort of made it an aim of mine to get

7:53

through it so that one day I

7:56

could look back on it or have that body

7:58

of work and show people. that maybe

8:00

go through the same thing that, you know, when

8:03

you're injury-ridden or when you're having a tough time with

8:05

injury, you can get through it, you

8:07

know? So the belief stayed, but,

8:10

you know, if I was to say that

8:12

I was always confident that, you know, I'd

8:14

regain my, you know, light on the pitch

8:16

or regain my, or

8:19

regain that feeling of just playing week in,

8:21

week out, I would be lying to you

8:23

because there was definitely some doubt along the

8:25

way. How did you maintain that hope or

8:28

that belief that you'd come out on the

8:30

other side? I think just responsibility is the

8:32

main word, you know? And I think that

8:34

showed up in different ways, sometimes unhealthy, sometimes

8:36

healthy. I think the unhealthy

8:39

side would be probably my family actually

8:41

moved over to London with me so

8:43

that I could pursue my dream, ultimately. My

8:46

mum made the decision, and I

8:48

guess when I was going through all these

8:50

setbacks and all these down times, I just

8:53

had in my mind that I'm not going

8:55

to let her decision to move me, my

8:57

brother, sister be one that

8:59

was wasted, you know? So maybe

9:01

I, you know, rightly or wrongly,

9:03

I put that pressure on myself to not

9:06

give up, you know? And

9:09

I think the healthy responsibility side was,

9:12

like I told you, I was in the

9:14

gym every day with other people that were

9:16

injured, a lot of young guys. And, you

9:19

know, I just wanted to be a good

9:21

example every day and show them. I just

9:23

had a burning desire in me to overcome

9:26

it just so that in the future, it

9:28

would be sort of like a motivating story

9:30

in a sense. And it is,

9:32

and I want to continue with this motivating story.

9:34

You talk about that 2019 Gold

9:36

Cup. If I recall correctly, that

9:39

was Greg Berhalter's first actual

9:41

camp with the team, first actual tournament with the team.

9:44

They ended up losing to Mexico, Tata Martinez

9:46

Mexico, I believe it was a Jonah dos

9:48

Santos goal in the Gold Cup final. But

9:50

on that team, you had a few

9:53

Klee players in Ewan Smith's national teams,

9:55

recent history like Josie Altador. The rest

9:57

were pretty much kids. It was the

9:59

Tyler Adams. the Weston McKinney's, it

10:02

was the, you know, Timothy Wayas

10:04

of the group, that type of player

10:06

coming through that was very unproven. What's

10:10

going through your head as your

10:12

career is progressing and these guys

10:15

who were, I don't wanna say

10:17

gifted this opportunity because it's a

10:19

very harsh word, but it was

10:22

very much a regime change, a shift in

10:24

mentality where you had to get the next

10:26

generation in, so they were forced

10:28

to give these kids minutes. When you

10:30

see kind of from that moment on

10:33

how a lot of their careers went off, is

10:35

it in your mind like, I gotta get there,

10:37

I've gotta be there? Yeah, and you know, you

10:40

kind of have that feeling also that you sort of

10:42

missed the train in a sense, you know? I knew

10:45

that an opportunity or a big opportunity was

10:47

presented to me at the time to hopefully

10:50

represent my country. And yeah, I had that

10:52

feeling, you know, when I left the camp

10:55

and the years progressed and these

10:57

guys that were my age and I played with a few

11:00

of them in the youth were progressing and I'm still trying

11:03

to get my injuries intact, I felt like maybe

11:06

I've missed the train, you know? But you

11:08

know, you come to realize over time as you sort

11:10

of mature in the game, not

11:12

that I'm an experienced player, but you know, I'm

11:14

getting there that everyone has their own path, you

11:17

know? So that helped me a lot in

11:19

terms of how I went about

11:21

my business to sort of detach from what

11:23

was going on from my peers and their

11:25

progression. And just to hone

11:27

in on my progression because my

11:29

progression is my progression. I'm very curious about

11:32

some of the guys you spent time with

11:34

on the youth national teams and also at

11:36

Fulham. I believe Luca de

11:38

la Torre and you were at Fulham around the

11:40

same time. What do you

11:42

recall of your Fulham days of

11:44

Luca de la Torre and your

11:46

time at Fulham? Well, funnily enough, he was at

11:48

the first US camp that I went to, I

11:51

think it was under 19

11:53

camp in Slovakia. Luca

11:55

was there. So he's sort of

11:57

been there from sort of

11:59

the start of my... US journey up

12:01

until now. So we were actually talking

12:04

for many times in the camp,

12:06

talking about how life's

12:09

a funny thing, how we both took

12:11

a lot different paths, a lot of

12:13

ups and downs and we meet at

12:15

the familiar US territory again many years

12:18

later. The

12:20

other Fulham days were, yeah, I

12:23

went there as a kid, 11 years old, ended up

12:25

leaving when I was 23. So

12:27

it's the sort of

12:30

environment that made me more into a man,

12:32

more and helped me learn about the core

12:34

values of high level football.

12:36

I sort of progressed through the

12:38

ranks and start being embedded in

12:40

the first team culture and being

12:43

around players that have a lot of experience

12:45

in the game was amazing. And

12:48

yeah, there was times where I

12:50

was close and times where I

12:53

felt like I was close to getting over the hump

12:55

and many reasons stopped

12:57

me from that. Some injuries, some

12:59

other reasons, like mental reasons. But

13:01

I can't thank Fulham enough, like

13:03

the staff and the players that

13:05

I got to play with because

13:08

ultimately it played a big part in where

13:10

I am today. As an American here in

13:12

the States, when you think of the Premier

13:15

League, one of the places that's been just

13:17

so overwhelmingly welcoming to Americans and American players

13:19

has been in Craven Cottage, it's been Fulham

13:21

itself. Being an American soccer

13:23

player and knowing the connection it has with

13:25

American players, what was that like for you?

13:28

And was there a sense like another American

13:30

in the ranks here, this could be something?

13:32

Yeah, for sure. For sure. I had it

13:34

in my mind. Obviously there was many, many

13:37

other legends in the past that you know

13:39

about, like the Clint Dempsey's, the McBride's that

13:41

sort of paved the way

13:43

in a sense for the American guys. And

13:45

yeah, to say it was something fully at

13:47

the forefront of my mind when I

13:50

started getting in this rut and this up and

13:52

down was you know, probably not so, but sort

13:54

of growing up 16 to 18

13:57

and seeing people like Clint Dempsey and stuff like

13:59

that. I was definitely admirable to

14:02

see and, you know, I

14:04

added more fuel to my fire, I guess,

14:06

for sure. If somebody looks at your career

14:08

path and certainly just, you know, the resume,

14:10

they're going to ask what

14:12

happened in the lower leagues. And

14:15

then all of a sudden it clicks

14:17

in Belgium and it clicks in a great

14:19

way. You know, at Standardly Age, it's a

14:22

big team in Belgium. It's a massive trampoline,

14:24

the Belgium league to the rest of the

14:26

big leagues in the world. Like, what clicked

14:29

with you that it just made sense? So

14:32

I had the first long

14:34

move to a League

14:36

One team in England, a team

14:39

called Shrewsbury. It was a

14:41

humbling experience, you know. You learn a lot about the

14:43

nitty-gritty part of the game, you know, about

14:45

how much it means about the preparation

14:48

that needs to be a lot more broad,

14:50

you know. And that was

14:52

definitely an experience that I

14:54

learned from. It was a long move that

14:56

I didn't play well at at all, but

14:59

helped me a lot in the next long

15:02

move to Bolton, which I

15:04

would say that Bolton move was the sort

15:06

of turning point for me because I went

15:08

into that off the back of Shrewsbury with

15:10

little to no interest from many clubs. And

15:12

you have that fear in your mind that

15:14

Fulham are starting us, sort

15:17

of losing patience in a sense, you know, because

15:19

I've been there for nine years or

15:21

so and I still hadn't progressed sort of as

15:23

a first team player. And

15:25

I went into that Bolton move and I

15:28

don't know, I sort of just let go. I saw

15:30

it as a move where, you

15:32

know, obviously they wanted me for a reason, which

15:34

is why they were interested in me. And

15:36

I just thought it was an opportunity to just

15:39

play and just to do me and

15:42

to enjoy myself because, you

15:44

know, I'm in a situation in my career where what's

15:47

the worst that can happen, you know. Incredibly,

15:50

you know, bad for the past year or

15:52

two. So can it get much worse? So

15:55

I went out into that Bolton move and just just

15:58

played freely, played with expression, under

16:01

a great manager, Ian Ever, who got

16:03

the best out of me. And

16:05

that move ended up, I'm sure, helping

16:09

me get interest from Standard. And I sort of

16:11

just carried on the momentum when I went to

16:13

Standard, you know, just playing my game, playing free.

16:15

And yeah, it was definitely, the change in my

16:17

performance was definitely a mental shift. That's a couple

16:20

of times you used mental

16:22

while talking to me. Explain the player you were

16:25

before this mental shift. Maybe

16:27

the restraints, the weight that

16:30

you felt to how you are now.

16:33

I'm a little bit of a perfectionist, but beforehand

16:36

I was a lot more

16:38

so. And I think that translated to when I

16:40

would get these injuries, I would do a hell

16:42

of a lot. When you're a kid, when

16:45

you're a young player coming up, as you probably know, the

16:47

phrase you hear a lot is, if you want to get

16:49

to where you want to get to, you have to be

16:51

the hardest worker, you know? So

16:54

I internalized this, but maybe took it a

16:56

little bit too literally, you know? So with

16:58

my perfectionist mindset, and with this phrase that

17:00

you always hear, I'll get these

17:02

injuries and I would just do

17:04

so much, you know, the rehab that I would

17:07

do at training wasn't enough, you know, I'd come

17:09

home, I'd do so much more, I would

17:11

be studying different things. And of

17:14

course this led to me re-injuring my

17:17

original injury because I wasn't allowing my

17:19

body to recover, which you

17:21

do when you're resting, not when you're

17:23

working. So I think

17:26

just mentally, obviously the perfectionism

17:30

sort of went down a bit and I sort

17:33

of become, start becoming just a

17:35

bit more content with doing

17:38

intentional work, but

17:40

realizing that work is also what

17:42

you do off the pitch in terms of your recovery, you know?

17:45

How much you sleep, how you look

17:47

after your body, and not just the physical

17:49

output you do on a daily

17:51

basis, which as a young kid, I

17:53

was just so keyed up on it, ended

17:56

up, yeah, making me burn out a lot

17:58

of times, you know? What

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20:21

I know we touched on it briefly at the beginning, but

20:24

you get the news, you're ecstatic, your family's

20:26

ecstatic. Now you're on

20:28

the plane, man. Like, what are you expecting

20:31

when you're on this flight to meet up with the

20:33

US men's national in Kansas City? What's

20:35

going through your head and what's the first impressions

20:38

when you actually get there into camp? The

20:40

main feeling of my soul was

20:43

gratitude. You know, if there's

20:45

one thing these injuries have taught me over

20:47

the years, it's to be grateful

20:49

to just train every day, you know. It's

20:52

something I don't take for granted and, you know,

20:54

when you times that by 10 for

20:56

playing for your national team, I've just

20:58

had a lot of gratitude and proudness in my

21:01

soul when I was traveling over. Excited

21:03

to meet a lot of familiar faces that

21:05

I've played with. Obviously, Luca De La Torre

21:07

being the main one, but we'll

21:10

see a few others like, you know, he

21:12

had Hadji Wright that I played with a

21:14

couple times, Austin Trusty, but

21:17

a few others I can't remember at the top of my head right

21:19

now. But just, yeah,

21:21

excitement, gratitude, and, you know, it was a

21:23

new sort of level that I've hit in

21:25

my career. So

21:28

just ready to see what that

21:30

level consists of and what it looks like

21:32

on a daily basis. It was a very young squad, missing lots

21:34

of players, some very important

21:36

players like Tyler Adams, Weston McKinney. I can

21:39

go on and on to the list of players that weren't there. But

21:43

you had some big players there, like Christian Polisic. And

21:46

you had the news floating around after

21:48

Greg Brahaltre's dismissal of Mauricio

21:50

Pochettino joining the U.S. Miss national team.

21:54

It was like a nervous tension that week. I'm

21:57

curious if you felt it or you were

21:59

so in... much in that honeymoon

22:01

stage phase that nothing's really

22:03

phasing you right now? Or did you

22:05

feel that nervous tension throughout the group?

22:07

Also, no. I think there's always a

22:09

level of excitement, but also uncertainty

22:12

when someone knew, especially a coach,

22:14

is coming into an

22:16

environment. Because a lot of what you

22:18

did beforehand is not irrelevant, but the

22:20

coach sees you from day one and

22:22

makes opinions based off that. Of course.

22:25

But at the same time, yeah, we

22:27

were sort of informed during most of

22:29

our dinners at night about how the

22:31

situation was progressing. So we were

22:33

kept in the light. And I think the higher

22:36

up people made sure we were kept in the

22:38

light so that we didn't sort of

22:40

follow this on social media. So

22:42

I think a lot of us felt like we didn't really need

22:44

to follow it because we were being

22:46

kept up to date sort of in-house

22:48

about the progression with Pochettino. I'm very

22:50

curious about how that progression could go.

22:52

I mean, basically, it was the worst

22:54

kept secret in international football. People knew

22:56

it was happening. It was just a

22:58

matter of, I guess, details to make

23:00

it happen. I'm curious about on the

23:02

field. You get there, there's a

23:04

video and I don't know if you've seen it.

23:07

US Soccer put it out of the players literally

23:09

opening up the locker room and going out to

23:11

the field. And in that video,

23:14

there's no audio from you, but you can

23:16

see your face and you can see your

23:18

eyes and you're taking a look

23:20

around where you're

23:22

training this Park in Kansas City and you're

23:24

literally, you can tell you're soaking it in.

23:26

Give me a little flash into your eyes

23:28

and what you're thinking in those initial training

23:30

sessions with the US Men's National Team. Yeah,

23:32

I think that's a good string

23:34

of words you said, soaking it in, it was

23:37

definitely something I wanted to do when

23:39

I was there. Life in football was

23:42

unpredictable. So as much as I believe

23:45

I'll be able to hopefully get more caps

23:47

in the future with the hard work that

23:49

I do and whatever, nothing's

23:52

a certainty. So I made sure that when

23:54

I was there, I was soaking it all in. I

23:57

was staying in the present moment. being

24:00

energetic in every training

24:02

session that I was in. And

24:06

yeah, soaking it in was what

24:08

I tried to do at the very least,

24:11

I guess, whilst I was there for. Before

24:13

this game, Jesse Marsh, the Canadian national team

24:15

coach, was maybe giving it a little bit

24:17

more than he should. Giving

24:19

the US men's national team what I

24:21

thought was bulletin board material, basically coming

24:23

out and had few choice words for

24:25

some of the players and their wanting

24:28

Greg Braholter back and his

24:30

displeasure and whatnot. I'm very

24:33

interested in how you saw that Canada game. Did

24:35

it go the way you might've

24:37

thought from training sessions with

24:39

Mike Yvaras that it would have gone? What did

24:41

you see during that Canada game? Obviously we didn't

24:43

perform how we planned to perform. We went out

24:45

there to win and we didn't do so. I

24:48

think training beforehand was very intense. There

24:51

was a very clear idea

24:53

that we had and ideas that we had

24:55

going into the game about how

24:57

we wanted to break them down and how we wanted to win. And

25:01

yeah, it's hard to analyze. It seems

25:03

like it was just one of those

25:05

days. Definitely some clear stuff. I'm

25:08

sure everyone could see when they watched

25:10

the game that was lacking. When you

25:13

say clear stuff Marlon, do

25:15

you mean like technical, tactical, attitude,

25:17

mentality? What was it? I think the

25:19

coach said it after the game, just

25:21

the intensity. But any game, especially a

25:24

game like that, where there's

25:26

some rivalry there. Intensity has to lead the way.

25:29

For whatever reason, it wasn't

25:31

there in abundance

25:34

in that game. And I

25:36

think in them games, it very

25:39

rarely comes down to tactical prowess

25:42

when you're playing a rival. More

25:45

so it comes down to grit,

25:47

intensity and

25:50

that sort of stuff. So it just

25:53

wasn't there on that day. I think that's the long

25:55

and the short of it. And I think

25:57

everyone... was

26:01

able to look at themselves in the mirror and

26:03

probably come to the same conclusion. My

26:05

colleague on ESPN Alejandro Moreno, he

26:08

likened the situation for you

26:10

guys as

26:13

one of like a substitute teacher coming in

26:15

and you know that's not your teacher and

26:17

I don't want to be unfair to Mike

26:19

Yavaras but that's a difficult situation sometimes for

26:21

the players where you know that's not going

26:23

to be the guy and as respectful

26:25

as you try to be it's still not the

26:27

same. Was there a different feeling or was

26:30

this just for you this is just

26:32

my opportunity? Yeah I'm probably the wrong

26:34

person to ask for that because it

26:36

was firstly it was my first camping

26:39

years so I can't say compared to

26:41

the camp last year it was different

26:43

and on top of that you

26:46

know I think I was one of two guys

26:48

obviously you had Diego as

26:50

potentially someone that could get their first

26:52

camp. Diego Cochin the goalkeeper. Yeah Diego

26:54

Cochin right in no way was I

26:56

looking around and or

26:58

looking at the coach in a way where you

27:01

know maybe I need to hold

27:03

back a bit because why expend energy when

27:05

right right you know that's that didn't need

27:07

to get my first cap was the overriding

27:09

feeling in my mind you know. Yeah I

27:11

guess you're right I'm more thinking about the

27:13

lines like let's say Christian Polisic gets yelled

27:15

at by a Greg Berhalter or Mauricio Pochettino

27:17

probably holds a little bit more weight than

27:19

getting yelled at by Mike Yavaras but I

27:21

think you're right on that one. Hey you

27:23

did play against New Zealand and I was

27:25

actually when I highlighted on

27:27

this show and other platforms players

27:29

I was interested to watch I

27:31

brought your name up I said to to

27:33

myself and you know to anybody that would

27:35

listen. So Junior Des is injured

27:38

and we don't know what Virginia Des is going

27:40

to be like after how long it's going to

27:42

take from the ACL injury to come back at

27:44

full strength and you saw Joe

27:46

Scali and Joe Scali did very well in the

27:49

summer I thought he did well against Vinny Jr.

27:51

when they played against Brazil he did well against

27:53

Luis Diaz when they played against Colombia and Maxi

27:55

Orajo when he played against Uruguay. But there seems

27:57

to be a significant drop from what we've seen.

28:00

from Joe Scali to the next

28:02

that maybe competes in that position. So I wanted

28:04

to see you. This was a

28:06

good opportunity for Marlon Fossey. You played against New

28:08

Zealand and I thought you were one of

28:11

the bright spots for the US Men's National Team.

28:13

Give me your own analysis of

28:16

your performance and if you

28:18

were pleased with it. I'm always naturally going to be

28:20

a little bit of a perfectionist. So, you

28:22

know, I think initially after the game, you

28:24

know, there was thoughts in my

28:27

head like, you know, I had a lot of crossing

28:29

opportunities, you know, so I'd expect myself to get at

28:31

least an assist. And obviously with the Pepe

28:33

one, it was, yeah, it was

28:35

a bit crazy looking at that one back. There

28:38

was no foul. What was it? What would the

28:40

referee say really quickly? The referee said Pepe was

28:42

the guy that fouled the guy. So,

28:47

yeah, I think initially after the game, you know, it

28:49

was like, you know, could

28:51

have maybe done more or whatever. But,

28:54

you know, after reflecting on it, you know, as

28:56

far as sort of debuts go, I think I'm

28:59

happy with it because, you know, like I told

29:01

you, the proud moment I had when I

29:03

was standing listening to the national helmet film and

29:06

just soaking everything in for the first

29:08

time since being told on WhatsApp that

29:10

I'm going to be here. I

29:13

was like, you know, let me just go out and be

29:15

energetic, you know, let me go out and be

29:18

everywhere. And that's what I tried

29:20

to do, you know. So I just tried

29:22

to sort of lead with intensity.

29:26

And yeah, I think I did OK.

29:28

If you had to describe yourself as a player for

29:30

maybe the people who haven't seen that much of you

29:33

on screen, how would you describe yourself? I'll

29:35

say that firstly, you know, I'm very intense,

29:38

a pretty dynamic player, someone that can

29:40

probably maneuver my body well due to

29:43

other sports that I used to do. And yeah,

29:45

in the attacking element, I like to combine, you

29:47

know, I like to combine, I like to, for

29:50

man's in front of me, I like to,

29:52

you know, make him work defensively. And, you

29:55

know, I think that intensity is sort of attacking

29:57

wise, but also defensively, you know, I like getting.

30:00

I get my shorts dirty, but nowadays

30:02

they say if your shorts aren't

30:04

dirty, you're probably doing a better job. So yeah,

30:08

I'm just intensity leads the way for

30:10

me. And on top of that,

30:12

yeah, like I said, I like to combine. I like to

30:15

put myself down. Well, it looked very good

30:17

from what I saw against New Zealand. You

30:19

guys didn't get the desired results, but there

30:21

was a silver lining and we discovered you

30:23

Marlon. Marlon, before I let you go, you

30:26

were born in LA. What part of LA were you born

30:28

in? I'm very curious, what brought you to

30:30

England? What took you back to England? Yeah, I

30:32

was born in Hollywood, so it has a nice

30:34

ring to it when I tell people actually. Yeah,

30:36

it does. But

30:39

yeah, my mom actually went to America

30:41

from Jersey, where I

30:43

grew up. I don't know if you know about it. It's

30:45

a small island. She

30:47

went there because she just wanted a change in life and

30:49

she ended up having me, my brother and sister over there.

30:52

She ended up having me, my brother and sister over there.

30:54

She was there for 10 years. Then

30:56

at the age of four, she wanted

30:58

to go back to Jersey to see her

31:00

mom, my grandma. So we went back to

31:03

Jersey when I was four. And

31:06

yeah, I grew up in Jersey. We ended up

31:08

staying there after my mom seeing her mom. We

31:10

ended up staying there until I was 11 and

31:12

then obviously at 11, Fulham see

31:14

me whilst I'm in Jersey. And then

31:17

the whole family comes with me to

31:19

London. So that's

31:22

how it, in short, that's how it

31:24

worked out. So you're the reason the whole

31:26

family went to London. Yes. Yes.

31:28

Well, my mom made the decision, you know,

31:30

so it's helpful actually. Yeah, but like you

31:33

said earlier, it gives you a sense of

31:35

responsibility and weight that you got to carry

31:37

for the family. Listen, my man, if

31:39

you keep doing what you're doing, that's not going to be a problem.

31:41

I'm sure they're very proud of you. Keep killing

31:44

it. We're going to keep an eye on you

31:46

out there in Belgium and looking forward to seeing

31:48

you in more US Miss National Camps, brother. Thank

31:50

you, Herr. Appreciate the time, man. This

31:55

is Shootin' a Straight presented by Camarena, the most

31:57

awarded tequila. soccer

32:00

their flowers. You have to give them

32:02

the flowers. I don't know how we

32:04

can deny what they've accomplished.

32:07

On the women's side, they

32:09

reset the market, make Emma Hayes

32:12

the highest paid coach

32:14

in the women's game. On

32:16

the men's side, Mauricio Pochettino,

32:18

what? A reported six

32:21

million dollars plus annually, plus what they

32:23

had to pay Chelsea out for. And

32:25

if reports are true, Mauricio Pochettino is

32:28

one of the highest paid men's

32:30

international coaches in the world.

32:33

So now you have the highest paid women's

32:36

coach and the highest paid, if not one of

32:38

the highest paid, men's coach in

32:40

international football under US

32:43

soccer payroll. If you want to do

32:45

something important, if you'd like

32:47

to achieve something of importance, you

32:49

have to invest something of importance. And

32:51

US soccer did that. Give

32:53

them their flowers. And I'm just shooting it straight.

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34:23

This is Drop the Bag, your ultimate sports betting

34:26

guide. Whether you're a fan of any MLS team,

34:28

Liga Mequis, Vamos has you covered. Alright, game number

34:30

one, Saturday, September 21st, we're going to France,

34:33

Ligue 1. Lille versus Strasbourg,

34:35

that's right. And this one

34:37

is easy for me. I am taking

34:39

Jonathan David, anytime goal scorer at plus

34:41

105. How

34:43

can you go against the Canadian right now?

34:45

How can you go against Jonathan David? Red

34:48

hot in the international fixture window, scored against

34:50

the US men's national team, has been hot

34:53

in France, continues to score. He's

34:55

the all-time leading goal scorer in

34:57

Lille's history. Be looking

34:59

for a massive, massive move come January

35:01

on a free, mind you. I don't

35:03

know how Lille let that one happen.

35:06

But anyways, against Strasbourg, I

35:08

am taking Jonathan David, anytime goal

35:10

scorer at plus Alright,

35:14

game number two, Saturday, September 21st, we're

35:16

going to Italia, Serie A. Inter Milan

35:19

versus AC Milan. Oh,

35:23

Derby della Madonnina. One

35:26

of the best rivalries in international football.

35:29

I would love, love, love to take

35:32

AC Milan and maybe a Christian Pulisic

35:34

anytime goal scorer because he is red

35:36

hot, but he seems to be the

35:38

only one that is red hot. Inter

35:41

Milan is a massive favorite

35:43

in this one, if you ask me.

35:46

The defending Serie A champions who won

35:48

Serie A last season by a 19 point

35:51

margin over, yes, AC

35:53

Milan. Completely on fire.

35:56

Latauro Martinez is one of

35:58

the premier forwards in world football. football,

36:00

a candidato candidate, Ballon

36:02

d'Or. Trust me when I say this,

36:04

the man was the MVP in Serie

36:07

A. The man was a leading goalscore

36:09

in Serie A. Won the Serie A.

36:11

Won the Super Cup with the national

36:13

team leading goalscore of Copa

36:15

America and won the Copa America.

36:18

He is a baller. So anyways, on

36:20

this one, if I didn't tell you,

36:22

I'm taking a double chance, enter Milan

36:24

to win or a tie, and

36:26

the under of two and a half. So again,

36:28

that's a double chance. As long as

36:31

Inter Milan does not lose. And

36:33

as long as there aren't

36:35

three goals, it's plus 230.

36:37

These games are usually tight. These

36:39

games are usually gritty, low scoring.

36:41

All right, game number three, New

36:43

York City FC versus Inter Miami.

36:45

And I am going straight money

36:47

line here, Inter Miami to win.

36:51

What can I say? I am no longer

36:53

betting against Inter Miami. Every time I bet against them,

36:55

messy or no messy, it doesn't matter.

36:57

They prove me wrong. It doesn't matter. They

37:00

keep going. Tata Martino has built something. Chris

37:02

Henderson has built something. The people of

37:05

Miami or Fort Lauderdale have built something.

37:07

So I will take them straight money

37:09

line to win against NYC FC at

37:11

plus 150. If it's not

37:13

messy and his 14 goals, 14 assists,

37:16

who's going to hurt you? It's Luis Juarez.

37:18

And it's not Luis Juarez. It's Diego

37:20

Gomez before he hits at the Brighton. They've got

37:23

so many ways of hurting you from

37:25

so many different positions like Jordi Abba down the left

37:27

hand side that they will hurt you and they will

37:29

beat you. So at plus 150 money

37:31

line, Inter Miami, I'm going to take

37:34

it. And finally, big matchup.

37:36

Cruz Saçou first place right

37:38

now in Liga Mecis, the

37:41

team who just lost for the

37:43

first time all season against San

37:45

Luis of all teams facing Chivas

37:47

de Guadalajara who are injury stricken

37:49

right now. Six players are missing

37:51

among them. US men's now

37:54

stream forward Cade Cowell, who's been

37:56

on a tear. One of the best players in

37:58

Liga Mecis, certainly the best. player for Chivas Guadalajara.

38:01

Oh, and guess what? Chicharito,

38:03

that's right, Javier El Chicharito

38:05

Hernandez is back for this game. Let's

38:07

see if he plays. But I'm not

38:09

counting on the money. Cruz Azul to win and the over

38:11

one and a half at plus 135. If

38:14

you would like to be a sicko,

38:16

like producer Juan, and if you'd

38:18

like to parlay these four matches, that's plus

38:21

3,800, plus 3,800. So

38:24

a $10 bet will pay you $380. Remember,

38:28

if you drop the bag, drop it

38:30

responsibly. And

38:35

with that, we come to an end of

38:38

this episode of VAMOS presented by Michelob Ultra

38:40

Superior Light Beer. Big thank you to Marlon

38:42

Fossey. What a great individual, what a great

38:44

chat. Do not forget, smash subscribe on the

38:46

MIB feed. You could send me a DM,

38:49

a message, anything you want, at

38:51

Hercules G, H-E-R-C-U-L-E-S-E G on

38:54

all my social media platforms, whether that is

38:56

Twitter, I refuse to call it X, Instagram,

38:59

threads, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook. We need

39:01

you. And as always, the best

39:04

news analysis interviews right here on

39:06

the Men In Blazers Network. VAMOS! If

39:13

you like Men In Blazers, you

39:15

can listen ad free right now

39:17

by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery

39:19

app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime

39:21

members can listen ad free on Amazon

39:23

Music. And before you go, tell us

39:26

about yourself by filling out a short

39:28

survey at wondery.com/survey. We'd love to

39:30

know. At a

39:32

time when we're debating where policing is going, we're

39:35

gonna tell you where the police came from.

39:37

They wanted me to write about the New

39:39

York City Police Department, but without using the

39:41

words violence or corruption, which

39:43

is effectively impossible. A story

39:45

of how the largest and most influential

39:48

police department in the country became

39:50

one of the most violent and corrupt

39:52

organizations in the world. Doesn't matter

39:54

if you're a self-emancipated black

39:56

person or if you're a free, they

39:59

just send. sending people back to the

40:01

South, kidnapping them. When officers with

40:03

the power to fight the danger, become the

40:05

danger. I was terrified. I'm not going to

40:07

talk to the police because they're the ones

40:09

who are perpetrating this. Who am I going

40:12

to talk to? From Wondery and Crooked Media,

40:14

I'm Chingerot Kumanika, and this is Empire City,

40:16

the untold origin story of the NYPD. Follow

40:19

Empire City on the Wondery app or wherever you

40:21

get your podcasts. You can listen

40:23

early and ad-free on Wondery Plus right now.