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You look around at all the other countries you're walking past and you're like,
we're going to kick your a**. We're going to kick your a**.
What's up you guys? I'm Rachel Demita and welcome to the Courtside Club.
Today I'm sitting down with former MLS midfielder and Fox Sports analyst Stu Holden.
How's it going? Welcome to the Courtside Club.
Yeah, I feel, you know, I'm ready to fly the flag for soccer here on your podcast.
You know, all these basketball guys, these big famous sports stars.
And now we're going to like get your whole audience in love with soccer by the end of this.
Honestly, I was so excited to have you on because as you know,
you've watched some of the Courtside Club episodes. Soccer is not my main sport.
Yeah, that's why I needed you here to fill me in. World Cup is coming up.
It's the perfect time to have you on.
So like World Cup, I always equate is like our Super Bowl.
In essence, in the U.S. at least because globally soccer is the number one sport.
The World Cup is the most attended, the highest watched.
I think over a billion people watched the last World Cup on television.
And in the United States, our audience was 18 million, which is good for, you know,
for soccer and a growing sport.
But we also know that this is the time that everybody pays attention and that
if it's a World Cup, you're going to tune in and put the game on in the bar
and you're going to support the U.S. if they're in it.
And they're finally back in it. So it makes it a lot more exciting for us.
So, yeah, this is kind of a big couple of months here for us as we ramp up
and get ready for a World Cup in the Middle East.
This year. And you've actually been there.
I've been there twice.
So fill us in like that.
That to me, I wouldn't even know what to expect.
Yeah, I was going to say, could you pick it out on a map?
No. Well, like it's in like the Middle East kind of area.
Yeah, it's right at least near Saudi Arabia.
And then there's, you know, Dubai and you have Qatar.
And Qatar is this really fascinating place.
It's a small country.
There's the city of Doha, which will be hosting the World Cup.
It'll be the first time that a World Cup is played all in one city.
So think back to I think it was eight, nine years ago.
They got the bid for the World Cup.
They beat out the U.S. and England in that bid.
And they didn't have any stadiums.
They built them all from scratch.
It's in a climate that during the summer, which traditionally is when the World Cup is.
They had nothing before.
And, you know, in Qatar in the summer, it's 120 degrees.
You're in the Middle East.
It's desert climate.
So they move the World Cup to the winter.
So it'll be a little bit cooler.
But they actually have all these stadiums that will be climate controlled.
And they have these giant fans that are massive and going to be blowing cold air.
So they had somebody recently.
They played a game a couple months ago in the summer.
A player was standing outside with a thermometer.
He showed that the temperature was 120.
And then on the field, the temperature was 55 degrees.
So it was like half.
That seems cold, though, to play soccer.
Yeah, it's perfect.
You can run around all day.
And honestly, this is a huge deal for that part of the.
The world and the country, because they've never hosted anything of this magnitude before.
And it's a very small country.
You're going to have all these fans from around the world in one place.
They recently announced that they are going to be serving liquor and beer, which was a
big bonus for many sports fans out there who were worried about.
That's not a big part of their culture.
So they're going to allow it in certain areas.
So just imagine now the fans are going to go to these areas, get hammered, go to the
games, not drink, and then go back there and get hammered after.
I mean, what could go wrong?
No, honestly, though, it's really cool.
When it is like a smaller country and then you for the fans going, they get to experience
kind of their culture and the way that they do certain things.
How do you feel the U.S. team will benefit?
We talked about the temperature, but they are going to help out with the fields, the
But do you think the U.S. will benefit in this kind of scenario, them all being in the
same city, not having to travel too much?
Yeah, I think one of the edges the U.S. has is that we have a abundance of sports science.
And we spend a ton of money on support staff and things like that.
So I know and I've already seen some renderings of what their hotel is going to look like.
By the way, the hotels are insane.
This one is amazing.
The one the U.S. team are saying they've got this big beach off in the back.
And they have this whole floor that is I mean, we will, as the United States, have the youngest
team of any teams at the World Cup.
So we were the youngest to qualify.
We have a bunch of 19, 20, 21, 22 year olds.
Makes me feel very old.
And these guys, they've built out this whole room.
For them, that's like video games and Xbox and big screen TVs and just like things to
They're going to have a full time barber in there for these guys to look fresh cuts for
And yeah, but you think about you're not going to travel like this will be the first time
you'll be in one hotel the entire tournament.
And I think it gives the U.S. an edge because they'll be able to recover well.
They'll spend all the money to make sure that these guys have everything that they can do.
They'll be eating well.
They'll be recovering well.
They'll have, you know, hydration and all.
So I think it'll help them not having to go to different hotels and just go to the game,
come back, go practice, come back.
And yeah, you're going to have to find ways not to be bored, I guess, just sitting in
a hotel every day for however long you're in the tournament.
Yeah, but you get this one chance.
And I feel like, I don't know, tell me if I'm wrong.
Is there more pressure now because we are back in the World Cup, the U.S. men's team?
Yeah, that's an interesting one because when I played in the World Cup in 2010, that was
the highlight of probably my life because I grew up.
I grew up wanting to be a soccer player and playing in a World Cup is kind of the pinnacle
And I think for this younger group, it's almost like you don't want them to feel like the
job is done getting back to the World Cup because we didn't qualify for the first time
in, you know, a long time, 30 plus years, I think, since we hadn't been in the World
And now we're back in it.
So you don't want them to just be like, ah, we're here.
Like we did our job.
But I think there should be big expectations on this team to get out of our group, which
is kind of the bare minimum that we expect.
But look, this will be going in with one of the best teams we've had from the clubs that
these guys are playing at.
They're playing at some of the biggest clubs in Europe.
They're playing, you know, we have players that are worth 60, 70, 80 million dollars
in transfer fees, which we've never had in our past.
And I just hope that they use that in a good way and don't feel the pressure.
But I think these guys are just going to they're fearless, which I love.
They embrace the moment.
They're not going to be scared of the moment.
And then, like, the bright lights go on and you're on the World Cup and you're playing
You know, we'll see how those guys react.
But I think they'll be they'll have a good showing.
What expectations do you have from them?
I expect them to get out of the group.
Now, the best team in our group is England.
We played England actually in 2010.
We tied them, which was a big deal for us back then.
We ended up winning that group.
That game will be on Black Friday here in the United States at like noon Eastern.
And we are hoping such weird time.
Yeah, but it's crazy, right?
Like the games are going to be all on in the morning here and 9 a.m.
Here in Los Angeles.
And we are at Fox Sports expecting that to be the highest watched soccer game ever in
the history of the United States, which would be really cool.
And it actually kind of gives me goosebumps thinking about the fact that people will be
listening to my voice calling that game.
And, you know, as now a former player now as a media guy like those are again, that's
And it's also that rivalry.
I feel like, yeah, there's so much history between our countries and soccer and sports
And that's I mean, that's what's interesting about the U.S.'s group.
We have Wales, which isn't as big of kind of a rival, but then England and then the
other one is like a geopolitically charged match with Iran in our last game.
So like there's some history there tension wise with the U.S. and Iran.
And so like that's going to be the one that will probably decide where and if we advance.
But to answer your original question, I have high expectations for this team.
I would be incredibly disappointed if we didn't get out of the group, if we didn't win a game.
And I think that would be a failure.
Just being there is not just a success like we need to go there and and compete.
I think we're kind of at a point now as a country and a nation in our soccer journey
that we can hang with some of the big boys.
And the game against England is the one that's going to really decide where we settle, I
So you talked about you played in the World Cup 2010.
What was the highlight of that experience for you?
Yeah, it's like a six week period of my life that I wish I could just kind of, you know,
And a time capsule and just like have it there and look at it and just feel that it really
was like when I made the team that, you know, getting your name called was cool.
And then it's just like this bonding.
You've been a part of teams, you know, and you think of some of your best experiences
It's when you're with a group of players and teammates and you're going through the same
You're working so incredibly hard, like the fitness camps and the the lead up to the actual
Like when you get to the games, you've done all your work before that.
And now you like can enjoy it.
Before that, you're, you know, you're weightlifting and you're training and you're recovering.
And it's just like this big blur.
But in those moments, you have to find you find ways to bond.
And yeah, that from that team, probably still 10 of the closest friends I have in my life.
We have group chats that just fire off at all times of the day.
And yeah, and like 12 years later, and I have that jersey hung up in my house.
And it's one that, you know, I can forever say I played in a World Cup.
Which is, you know, again, it's it was a lifelong dream for me.
And like, when you're on that stage, and you recognize that you're representing your country
in front of, you know, millions and millions of people, and like, you're wearing that flag.
And I always used to close my eyes during the anthem when the anthem was playing.
And like, you know, had that moment of clarity and focus.
And you just kind of stand there.
And you that was I opened my eyes.
I thought, oh, like, I'm at a World Cup right now.
This is pretty damn cool.
Olympics, World Cup, you were in both.
Which was a better experience?
Because they're similar.
Yeah, World Cup for soccer.
But you know, it's interesting, like American sports fans, I find or when I come across people,
and I would say, oh, you know, I played in a World Cup.
And people say, oh, that's cool.
And I said, yeah, and the Olympics.
And you played in the Olympics?
And I was like, no, but the World Cup is bigger for us.
But like the Olympics was really cool.
Because the the I mean, the basketball guys,
we're always the stars of any Olympic.
And that year, it was LeBron, it was Kobe, it was Jason Kidd.
And I'm all the guys are just like celebrities, even within the US team, which, you know,
like volleyball, that's their big deal and track and field.
And like, even a soccer fans were like, hey, can we get close to LeBron in the picture?
And like, can I get I have one picture of LeBron and he had his eyes closed.
And I was like, come on, man, like it, but it was it was really cool.
To be a part of that experience, because you feel again, like you're with athletes from
different sports, but then when you're standing there, and you're walking out into the one
I was in was in Beijing in 2008.
And you walked down to that bird's nest stadium.
And I remember walking out and all the athletes are chanting like USA, USA.
And so yeah, it was like, again, just because it's like, collectively, obviously, FIFA,
the World Cup is biggest for for soccer in itself.
But like, you're almost like, it's you guys are superheroes.
Teaming up with these different boards.
Yeah, it's a good way of putting it like you're like the Avengers coming together from all
different like sports and you look around at all the other countries you're walking past
and you're like, we're gonna kick your we're gonna kick your
Yeah, wait, which Avenger is soccer?
Oh, I mean, Captain America, right?
Is that like, I don't know all of them, to be honest.
So I'm gonna go with the one I know.
So we talked about it a little bit before you sat down.
But soccer globally is.
The most popular sport in the world.
Why do you think that it's struggled in the US?
And and hasn't, you know, hit its peak here?
Yeah, it's a really, it's a really good question.
And I, you know, I always get asked, like, do I do I think soccer will be the most popular
sport in the US at any point?
And I don't think it'll happen in my lifetime.
Like while I'm alive, I do think that maybe long long term potentially, but football is just
like, built into the culture here.
like the first thing you do on a Sunday morning, people flip on the TV, and they're watching
Basketball is huge here, kids growing up, everywhere you go, you're gonna drive past a
basketball court, and it's at every single school around the world.
That's all soccer fields.
And soccer just wasn't a big sport here.
I think it was, and still is, to be honest, it's an upper class sport.
In most parts, we don't have enough access to the game.
For, you know, inner city neighborhoods, there's not like, as I said, not parks were
just like soccer is readily available, and kids can go out and play.
It's all like, you have to be on a team and you have to pay money and you have to travel.
If you want to reach that, like top level, I don't think there's a good enough entry level
for people just to like, get involved and get the right coaching and get them.
And I find that with a lot of people, did you ever play soccer growing up at all?
No, no, that was one sport.
Yeah, which is why I just had like, basketball was so no, I was I was a gymnast first, then I
wanted to try other sports.
And then I played basketball, played softball and ran track.
And I don't know if it was just something when I was 10, my parents didn't put me in
it, or my cousins did.
My male cousins did.
I was gonna ask if it was female, because actually female, it's the number one youth
And so soccer actually, up on men's side, until like 10 to 12.
And then, weirdly, people just go the other way.
And I think it makes sense in that, like, if you're not doing it full time, if you're
not getting good coaching, and you're not good at it, you don't enjoy it the same.
And then you're like, your friends are doing other things.
And so I think a lot of people that I've met, from, you know, that are probably same age
to me, I'm 37, like in that age, or a little bit older, they played soccer at some point
at rec, because it was like the first thing that their parents signed them up for.
And then they're like, I don't love just chasing the ball around and touching it five
And then I'm, I'm away.
A lot of the American sports are like basketball, high scoring, there's plenty of
breaks, we have ways of like, entertaining, you know, you've got the, the
All the stuff going on between like, soccer is 45 minutes.
And if you watch it around the world, it's like religion for 45 minutes, you don't get
up from your seat, you sit there, you watch the game, there's not other stuff going around,
like the show is the game.
Whereas I think there's also like, an admiration for the way we do American sports overseas
in that, like, you go to a football game, you're constantly entertained, like there's
a third down, people are standing up going nuts.
And then there's like t shirt cannons.
And then, you know, there's like people running on the field, there's cheerleaders, like,
right, we make it like cannons going off, and the mascot, like the the pit bulls running
across the field.
Like, we do that really well here.
There's this and that.
My I have a six year old daughter, she went to her first basketball game recently in Brooklyn.
And she was like, dialed in for the whole time watching everything going on on the court.
In the meantime, and at a soccer game, I'm like, watch the game.
And she's just like, that's boring.
It's like, No, don't say that.
Driving a dagger in my heart.
Going back to what you said.
Going back to what you said, though, about how it's like an upper class sport, it's that's
kind of hard for me to understand, because it is a sport where you kind of just need
a ball, and some shoes and like somewhere to kick the ball, like you don't even necessarily
like you, it's, it's preferable to play on grass, but you could kick a ball around anywhere.
And I don't mean to like, put it down into the simplest terms.
But with basketball, you could dribble, but you need a hoop, you need to find a hoop somewhere.
So even that has like more equipment than like, for kids who just want to go out, you
know, and play something.
You know what I mean?
You just toss a ball around if you're playing baseball, but then again, you need a mitt.
But I think culturally, it makes sense.
But it doesn't make sense to me as to why it wouldn't be accessible to kind of all families.
Because the amount of equipment and stuff that you need is, yeah, is minimal.
No, it's a really good point.
I was born in Scotland, I moved to the US when I was 10.
And like, my best memories as a kid were like, we took our t shirts off, and we threw them
And you have a goal, just by like two t shirts, there's one goal, two t shirts down the other
There's another goal, and you played and I mean it in that sense, like, I think in
the US, we don't have the culture here in the US where kids are playing, like, if there's
a basketball court that's open, and then there's some space to play soccer, or there's like
football, soccer is still kind of the last sport that that people will play, unless you
go to like very international heavy cities.
Like if you go to New York, you're gonna see kids playing soccer, here, you see kids playing
soccer, I would say generally outside of that, it's not as big of a, but it's a massive,
massively growing sport here, like the the amount of you went to an Austin FC game recently,
Like, I grew up in Texas, I didn't think you'd see that in Austin, Texas, and now we have
a pro team in Dallas, in at the top level, Dallas, MLM, Houston, Austin, there's a second
division team in San Antonio.
So like, Texas is a hotbed for soccer, too.
And it's it's kind of, we're working our way into that conversation with like the top four
sports in this country.
I want to dive more into that and also get your take on the women's side, because they've
also been killing it.
But first, I'd like to take a halftime break, if you're cool with that.
I mean, yeah, I'm sweating.
This shouldn't be too difficult for you, but I have a fun little game.
I have a list of athletes of other sports that I'd like you to place on the soccer field
and kind of give them the position.
We're in football season, NFL season, Tom Brady.
So like Tom Brady, he needs him in quarterback legend, I need a guy like that on the ball
And just kind of he's going to play the position I played center midfield, like let's get him
in the middle where he can just quarterback and set everything up for everybody else and
like be the star of the show.
That's I mean, he's he's a star.
He's a born star.
Okay, next up, LeBron James.
So I've seen LeBron play soccer.
Like I've seen clips of him playing soccer and try to dribble and juggle the ball.
You know, his ball skills, I would say are lacking a little bit with the feet.
I think he would be a good defender.
Like we could stick him.
His what we call center back like a middle defender as part of the back and there's a
lot of like aerial balls that you'd have to deal with.
So he could just go up and head them and crush dudes.
And yeah, he's like big physical guy.
Yeah, we'll play him at the back.
So like Tom Brady's in front of him and he knows he's got LeBron behind him just to clean
Okay, next up, Usain Bolt.
Okay, Usain Bolt, also a soccer, soccer player, soccer fan, sports Manchester United.
He was at the Olympics in in 2008.
And he's a soccer fan.
And he with his speed, like we got to have him out wide, he needs to be like a right
And when the other teams trying to defend us would just dump the ball like in behind
and he just can beat everybody to sprint.
We're going into the combat sports world.
Yeah, he's just like a, like a bull.
I probably want to play him as like a defender also like an outside defender.
Yeah, he's going to be matched up against like really quick, tricky guys and he could,
you know, tackle them and if he needs to be just get them in a headlock and choke them
out if they have to.
Or we can find their best player and just be like, Hey, go get a red card.
Go choke that guy out real quick and get him off the field.
Is there a lot of smack talking soccer?
Oh my gosh, yeah.
I used to love the smack talk part.
And I used to like, hate playing against guys that talk so much trash because if they were
winning, you know, you just hear it from them all the time.
But yeah, like, all the time.
when we have corner kicks when the ball's on the side and everybody's kind of setting up for a set
play there's like you know pinching and uh hitting each other and you know little places a bit of
gamesmanship yeah oh interesting i don't know if i would expect a lot of smack talk it's hard for
whatever reason maybe because i feel like you guys are just constantly i think we're like all nice
guys and we're on no no not that you're not not that not that that has into play but there's just
like too much motion going on that you don't have but there's enough moments where like the ball's
out for a throw in and you're right in a guy's face and yeah we yeah but we're kind of i think
we take a bag wrap for diving and rolling around you guys created the flop yeah we did create the
flop and now like the nfl is embraced nba is as bad as anybody oh my gosh i see guys get like
take a little flick to the face and they're on the floor trying to get a guy ejected hey learn from
the best that's true yeah all right next up cooper cup uh cooper cup so i love watching that guy
he's unbelievable um and such a good athlete so i think cooper cup we could play as a forward
because he just knows how to find the end zone i don't imagine as a soccer player he'd be a guy
that would just always find the ball at his feet around the goal so let's play him as a striker
cool all right we got two more going baseball mookie bets oh mookie bets um not sure if i
could picture him playing soccer yeah i don't know like maybe a goalie he's good with his hands
but he's smaller he's smaller so yeah that's right yeah because
what was mookie bets an outfielder or shortstop am i he's outfield outfield yeah uh let's get him
uh let's play him in center mid we'll play him we'll play him next to tom brady so like we kind
of pair like the height and because tom's not like great with his feet you've seen him try to
scramble sometimes and it's like oh boy tom just stay in the pocket and throw it okay so we'll put
mookie mookie bets center midfield too and i got a good one for you last up shack smile on your face
yeah uh goalie you gotta play shack i've actually taken a penalty kick on shack
oh really yeah i worked for uh tnt for a couple years they had soccer and we did a show uh we were
on inside nba promoting the show and so they put shack in a goal and they were like see if you can
score a penalty uh on him and so i just ripped it out of him oh the other thing was then he had
made me shoot a jump shot and i played basketball in high school i was a point guard like a little
wiry i couldn't shoot very well but i could hustle i would play defense so they
had me shoot a shot and i had a blazer on i should it was a rookie mistake i should have taken the
blazer off i wear tight you couldn't even follow i wear tight clothes and i had a tight blazer on
and i airballed it is uh not one of my prouder moments okay so we'll find the shot on goal but
we'll cut that please don't put that no worries all right time for the second half all right people
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call or text 1-800-522-4700 our u.s women's team phenomenal yep why do you think that they
have been able to kind of get to this how they have four world cups now four stars yeah olympic
gold medals yeah we are really really good on the women's side i i think what's elevated the
women's yeah in your opinion well the 99 world cup here in the united states was i think that
moment for women's soccer for for girls uh in this country that were like grew up watching that
you get very inspired by those those moments and because of 99 and winning that world cup
and the amount that that kind of created some momentum in this country and the love for soccer
it also gave some investment into women's soccer now far less than the men's side and that's finally
catching up and uh i i don't know if you saw that the women got equal pay deal they recently just
signed uh which is a huge deal and i think that's a huge deal and i think that's a huge deal and i
well deserved for the women because they should be paid as well as the men for you know what they've
been able to do and then you know we as a nation i think are better because we have more participation
than any country in the world as i said we talked about earlier it's like the sport that girls play
my daughter's playing soccer now like you we have way more females that play soccer than other
countries and i think we had this big head start we invested so much money people played it all
the time we had college soccer as a big
part of our culture here now the interesting part is that people are starting to catch us up now
and we just won the last world cup which is a big one but i think this next world cup the women's
world cup is in australia new zealand next year and that's going to be a difficult one for them
to win because now spain are good germany are good england are good and european countries
have seen what soccer has done here and they are now investing money and now they have some really
good teams and these countries are starting to catch us a little bit so we're like we got to
stay ahead of them and make a difference and i think that's a big part of our culture here
that we keep like we're america we're the best we have the target on yeah exactly it's one of
those things you know how nobody had ran a four minute mile but then when someone did rent run a
four minute mile then multiple people ran a four minute mile it's like you kind of had to see it
happen to believe it in a way yeah it's very true and so you know the the girls doing what they did
back in the 90s and then that being kind of that representation on oh like we can really do this
do you think that that's something if the men have a good point of view or if the women have a good
performance and this year's world cup totally you know and with social media now too honestly
like there's there's a lot more moments for the the viral clips the tiktoks the youtube the the
twitter for like that gen z generation who lives on the internet and you know like you have kids
who will be growing up you know into that you know maybe that even shows the kids here more
like hey this is something i could aspire to do soccer is a cool sport or at least look at what
they're doing it looks pretty dope and i want to do that right i want to do that i want to do that
well i i saw that firsthand with my daughter who's now six and a half when the last women's
world cup was 2019 she was i think three and as a former soccer player um i don't want to pressure
my daughter to play soccer but she's gonna play soccer like it's one of those you know like you
have a choice but you don't yeah and i tried desperately to get her to like love it and you
know it was like she was into pink so i bought all the pink jerseys that i could find and then
you know anything to make her like get an attachment so first she started to see that
but she was always watching men's soccer
a lot of times that's what i would have on because it's part of my job
when the women were playing in the world cup in 2019 it was on the tv every day
she got so into it because she was watching girls play soccer and she loved how like alex morgan had
the pink uh head wrap and like this girl had a sweet ponytail and you know like things like that
it's like if you see people that look like you doing something you know that you can do it and
then you might want to do it yourself and i i think that i saw that firsthand in that experience
about now you know for for kids that they're a lot of this national team now i we interview
these guys all the time and i ask them what's your first ever memory of a world cup and a lot
of them are like younger so they don't remember me in 2010 which is really sad but but it'll be
watching the u.s in a world cup like it'll have been going to a bar and you know wearing a u.s
shirt and watching the u.s team play and now they're gonna have that experience so who is
the next generation of kids that's like i'm gonna wake up at 6 a.m.
eastern and i'm gonna watch you know a world cup match and like that's gonna be the memory that i
hold on to and say hey that's what i want to do in my life or you know i want to hope to have
that opportunity and also now soccer is finally getting to the port where these guys are driving
around ferraris and lamborghinis and like it looks like they're making real money like it
wasn't a glamorous sport uh when my first year as a pro i made thirty thousand dollars for the year
and that's before taxes and like it was you know like there were guys on my team that were making
12 12 000 for the whole year like they were working part-time jobs to be able to play
a professional sport and like walk around and people say oh you're a pro athlete and the guy's
like yeah let me just hop in my like honda accord real quick and go to my part-time job coaching
kids on the side so i can go to practice tomorrow wow yeah because you don't think of that because
then you see the the nba players and nfl players making millions at the time yeah and you're you
know yeah so think like you imagine you were a kid though and like which sport would you want
to play the guys that are driving the fancy cars or the guy that's like you know got two jobs and
running around a soccer field for 90 minutes i think what draws me into sports even more too
is like the personalities of the different athletes and the way that they're able to
express themselves even more now because of social media because of the new media
and you know some athletes are making their own shows and podcasts or like have a ton of followers
how do you feel about that i'm curious um i say go i think it's cool i say because there
was a lot of people that were like oh my god i'm gonna go to practice tomorrow i'm gonna go to
practice tomorrow i'm gonna go to practice tomorrow i'm gonna go to practice tomorrow i'm gonna go to
a big controversy about draymond green right like during the nba finals and draymond has his podcast
and he was talking and but i i'm with you but as a member of the media i can't argue the other way
because i love access and i i think that it's great that people want to show personality yeah
who is the goat of soccer yeah are you i mean it could be pele maradona messy ronaldo i think is
kind of the the four that people will go between but i i think messy yeah i mean he's just like
this little magician and he's just like
so unassuming but just so brilliant and you know he he glides around the field with balance and
poise and this incredibly humble guy off the field and just carries the amount of pressure that he
does at all times and i would love nothing more this is probably going to be messi's last world
cup and this winner messi's last world cup and ronaldo's and messi has never won a world cup
he's been in a final and lost and i just think like it could be his year and if he lifts that
world cup like just crown him and he's going to be the last world cup and he's going to be the
like unanimously there's not there's not even a debate at that point okay well we'll be on the
lookout for that one last thing on world cup what five teams should we have our eyes on well number
one is the u.s if you're because i would imagine the majority of your audience is american so we're
going to watch america we're going to root like hell for america the guys you need to look out
for christian pulisic is our big star weston mckinney is another really exciting uh player
that plays in europe and then uh eunice musa is like my favorite this 19 year old kid who's
and he is just the biggest baller so that's your u.s like quick quick hitters argentina because it's
going to be messi's last world cup they have a really good team and a good chance to win
brazil the the most world cups by any nation is brazil they have a good chance to win another
world cup i mean every single year they go as one of the favorites um let me see what are the other
fascinating ones it's always interesting to watch the host nation qatar it's going to be their first
ever time in a world cup and that's because they're the hosts and they have over the past
since they got it they've had this like development academy and they've invested
hundreds of millions of dollars into this facility and they bring the whole team together
so these guys like eat together sleep together train together and they play for different teams
and then they all come and recover together in one place and they've been on this like program to be
competitive they've traveled the world uh they played here recently in the u.s so
there's like pressure on them even though they're not that good field advantage just for that
yeah reason in itself yeah exactly like they'll probably be
practicing in all these stadiums to try and have some type of edge and so they'll be kicking off
the world cup um and then what's my last one that uh i'm gonna pick here i'm gonna go with
spain because spain spain were one of the favorites going into basically everyone the last world cup
they went as one of the favorites and they fired their coach or he left the day before the match
because he signed with another teams and then they like flamed out and had a terrible tournament but
i think they could be a sneaky team for this one cool there's your five yeah so spain and california
spain brazil argentina u.s and qatar yeah that's like storylines we're gonna spread you around
we're gonna suck you in in november and december you're gonna tune in black friday noon first game
is november 21st black friday at noon eastern and then uh the last game is the 29th i think
against around not our last game it's gonna be we're gonna get through past the third game and
we have to you called it okay so we're reaching the end of the game we love to do some buzzer
beaters on courtside club okay
break down your ideal food and drink combo while sitting courtside or field side oh i don't know
about you i don't get many opportunities to go to sporting events and just be like a pure fan these
days and so when i do i love it and i go all out i'm like straight in on a beer and then straight
after that on the nachos crush some nachos go back for a beer to wash down the nachos and then
at that point i'm probably on like a hot dog and then i might have my kid with me so you know i'll
get the cotton candy
and the like the $14 uh mike and ike's or whatever they they charge now and i'll go back and get my
other $25 beer and so i'm in all in at the end of the game for about $250 uh just on food but i i do
like my drink is tequila i love uh just like a nice tequila so maybe that'd be my nightcap at
the end of uh like that's where baseball i think is a i'm not a baseball fan but i love going to
like baseball live because it's just so slow and you can go out and play and you can go out and
go up to the stands and get refreshments and beverages and come back down so i think that's
how i'd rock it cool yeah all right so one person dead or alive who you'd love to sit courtside or
fieldside with oh i'm gonna go soccer okay and i would probably watch the team that i grew up
supporting which was manchester united and oddly enough the stadium which i ended my career with
an injury so it's like really sad in full circle um and it'd have to be an athlete or
anybody anybody i would say my dad my dad passed away when i was uh 20 so i just started my
professional career he got to see me play but not in the world cup or any of that and like a guy
that was just so influential in my life and my career and um i i think i would love nothing more
after the fact now like to be able to sit there and like just sit and just watch a game with him
and soak it all in and say hey dad i did that you know that would be a $25 beer with $25 i buy him
all the $25 beers he wants
and last but not least what is one event in history it could be a sporting event
or otherwise that you would have loved to have been courtside for
um i stumped a lot of people with this one because there's so many like there's just so
many good ones it would be the world cup and because that's just i would love to have been
in the stadium when um well and it was cool i got to experience a world cup like four years ago in
colin which was the the game the
france played but i i think i would probably go back to like i grew up in scotland and i know it's
like the united kingdom when england won the world cup in 66 i think like being in the stadium for
that would have been pretty cool and like because my dad was english so i know what that like that
would have been like for him yeah but yeah i'm gonna i'm gonna do that i'll go with the world
cup 1966 yeah they've been playing with like a brown leather ball back there that probably weighed
like 15 pounds and you break your toe trying to kick trying to kick it out probably like more
like slick too right yeah yeah sliding off your boot
into like the pouring rain in england yeah this is probably not like the best answer i think i
could have gotten a better one but that's the one that popped in my head yeah um stew thank you so
much for coming on the courtside club schooling us in some soccer yeah where can all of our fans
find you what should we be on the lookout for um at stew holden i think on just about all of them
uh instagram twitter uh facebook and tiktok now now tiktok okay yeah okay i'm starting to branch
out a little bit you know what you should do can you still like juggle and do the things
do that on tiktok like trending yeah like the trending audio and all that yeah my most viewed
tiktok video is my daughter slapping me in the face for the tortilla challenge so like i have
you know i guess you gotta do all things like that yeah i'm not like the dance in the you know
and the camera guy that totally doesn't fit my vibe but like that's what i've learned you can
do kind of just whatever yeah and if it takes off it takes off if not yeah i feel like you should
figure out some way to do that yeah i'm not like the dance in the you know in the camera guy that
trending thing but do it like i do dribble to the beat with a basketball right oh i've seen some
people do that with soccer where they like start slow yeah and then the beat gets faster and you
you do it i could never it's terrible with my feet it's like i need hand games you know what
i mean but you should do that that'd be dope all right well thank you so much yeah thanks for having