![golz_tv's tweet photo. Nine years ago, former USMNT player Kyle Martino ran for U.S. Soccer presidency.
Earlier this year, his street soccer startup Street FC secured a $250,000 deal at Shark Tank.
Martino spoke to talkSPORT about why he is passionate on growing the game here.
“Running to be U.S. Soccer president? That’s the craziest thing I did,” he said.
“I was working at NBC at the time. We failed to qualify for the World Cup down in Trinidad. We were all throwing things at the TV.
“Eight of us ran. Some of our former teammates, [Eric] Wynalda and I went head-to-head.”
Brad Fieldel then jumped in: “That’s why I stayed out of it. Because Wynalda was in it [laughs].”
Martino was then asked about why he changed directions and decided to start a street soccer community.
“I’m like the Forrest Gump of soccer. I find new careers every week,” he said.
“You know, what's interesting is I had a career-ending injury. So my career was done at 28. And I had a really tough time figuring out what my relationship with football would be after I was done playing.
“I think a lot of us just have this weird identity crisis. When you wake up every day, you've got this goal, you've got this thing you love. And I kind of fell out of love with football, if I'm being honest.
“And my run for U.S. Soccer president was kind of the beginning of me looking at football from a fan perspective again.
“You know, being in love with the game and wondering, how can I help, how can I advance it?
“And so during the election, I information forged, and we used this word access in our country. You see all the stats on how much people are paying to play football.
“And I just thought to myself, I grew up playing street soccer. I became a sort of creative player in pickup games.
“And I saw this documentary, Concrete Football, about an area north of Paris that's created some of the greatest footballers we've ever seen.
“We're watching [Kylian] Mbappe, you know, in this World Cup. He grew up playing on the concrete. So when I ran for U.S. Soccer president, when I got out of that, I thought to myself, we have 2,000 basketball courts in New York City.
“Forget if our best athletes, you know, forget if LeBron James was playing center back for us.
“It's more.. if our inner-city communities, football looked a little more like basketball. I do think it will have a dramatic impact on producing players and growing a culture that's already great and a team that already has good players. So that's what I dedicated myself to.
“Is American soccer too middle class? Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm saying too middle up to upper class. We've turned it into a rich kid's game.
“And, you know, like Tim Weah is from New York City, obviously a pretty famous last name. But the idea that we aren't producing kids right down the street that are at-risk backgrounds, low-income communities, like that to me is the one thing that I feel like we've gotten wrong.
“And it's a paradigm shift that's needed, which is football is not travel two hours as an 8-year-old and, you know, win a game 8-0 and pay five grand a year to do it.
“Football is about good enough, old enough. You should be moments away from playing a football match at any point during the day, which is either you and a buddy, you and a wall, or you and a bunch of people playing pickup.
“And so we have formalized, professionalized football in this country at the cost of developing great players, in my opinion.”](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HMbXtbZXkAAzkCF.jpg)
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if I can’t scuba then what’s this all been about?- Creed Bratton Duquesne pharmacy 2022
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The local grocery chain here in RI/MA had a local artist paint its Fourth of July flyer, and I think in a world of AI slop, stuff like this is awesome.
Mr. Mann if you need a fat guy to die in humiliating fashion at the hands of either of these gentleman, I will do it for free and it would be the greatest honor of my life
Nine years ago, former USMNT player Kyle Martino ran for U.S. Soccer presidency.
Earlier this year, his street soccer startup Street FC secured a $250,000 deal at Shark Tank.
Martino spoke to talkSPORT about why he is passionate on growing the game here.
“Running to be U.S. Soccer president? That’s the craziest thing I did,” he said.
“I was working at NBC at the time. We failed to qualify for the World Cup down in Trinidad. We were all throwing things at the TV.
“Eight of us ran. Some of our former teammates, [Eric] Wynalda and I went head-to-head.”
Brad Fieldel then jumped in: “That’s why I stayed out of it. Because Wynalda was in it [laughs].”
Martino was then asked about why he changed directions and decided to start a street soccer community.
“I’m like the Forrest Gump of soccer. I find new careers every week,” he said.
“You know, what's interesting is I had a career-ending injury. So my career was done at 28. And I had a really tough time figuring out what my relationship with football would be after I was done playing.
“I think a lot of us just have this weird identity crisis. When you wake up every day, you've got this goal, you've got this thing you love. And I kind of fell out of love with football, if I'm being honest.
“And my run for U.S. Soccer president was kind of the beginning of me looking at football from a fan perspective again.
“You know, being in love with the game and wondering, how can I help, how can I advance it?
“And so during the election, I information forged, and we used this word access in our country. You see all the stats on how much people are paying to play football.
“And I just thought to myself, I grew up playing street soccer. I became a sort of creative player in pickup games.
“And I saw this documentary, Concrete Football, about an area north of Paris that's created some of the greatest footballers we've ever seen.
“We're watching [Kylian] Mbappe, you know, in this World Cup. He grew up playing on the concrete. So when I ran for U.S. Soccer president, when I got out of that, I thought to myself, we have 2,000 basketball courts in New York City.
“Forget if our best athletes, you know, forget if LeBron James was playing center back for us.
“It's more.. if our inner-city communities, football looked a little more like basketball. I do think it will have a dramatic impact on producing players and growing a culture that's already great and a team that already has good players. So that's what I dedicated myself to.
“Is American soccer too middle class? Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm saying too middle up to upper class. We've turned it into a rich kid's game.
“And, you know, like Tim Weah is from New York City, obviously a pretty famous last name. But the idea that we aren't producing kids right down the street that are at-risk backgrounds, low-income communities, like that to me is the one thing that I feel like we've gotten wrong.
“And it's a paradigm shift that's needed, which is football is not travel two hours as an 8-year-old and, you know, win a game 8-0 and pay five grand a year to do it.
“Football is about good enough, old enough. You should be moments away from playing a football match at any point during the day, which is either you and a buddy, you and a wall, or you and a bunch of people playing pickup.
“And so we have formalized, professionalized football in this country at the cost of developing great players, in my opinion.”
![golz_tv's tweet photo. Nine years ago, former USMNT player Kyle Martino ran for U.S. Soccer presidency.
Earlier this year, his street soccer startup Street FC secured a $250,000 deal at Shark Tank.
Martino spoke to talkSPORT about why he is passionate on growing the game here.
“Running to be U.S. Soccer president? That’s the craziest thing I did,” he said.
“I was working at NBC at the time. We failed to qualify for the World Cup down in Trinidad. We were all throwing things at the TV.
“Eight of us ran. Some of our former teammates, [Eric] Wynalda and I went head-to-head.”
Brad Fieldel then jumped in: “That’s why I stayed out of it. Because Wynalda was in it [laughs].”
Martino was then asked about why he changed directions and decided to start a street soccer community.
“I’m like the Forrest Gump of soccer. I find new careers every week,” he said.
“You know, what's interesting is I had a career-ending injury. So my career was done at 28. And I had a really tough time figuring out what my relationship with football would be after I was done playing.
“I think a lot of us just have this weird identity crisis. When you wake up every day, you've got this goal, you've got this thing you love. And I kind of fell out of love with football, if I'm being honest.
“And my run for U.S. Soccer president was kind of the beginning of me looking at football from a fan perspective again.
“You know, being in love with the game and wondering, how can I help, how can I advance it?
“And so during the election, I information forged, and we used this word access in our country. You see all the stats on how much people are paying to play football.
“And I just thought to myself, I grew up playing street soccer. I became a sort of creative player in pickup games.
“And I saw this documentary, Concrete Football, about an area north of Paris that's created some of the greatest footballers we've ever seen.
“We're watching [Kylian] Mbappe, you know, in this World Cup. He grew up playing on the concrete. So when I ran for U.S. Soccer president, when I got out of that, I thought to myself, we have 2,000 basketball courts in New York City.
“Forget if our best athletes, you know, forget if LeBron James was playing center back for us.
“It's more.. if our inner-city communities, football looked a little more like basketball. I do think it will have a dramatic impact on producing players and growing a culture that's already great and a team that already has good players. So that's what I dedicated myself to.
“Is American soccer too middle class? Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm saying too middle up to upper class. We've turned it into a rich kid's game.
“And, you know, like Tim Weah is from New York City, obviously a pretty famous last name. But the idea that we aren't producing kids right down the street that are at-risk backgrounds, low-income communities, like that to me is the one thing that I feel like we've gotten wrong.
“And it's a paradigm shift that's needed, which is football is not travel two hours as an 8-year-old and, you know, win a game 8-0 and pay five grand a year to do it.
“Football is about good enough, old enough. You should be moments away from playing a football match at any point during the day, which is either you and a buddy, you and a wall, or you and a bunch of people playing pickup.
“And so we have formalized, professionalized football in this country at the cost of developing great players, in my opinion.”](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HMbXtbaWoAAhYlm.jpg)
That’s history right there, you understand? 🇺🇸
#Arsenal have sold Leandro Trossard for a fee close to what we paid, after the best years of his career with 36 goals and 34 assists in 174 games. He will go down in history as the player who scored our most important, title winning goal; a true cult hero.
🚨#BREAKING: A German soccer fan who flew to the USA but was fearful about coming because of news about criminals and people being mean...
...breaks down into TEARS, live on air saying he has FALLEN IN LOVE with America after a random man named "Bob" in Boston gave him a ride home after he was stuck at a game with no way back to his hotel
The German soccer fan's name is Sebastian, he said after meeting Bob, he extended his entire trip.
He said leaving America will hurt worse than watching Germany get knocked out of the World Cup.
"I fall in love with America. I'm sorry, it's just so emotional. Americans are not rude... if we are together, we can achieve great things."
THIS IS THE AMERICA I KNOW!!!!!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
@44sedici Apollo and Daphne, by Piero del Pollaiuolo, 1470-80
🏴☕️
“Which is too bad for our country”
Wrong.
Nah that’s it. We have the moment of the World Cup. Nothing is beating this.
My official opinion of our world cup:
Lose to Bosnia: abject failure
Lose in r.o. 16: bare minimum, disappointing
Lose in QF (to Spain/Portugal): success
Lose in Semi final: unbelievable sucess
Lose final: Unreal
Win: pic of Poch in my living room 4 life
Long distance running and biking have perfected the art of intake while doing their sport. They've got energy gels, electrolyte mixes, food bars, pre race anti lactic acid stuff.
meanwhile hockey players out here slamming mustard.
Ronaldo vs Messi is the biggest lie in football history
Nobody is even close to Messi
🇧🇪🦝🆚🇳🇿
One of the best players of the tournament so far. Excellent again. What a player🤌
We cannot consider #AI to be morally neutral. In reality, every technical tool embodies choices and priorities through what it measures, ignores, and optimizes, and how it classifies people and situations. Ethical discernment cannot be limited to asking whether we are using a system for good or bad purposes. It must also examine how that system is designed and what vision of the human person and society is embedded in the data and models that guide it. #MagnificaHumanitas
Added College band music to US Goals to show we need at least a pep band at the World Cup.
The aura is insane!
@FreddyLA7 Go to Lancaster PA highest density of Amish in the world
Not even kidding bro Ronaldo is literally scoring on plumbers im crying
I literally don’t play soccer
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