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Lobbing Scorchers: Will Bruin Interview
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We're joined by former Seattle Sounders forward Will Bruin, who gives us the lowdown on what he's been up to in retirement and a behind-the-scenes look at the career of an MLS lifer. We discuss some of our favorite memories from his playing career, including the origin of his famous Dancing Bear goal celebration, and his conflict with Sounders legend Ozzie Alonso before they joined forces in Seattle. Bruin played for Seattle from 2017-2022, following a standout run with Houston Dynamo FC. He contributed 32g/14a n 154 all-competition appearances for the Sounders and finished his career with 81 MLS goals.
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Lobbing Scorchers is a production of Just Once Media.
Lobbing Scorchers is a Seattle Sounders and MLS focused show brought to you by Sounder at Heart. Hosted by Major League Soccer's Ari Liljenwall and Producer Noah Riffe. Join us as we lob our scorching takes on the American soccer landscape, Seattle Sounders, Major League Soccer, USMNT and more.
Contact: lobbingscorchers@justoncemedia.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Setting the Scene
00:00:00
Speaker
Well sir, we got a scorcher today. Gonna be real scorcher today. Quite the scorcher today. Well it's gonna be a scorcher.
Will Bruin: Guest Introduction
00:00:21
Speaker
Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the Sounder at Heart studio in the ID, where we are joined by a very special guest, arguably the most special guest in Lobbings Scorchers history, I would say. it's a He's a Major League Soccer institution, Seattle Sounders legend, MLS Cup, CONCACAF Champions Cup champion, scorer of boatloads of MLS goals.
00:00:44
Speaker
It's Will Bruin in studio. Thank you. Woo! Will, thank you so much for taking the time and stopping by during your trip to Seattle here. Great to see you. How's it going? It's great to see you guys. The studio, it's nice. I'm looking around. it's The game is getting raised. the level's getting raised around here. So I enjoy to see that. We are moving on up in the world. Real life studio space. We got Will Bruin in it. So yeah, Will, excited to catch up with you. i guess, ah first of all, what bre brings you to Seattle? this just a random trip? or you got i am actually in town for a wedding that I'm going to
Rec League Adventures with Will Bruin
00:01:19
Speaker
on Saturday. My wife's, one of her best friends, is getting married.
00:01:23
Speaker
And I... Became really good friends with the groom. So it's we decided let's leave the three boys at home with my parents. And we're jetting out of town. It's Seattle. It's one of our favorite cities in the country. So we're going to go early and enjoy it.
00:01:36
Speaker
Which is code for I'm re-signing with the Seattle Sounders. Yeah, you know, you they needed a nine. You got to rub my knees a little if you want that to happen. Listen, I've heard the Sounders don't have any trouble with knees. I'm happy in my over 30 league I'm doing down in Austin. So nice. What is this? What is that like? Because I've always wondered like what soccer players do post playing career like do you keep playing? It seems kind of almost unfair to have like Will Bruin in a rec league. like You want to ah i me to really give you the kicker here and I can say it now because he's officially retired now but it's ah me and Jossie Zardes have a team together. No way. And we play 5v5 indoor.
00:02:15
Speaker
that Dude, if i'm if i pull it up to the if I'm pulling up to the arena sports and I'm walking in, giosssi'zar like i'm i'm I'm leaving. that's like I'm not even showing up. you'd be surprised. People take it the other way.
00:02:28
Speaker
Really? They're like, I'm going to foul. I'm going to foul Jassi's artist. Not really foul. I mean, I just kind of jog and play at my own pace and it's yeah fun. And Jassi does too. But we still have that competitive itch in our mind where if like somebody's going to challenge we've got to put you in your place real quick. Yeah, you're going down. Yeah. So it's it's really fun, but we have a roster of like 20 people because three-fourths of the team can't make it on Tuesday nights every random weekends. So um sometimes I would say our team is not in the standings where we should be based on looking at a roster, but
00:03:00
Speaker
Some people can't make it every every weekend, so then maybe sometimes our results suffer from that. Have you ever been playing and you look up and you're like, wise is that guy wearing my jersey right now? It's funny you say that because, no, not my jersey, but early on when we started in this indoor league, there was a guy that had old school Sounders training top. Oh, that's sick. And at the end, he was like, Will, so good to see you out here. And it was even a training top before i got in league. Wow. So it was it was an old school one, and um I need to follow up with him more to to see what he was. But I got kind of got the feel that, you know, he's more 08, 09
Seattle Sounders Game Analysis
00:03:38
Speaker
era. umm I'm still laughing at the visual of, you know, pulling up to the men's league game or the rec league game. You think you're going have a nice, fun time playing soccer, and then you see Will Bruin and Giosi's artists on the other side, 200-plus MOS goals. You see me walk in, you're like, okay, like I i could or I could not know that guy. Yeah. Then you see Jassy walk in. He's got his mohawk and his blonde hair. And you're just like, oh, Jesus, what's happening? Oh, man. That's awesome. I would be like, did I drink too much in the parking lot? Like, before the like am I hallucinating this? that's
00:04:10
Speaker
i don't I don't think I would know what to do. I would have fun, but I would not know what It's fun. and um It was kind of a funny joke because my kids have gone to one of those games and we kind of messed with them. We're like, all right, we're going go to Dada's game. And they're like oh we're going to the game. And we pull up to the indoor arena. It's called Let's Play at Soccer Zone.
00:04:30
Speaker
And they're looking around. They're like, this isn't a stadium. Like, this isn't Q2 because we're and yeah in Austin. They're like, what's going on? we're like, this is Dada's new games. And it's just a bunch of guys in beer bellies and kicking the ball around. And they're just like, what? But they enjoyed because they got you know Doritos Skittles and Gatorades. And they got to be on the glass. It was like a mixture of hockey and and soccer. That's amazing. Well, I think that's actually a a decent segue into the first thing that we wanted to ask you about. because i feel like this was actually kind of fortuitous timing for this interview because ah first game of Seattle Sounders season over the weekend, and we saw an all-time super sub sub shift from Paul Rothrock. Jordan Morris gets hurt early in the game. Paul Rothrock has to come in cold in the eighth minute. and then has an incredible man of the match performance. He gets an assist right away, then he comes in and scores a
The Super Sub Mentality
00:05:21
Speaker
goal. And really, it's like you can't really draw up any better of a super sub shift where you have to come in cold and then make an impact on the game. And that is something that you were known for during your career. is coming in late in the game in the second half usually, but that super sub role off the bench and just having this knack and this aptitude for finding goals and impacting the game. what What's kind of the mindset and mentality of the super sub? What do you have to kind of channel to be effective at that? And how did you kind of approach those moments where, you know, you're coming in late, but you still have to ah impact the game? You got
00:05:56
Speaker
first of all there's no easing into the game you got to immediately make your impact and second well you got kind of play it's got to be you got to play with the chip on your shoulder because you know you have to be able to show like hey i should be in the starting 11 or i should be proving that like it's no easy run for whoever's starting they should be looking over their shoulder and you're just bringing depth and quality to the to the team and that carries over into getting good performances like you saw with um with paul rothrock and you know since since i'm in central time i only watched the first half of the game well 65 minutes of it well not even i didn't even make 65 but yes we barely did either yeah and um so so i watched that first half and oh geez yeah now now i get your pun yeah exactly was yeah um
00:06:42
Speaker
First of all, I go on tangent now. That gold goal that called back, I still don't understand And I'm sure you have gone in depth on why. And the only thing I could think of in the moment was an illegal screen, like in basketball.
00:06:53
Speaker
It's carelessly jumping. That's what the pro officially stated to Jeremiah. They said that Osaze was, quote, carelessly jumping. Oh, no, no. I'm talking about... ah See, i don't I don't even think that's even a problem. ever The announcers and everybody was talking about that. yeah But when the ball came out, I don't know who was there. And he was kind of did like an illegal screen on the guy who was going to block the shot. Oh, I didn't even see that. So
Strategies and Player Motivation
00:07:14
Speaker
that's the first thing that came to my mind. was like, oh, maybe they're going to call something on this.
00:07:19
Speaker
But apparently that was not even in the contention. But either way, the fact that nobody knows. Who knows? Vibes-based. Yeah, exactly. Anyways, I got on a tangent there. But they did it like they did to Danny Leyva.
00:07:30
Speaker
Danny Leyva scored. It's travesty. It's just a full bag. That was just funny because usually in the pro statement, they reference an actual rule. And in this case, he said carelessly jumping, but it's like, I've never... Have you ever heard of carelessly? Did you ever carelessly jump through your career? I'm sure I did. I'm sure I did a lot of things carelessly, but I don't think that is an infringement. I think that's more of a coaching decision. you're carelessly doing something, you're to pulled. Right. I mean, if they were to say recklessly, then maybe.
00:08:03
Speaker
It's here's a song. yeah Careless jumping. likelessly like Like what are we even talking about? Like Colorado is carelessly playing out of the back all game. Oh my God. i mean So it's like, how are you going to define this word? we Let's keep going on this tangent because we were talking about this. Oh my I'm ready to get going on tangent. what What were they doing? It's like they were addicted to playing out of the back. And they were like, we one of our callers said this. He said, it was like they were required to make five passes before they could make a forward pass. No, I think I saw that too. And I don't remember who. I may be even talking to Jeremiah about this. But it's like at some point, the risk reward does not make sense. No.
00:08:46
Speaker
Like, what are you gonna get out of it? They might just be really bad. So let's, I think that's where I'm leaning, but it's week one. It's week one. So try to cut them some slack, but let's, let's walk through it. Playing out of the back, you pick apart the team, you get a counterattack the other way. So you get a five V four or a six V five or whatever.
00:09:02
Speaker
But you've got to build up out of a overload getting pressed. And they couldn't do that. there were I saw that there were reckless passes into the midfield where Christian and Albert just pick it up, and they're like oh, my gosh, I actually have the ball right here 30 yards out. Like, what do I do? Yeah. um But, I mean, you saw it with the national team when Berhalter first took over, so maybe it's a work in progress. Yeah.
00:09:26
Speaker
But we'll see. We'll see. Yeah, I think ah back to the back to the specifics for the the super sub thing. I did want to get your insight on Paul. Obviously, he resigns this contract. He he's come back. we We heard some rumblings like, oh, you know, you re resign a contract.
00:09:48
Speaker
You're not going to have that dog in you anymore. He has basically he's basically going to be a starter now for the next at least four weeks while Jordan's out. does that Is that even a thing? Like, is that even a thing? Like, you get a paycheck and you just are like, oh, I can just do whatever. like Or is that competitive spirit, like, genuinely ingrained in, like, your person?
00:10:07
Speaker
For me, it was ingrained in my personality.
Praise for Brian Schmetzer
00:10:11
Speaker
um For me, the paycheck was never high enough to be like, okay, cool, I can do what I want. yeah Some people, maybe it is.
00:10:19
Speaker
But um the way I carried myself and the way I always say that I made a career about it was I'm going outwork my opponent. I'm going to you know men win the battle mentally, physically. I might not be technically better than them, but guess what? I'm gonna beat you in every one-on-one duel. And that's the mentality that you have to have in this league, especially as you know an American player that's not a DP or a TAM player or whatever. You gotta have that chip on your shoulder.
00:10:45
Speaker
And maybe sometimes decisions don't go your way all the time, but you know that's just part of That's just how it goes. And the way you bounce back from those those moments is what defines you.
00:10:55
Speaker
I feel like that's what made you such a sounder. Like that's such a Brian Schmetzer like kind of thing. When you would have conversations him. was drinking the Kool-Aid. You were drinking the Brian Schmetzer. What is so special? We just did an interview with Brian in Marbella and you know that's kind of something he alluded to was like his secret sauce and whatever. for But like what's in that Kool-Aid?
00:11:18
Speaker
I don't know. And I was, again, I was having this conversation with Jeremiah earlier. I was like, you know, kind of reminds me of the Kurt Signetti of Indiana.
00:11:29
Speaker
Like, there's just something about him, the way he treats his players and the locker room environment he creates that makes guys want to play for him. And you get that extra that extra little sauce of yeah getting the buy-in from the locker room and that little 5% extra that guys will give makes all the difference in this league.
00:11:47
Speaker
Because in this league, in MLS, it's every team is so competitively equal. I mean, you've got Miami, whatever, LAFCs, but like anybody can beat anybody on any given day. So if you have guys that buy-in and want to play for their coach and they're playing their teammates and stuff, that that makes a big difference.
00:12:05
Speaker
Speaking
College Soccer Memories
00:12:06
Speaker
of the ah Indiana days, we were we were doing our research beforehand. We were looking up the Wikipedia hard. We hit the Wikipedia hard. We did. we did we We found an interesting tidbit, though, that neither of us knew, which is that you were The Mack Herman runner-up when you were in college, which that's like the soccer Heisman, for those who don't know. You were the Mack Herman runner-up, but the runner-up to Darlington Nagby. And we were like, oh, wow, that guy's considered one of the greats of MLS. We were just kind of curious, like, what do you remember about that whole era where where you were competing against Darlington Nagby and then how you guys kind of emerged as the forefront of the Mack Herman race? and what What was that whole kind of experience like? That whole Akron team in my era when I played Indiana, like, there were a lot of good guys on that Akron team. there You had Darlington Nagby. You had Will Trapp. You had Kofi Sarkody. had Zarek Valentin. had Teal Bunbury.
00:13:06
Speaker
I mean, that those just come to my mind right now, and I'm sure there's Ben Sweat. yeah There's plenty more – I'm missing, but Caleb Porter was the head coach there. He's an Indiana guy. And you guys know Caleb. port caleb um hu what And it was just that Akron team, i they were they were good. And it's like when you played at a school and a program like Indiana, you're like, we should beat Akron.
00:13:32
Speaker
We should. just right Theoretically on paper, we should beat Akron. But, you know. bringing full circle like Indiana football, that's kind of how Akron was in soccer because Indiana football is like, oh our football program is not great. and i mean, we are what we are. And teams like the Georgias and the Ohio States and the Miamis and... Penn State. The Oregons, yeah, the Penn States. I don't even know if I'll put them in that bracket anymore. but That's fair. That's fair. good We'll take it.
00:14:02
Speaker
But um another tangent, but... Akron had a good program. They produced a lot of good players. And to be considered with Darlington and in the Mac Herman Trophy, and I believe for the women's side, it was... It was...
00:14:21
Speaker
Oh, I'm drawing a blank on her name right now. One of the most popular women. um Servando Carrasco's wife. Oh, Alex. Alex Morgan. Alex Morgan, yeah. She won it for the women.
00:14:32
Speaker
And then I think the third in She's ever been referred Well, because I played with Servando, so that's why I knew that. And I didn't want to just say, like, Morgan. And... um I think the third was Ethan Finley in that group. Oh, wow. wow Wow. What a list of names. but When you were going through that Akron team, it's like, man, and then I was thinking, like, man, like, DeAndre Yedlin was in the mix there, too. Yeah, do
The Dancing Bear Celebration
00:14:56
Speaker
he was. and he might how did they I don't know if I played against him or if he was a little younger than me. I think he was younger.
00:15:03
Speaker
mean, he definitely is younger. I don't know if I overlapped in college. It seems so random that Akron got that good. You know who else is an Akron guy? Paul Rothrock. Yeah, Paul Rothrock is an Akron guy. He played Notre Dame in Akron, I'm pretty sure.
00:15:16
Speaker
No, Georgetown. Georgetown. Okay, that's like the same thing. My bad. Sorry, Paul. Kind of. Sorry, Paul. Georgetown? Did they beat Indiana? No, I know, but it's like Georgetown, Akron, like you're there's schools you're like, okay, yeah, sure, okay, whatever. But then they're dogs.
00:15:34
Speaker
You wouldn't necessarily expect them to be good at at soccer, and then it turns they're powerhouse. Exactly, yeah. ah Will, could you give us the origin of the dancing bear? That was something, the celebration that you were known for throughout your career, starting in the google dynamo days. it. What's the story behind that? How did that become a thing?
00:15:56
Speaker
You know, so I'm a rookie that gets drafted down to Houston. I got guys on the team like b Brian Ching, Jeff Cameron, Eddie Robinson, but a very veteran team.
00:16:08
Speaker
Craig, while I did not play with him, um he's a little older than me, you know, you know, Craig, but um so we're doing Dom Kinnear is our coach and we're doing, ah it's a Friday. We're doing finishing drills. So we always did the same finishing drill. John, Dom was very old school, same routine, every training, no matter what you could write it out. And I could, we would do the same thing 10 months down the road. And every Friday it was finishing at the end of training and,
00:16:36
Speaker
One part of the finishing drill is he chips balls out to the 18 circle, the half circle on the 18. You take a chest down and you finish it one time within the circle. And, you know, I didn't have the best technique. My hands were always flailing out. And for some reason, my hands would always go like this, like down, like a T-Rex type thing. And Brian Ching was like,
00:16:56
Speaker
You look like a dancing bear. And I was just as a rookie, like, yes, Mr. Chang, whatever you say. And um so then that week, we're playing DC United. And he comes up to me in the locker room. And he's like, if you score this game, you've got to do a dancing bear celebration. i'm like, what is that? He's like, just do your celebration like you're taking a chess ball down. And i ended up getting a hat trick that game.
00:17:17
Speaker
and So after the first goal, I do the dancing bear celebration. He's like, what the hell are you doing?
MLS Evolution and Player Development
00:17:24
Speaker
And it's it's stayed with me ever since. That's incredible. I did it maybe just that game and maybe one more. And then I realized that everybody was making fun of me with it. So I was like, all right, I got to be done with this. But it's one of those things that stuck with me. And it's good. what Was there other nicknames that you had that you knew about?
00:17:40
Speaker
Not that I know about. Okay. bear just kind of stuck with me. It is kind of the perfect. It's fitting. That is great lore though. Brian Ching was the one who created the dancing bear. That's a legend. We're learning. Thank you, Brian. I do give him credit for that. That can go on the Wikipedia. Yes, it can. We add that on the Wikipedia after this. There you go. You can add it. I'm looking over Ari's shoulder. We found you out. Yeah, exactly. This was something that, like, I have been watching MLS my entire life, which has been a very short life. I mean, like, you know, 10 or 15 years here. But it has changed so much just since I've began watching.
00:18:18
Speaker
You know, you have there's always been star talent, but I feel like the floor of MLS has even just been raised insanely significantly. i just when you watch now, how much do you see a change in MLS? And like, are there specific things where you're like, what the hell? I wish I had that when I was playing. I'm glad I got out when I did because the league's getting better and better and better and better and better.
00:18:46
Speaker
um My first year was 2011. In Houston, we had a makeshift facility while we're waiting on our new training facility.
00:18:58
Speaker
Our locker room was a trailer. I remember one day using a urinal and it just fell off the wall. Just completely fell off the wall. Water starts spewing out.
00:19:09
Speaker
if And then my last year before I retired at Austin FC, top of the line. Everything is the best, like the facilities are the best, and it's just unbelievable. So just from a facility perspective, that's kind of where I correlate where it was to where it is, and that leads to on the field.
00:19:30
Speaker
Guys that want to come and play, play first of all, there's more money that's been infused into the system with salary caps and TAM and magic money and whatever they want to call it for that year. um But at the end of the day, more money for the players, the better.
00:19:44
Speaker
but that just needs some more competition across the board. And I remember, I still remember early 2011, 2012, 2013, MLS, and mls one of the pre-season State of the Unions was like, we wanna be a selling league in 10 years. And I was like, but yeah, okay. And this was when they're bringing guys in at the back end, very back end of their career, like very, very, like barely walking back into the career.
Sponsorships and Supporters
00:20:07
Speaker
um we all remember they the new york city of c pierlo days we remember and i'm talking even before that yeah i don't even remember names but i remember we had a game against the galaxy in houston gerard played and it was like one of his first games there and he's like ah game in houston it's 100 degrees yeah he's like i didn't sign up for this crap and he literally walked And then i don't after that, I think he was pretty much done. It was the same with like Lampard and stuff, but these were legends of the game.
00:20:34
Speaker
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00:20:45
Speaker
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00:20:57
Speaker
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00:21:09
Speaker
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00:21:21
Speaker
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00:21:51
Speaker
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00:22:03
Speaker
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Adapting to MLS Conditions
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Speaker
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00:22:26
Speaker
Wait, so he upped and walked out. He's like, I'm not playing this No, he didn't literally walk out. But he was like, after the game, he was like, you could tell he was just like, you know, you sign with that like Galaxy, you think it's Hollywood and celebrities. And then you got to go to Houston and play. And I honestly think, and I could be wrong. don't want to fact checked by Wikipedia guys on this.
00:22:45
Speaker
But i I honestly think it might have been his first road game. oh And like maybe his worst first road yeah his like second or third game with the Galaxy came in the summer. oh my god and it's in houston brutal heat remember playing there i would change everything at half time like sliders socks everything and he's just like oh my god this sucks Yeah, I can imagine coming from, like, the Prem or wherever he was at that point, and you're like, oh, okay, it's cold.
00:23:11
Speaker
Yeah, like, it's cold, you know, it's rainy, whatever. I don't think they probably weren't flying Charter yet. They're probably like, Coach, Steven Gerrard. Yeah, that was the Coach days. That's another thing I Did you guys used to have to, like, disguise Dempsey on the planes when you were flying with the general public? Like, how does that how did that work? No. No.
00:23:30
Speaker
You're like, here's your big trench coat. Pretty much. And you guys know Clint. He kind of was like, yeah you're going to talk to me, then okay, you've got to really go out of your way to say, Mr. Dempsey. yeah um But I heard stories about like Beckham in the early days would fly with security guard and like not let people talk to him and stuff. And then you know ever since COVID, it went charter and stuff. so That's probably good for all involved. Yes, exactly. because like I mean, it's helped the growth of the league in general just from bringing stars over. Yeah, I think, too, it's... I know we we have friends who work in the, obviously, like, the media side of things, and they're on the planes with with the players, and they're like, it's so nice. Yeah, the flying home, a red eye sucks, but, like, you're back home.
00:24:15
Speaker
Like, you're just back home. Like, so you play and you come home, and, like, it's so nice. You don't have to, like, sit in the airport and that. remember... Reserve League. I think it was 2011, 2012, 2013. They might have got rid of it in 2013, but we had the Reserve League. So you'd play your game on Saturday
On-Field Altercations and Adaptation
00:24:34
Speaker
night.
00:24:34
Speaker
you Guys that didn't play had to stick around, play Sunday morning at 10 a.m. m So you'd get a mixture of young guys wanting to play. and older veterans having to play. Yeah. So that's where you get the mixture of the over 30 indoor league trying to kill you and the young guys trying to prove their point. That is like such a deadly And then you go straight to the airport. Oh my God. Go through, check out, young guys got to get all the bags, load up the bus, so...
00:25:00
Speaker
That's crazy. It's crazy to think about. like yeah like Now you have Sonon Min, Messi, Hugo Lloris, James Rodriguez is now in the... All of all these guys. Messi on a charter flight from Miami to Seattle.
00:25:18
Speaker
Sitting in the terminal, waiting. Just chilling. Binter Miami would have a tough time in the yeah those days. Will, we did want to ask you about... ah ah The famous incident before you joined the Seattle Sounders, you were here with the Houston Dynamo playing against the Seattle Sounders, and you and one Ozzie Alonzo did not necessarily see eye to eye on on something. There was ah conflict in that situation. god never committed foul my life. I always got. and But that that one was notable because it was like it wasn't just a verbal altercation. Like you guys were going at it a little bit. And then I think the next year is when you came to Seattle.
00:26:00
Speaker
What's it like joining the same team as a guy that you had beef with? Like, do you what do you go in the locker room first day and you're like, all right, I have to mend these fences or do you just not say anything? Like what what is that whole? think it's unspoken. It's like.
00:26:16
Speaker
The competitive nature. Everybody knows, like at least we did, we were both super competitive people. We were doing the best for our team to try to win at that moment that it's like what's done is done. It doesn't really matter. Like we're all adults here. Like nobody's gonna hold a grudge. At least that's how I played. i know for a fact that's how he played. Like when it's over, it's over. So there was no like weird awkwardness it was more like oh ozzy remember the one time and kind of laugh about it ed but he's one of those guys that like he had a reputation from the outside looking in like oh my god you don't want to be around this guy like he is the worst guy you want to play against because he just sucks to play against but then when you're on his side you're like that's the best teammate yeah yeah because you know he's getting under the skin of everybody else
00:27:05
Speaker
And I mean, I wasn't like that period, but I was type person. Like younger in my career, I was like, I'm not going to back down to anybody. i don't care who it is.
Pressure of Legendary Players
00:27:13
Speaker
so um That's gotten me in trouble at home with my wife and on the field.
00:27:21
Speaker
Just joking. Were there other not-backed-down moments that you remember specifically from your career that you were like, shit, what have I gotten myself into? No, not necessarily. I break it up into two halves. The first half of my career, I call it the young and dumb part where I was just like, nothing nothing's off limits. If a guy touches me off the ball, going to talk shit to him and then And then the second half of my career is the more wiser elder statesman part where I'm just like, why am I going to waste my time worrying about this? I'm going to focus on what the next play brings. the best will would have been a combination of the both.
00:27:53
Speaker
But I could never put all my best qualities together to make one one final outcome. But you know you live and you learn. and I wonder to the point that you said like a lot of people just leave it on the field. That's what I've that's what i've heard a lot.
00:28:10
Speaker
We watched um one Lionel Messi and the Barca boys come to Seattle lose 3-0 and then Luis Suarez voice the after yeah through the famously spit on security gene who you know we we love security gene so we we we're not a big Suarez fans over here. Gene's everyone's boy. Like why are you spitting on security gene? um But I wonder like you're tough guy. Yeah, exactly. like What are you doing? But I i wonder like with that ah and then also like we hear rumors that, you know, Messi's talking shit to Obed and everyone and Pedro and all of this stuff like
00:28:47
Speaker
does that stay on the field or does that stuff stay with you? Cause I feel like if I'm looking up to messy, like my idol or someone who I like have such a respect for and he's coming in, like, he's like, fuck you, bro. You're your shit. You're never going to leave MLS.
00:29:01
Speaker
I'm going be like, The hell did I do? But at the same time, I might be like, oh, Messi knows who I am to be able to say that. Maybe. I'll play a devil's advocate here because it's like, think of it for Messi's shoes. Every minute of every game, of probably every training session, everybody's trying to beat him.
00:29:17
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. So at some point, I'm sure he's like, Jesus Christ, this is annoying. Yeah. like And you're losing. And yeah, and it probably comes out in obscene moments or different times and a championship game.
00:29:32
Speaker
on turf in Seattle, you're getting beat. You're not only getting beat, you're getting he misses a goal. That could have changed the game. And I'm sure that's just how it is. And he's probably like, this guy is annoying me. He won't leave me alone. He keeps tackling me. He keeps hitting my ankles, which is a credit to Oben, which there's a reason why now he's playing for Athletico Madrid. So it's like he probably sees the quality.
00:29:54
Speaker
But he doesn't know the guy. He's not going to admit the quality. He's going to acknowledge the quality by talking shit. So I say it's a little bit of both. If I'm Obed, I'm saying, OK, he sees me. He understands me. He knows I'm getting under his skin.
00:30:08
Speaker
And if I'm messy, I'm like, god, every every single minute of every game, of every training, somebody's trying to beat me. It's like their Super Bowl. That's an interesting perspective because I don't think a lot of fans take... There's like this Messi or Ronaldo thing or there's just like Messi's the best, like he can do no wrong or Messi is literally the the crux of all evil. That's never a perspective that I think I've heard because it is interesting. Think about it from his perspective. Every time he steps on the field, all eyes are on them Yeah.
00:30:34
Speaker
Whether it's training, whether it's a regen session, whether it's a game, everybody expects him to be at his best every moment because they bought tickets to watch him perform at his best.
00:30:46
Speaker
That's got to take a toll at some point. yeah And what is he, 39 now? like I'm sure it's normal for him now, but that's a lot. Him in particular, it's just like a different type of aura and expectations that come with it I remember, I tell the story all the time, but when Argentina was here for the Copa America, and just like what the scene was like at Starfire when they were training there, it was insane. It was like a god was here. That's what I'm saying. It's every minute of every day. yeah You have to be on all the time.
00:31:15
Speaker
It is. i s flip up People, as much as it sucks to say, people are probably waiting for a slip up to say, oh, look what he did. Well, it goes viral, too. like And he hasn't. Yeah.
00:31:25
Speaker
When we talked about it, we talked about the report that we made about, you know, him talking shit. And it was like, yeah, that goes viral. You know, you talk you talk shit on Messi, it goes viral. You talk good about Messi, it goes viral. It's like he is.
00:31:38
Speaker
There's one recurring theme there. Yeah, he is messy. It's like undeniable. And like, honestly, I get it. I'm team messy. You're team messy. So you're you're messy over Ronaldo. I am. OK, I think my son, my son is my oldest son's team Ronaldo right now. But he has a messy jersey.
00:31:53
Speaker
Well, hey, you know. But Yamin' Yimal. What do you think about Yamin' Yimal? Have you watched a little Yamin' Yimal? Jeremiah can't say his name. He doesn't know say it. I know. but I'm just listening to him laugh over there. I'm always seeing messy.
00:32:05
Speaker
Yeah, okay. I love it. ah Well, shifting shifting gears, we only got a couple more for you, so ah thanks so much for the time. but ah We wanted to, in the in our doing our Wikipedia research, we ah we also wanted to ask you about St. Louis. That's you where you're from, where you came up. And we were just kind of looking at, like, it seems like it's kind of become more of a soccer hotbed than people would expect. Obviously, you've St. Louis City SC there now, so finally an MLS club. But it kind of felt like in your era might have been sort of when it started ascending a little more. Is is that accurate? And like, what do you how how do you think St. Louis kind of became this slept on place of soccer development that people don't talk about, but it seems like it's really ascended a lot. It's always I mean, in my view, it's always been a soccer hotbed. I think there's been a lot of good youth clubs there.
00:32:59
Speaker
um Just there's been a lot of good. developing coaches that have been there. Maybe they haven't gone on to professional clubs or whatever. But for some reason, it's just always been a hotbed of good talent.
St. Louis Soccer Heritage
00:33:14
Speaker
um I mean, you've got your Taylor Twelmans, your Pat Noonans, your Will Bruins. I mean, ah, boy. But it's just ah it's it's always been it's been a city that's always supported every sport that's been there.
00:33:28
Speaker
I grew up St. Louis Rams fan during the greatest show on turf. And I remember like everybody loved the Rams and they left. Everybody got mad and then turned into the Blues and the Cardinals. And now they have St. Louis City. And it's been, from what I've seen from the outside looking in it looks like that they've had great support there.
00:33:45
Speaker
You know, all my friends that still live in St. Louis love love the club. So it's um it's something that the city definitely deserves. And they're getting rewarded for it.
00:33:56
Speaker
But I do wish they would do a little more from a club standpoint on making that local connection. I remember, and I'm not just saying that because i'm from there, but I remember when they first came into the league, their old GM, he's now fired. um What's his name? Oh, cia fan yeah. fan and steel Designated team. Designated team. That's our one of our favorite all-time quotes. One of their first five picks, I don't remember the actual player, was from Kansas City, Missouri.
00:34:27
Speaker
And they picked him, and they he goes, we're going with local boy. So-and-so from Kansas City, Missouri. And I'm like, that speaks volumes on what you know about St. Louis. You can't say that And for some reason, something like that has always stuck with me because I'm just like, that's that's tough. That's, yeah. But to get back to the point, which they might be doing, I wish they would go more to their roots because it's something that the city deserves. And it it reminds me a lot of Seattle in terms of, like, such a soccer-rich culture.
00:34:59
Speaker
And I kind of wish that St. Louis City would kind of embrace the way Seattle has embraced the community and embrace the fans and just like the heritage of the sport and kind of just run with it. Yeah. They've had they've had what do i know right professional soccer there for a long time in different iterations, correct? Yeah. like it No, they had Precky used to coach the that's right the USL team that was there. i grew up going to St. Louis Ambush Games, which was indoor.
00:35:23
Speaker
ah So it's always it's always been around. Yeah,
Future Coaching Prospects and Career Transition
00:35:27
Speaker
it is cool how many of those Midwest cities have such soccer ties. Like, you know, everyone talks about the football, the corn fed boys. yeah There's corn fed boys in soccer, too. We got it. We got one right here. I'm one of them. We got one right here. um i'm looking at to your cheat sheet here. Yeah. OK, this is this is this is one of our questions that we had here.
00:35:49
Speaker
Joe Paulo, he recently took a coaching position with the Tacoma Defiance. He has been a club favorite. And, you know, we wonder, what what's is there ever a coaching future for for yourself?
00:36:03
Speaker
I love JP. He's one of my favorite guys. We came in pretty much around the same time. We just naturally became friends. um I'm so happy to see him sticking around.
00:36:15
Speaker
Maybe if he gets a head coaching gig somewhere and he wants to bring me in as an assistant, I'll be more than happy to do that. There we go. um But right now, I'm content with managing people's money down in down in Austin. So i do if you guys need a financial advisor, let me know. I do, but I don't think you deal with broke boys. I don't think that's going to make you any money. But but anyways...
00:36:40
Speaker
I'm not ruling anything out. I'm stuff. Oh, so I you do some, I help with our local club team. That's fine. Um, in Austin, my oldest son is six and he, they play five V five. that And our club is Pflugerville FC and PFC. And we have about 3000 kids in our club. We go from U five to U 19. So we're pretty big club. Um, I work with the young kids cause that's just where i spend my time with them. it's fun to watch them like,
00:37:08
Speaker
Like I said, they play 5v5, but they're already learning basics of, you know, say your position principles, when to press, when to drop. And it's like they do goal kicks at 5v5, and they try to play out at the back. And it's fun to watch because I was like, when I was a kid, we weren't doing any of this stuff, like seaball, kickball, in-ball.
00:37:24
Speaker
So um it's it's it's fun to watch, and it is rewarding. That's like my fix of being around the game still is just like kind of channeling through them. But then at the end of the day, I'm watching games of my 6-year-old, and I'm like,
00:37:37
Speaker
OK, you need to prove on this, this, this, this. And then I'm like, god damn it, Will, he's six. take that hat off and just let him be how'd your game go today yeah you scored a goal like last he they played last saturday i always give him trouble i don't always give him trouble i never give him trouble but i'm like dude you need your feet you're so your feet are so flat you're heavy on your feet you're a big six-year-old move your feet always be moving but i don't tell him that he scored a goal out is he's flat-footed and all of a sudden he gets up on his toes and he hits a banger upper corner i'm like jesus christ
00:38:08
Speaker
he's gonna Why can't you do that all the time? He's going score more and MLS goals than you one day. yeah Let's calm him it down. I always tell him. Who has the discovery rights? Craig? I always tell him he's never going to be taller than me and he's never going to be stronger than me. So now we're going add he's never going to score more goals than me.
00:38:22
Speaker
But that's all just fatherly motivation. I love that. No, I love that. I think i think we'll we'll close it with this question here. With the youth soccer kind of developing and changing in the U.S. and like U.S. soccer culture in general, i'm this so I'm going to bring this all the way around. The World Cup's coming here.
00:38:40
Speaker
You're kind of like... a staple in the sense of like the pathway in America, right? You go to college, you leave. We talked to some FIFA officials when they were here for the club world cup.
00:38:52
Speaker
They're very dismissive of American soccer culture. They're like, you don't know what you're doing. You don't understand how you're doing it. And we need to abolish college soccer. We need to like take it away. Like you guys are so stupid. Why are you doing this?
00:39:06
Speaker
From your perspective, like you obviously went through it and now you're going through it again with your own kids. Like, is that really true? Like, or is America kind of thriving and so in the soccer sense?
00:39:19
Speaker
I feel like with America, there are so many different pathways and that's what makes it great because it's like, and I can only speak on my own path, which was, you know, I went the college route and I just kept playing until I couldn't play anymore.
00:39:35
Speaker
And that's because I enjoyed playing the game. Now you see kids that their parents are so content on them. You gotta go into MLS Academy, you gotta to do this, you gotta to they get burnt out quick.
00:39:47
Speaker
And then you see kids that just wanna go and get a college education, get it paid for and play there, great. So the fact that there are very different choices and pathways you can go I think is awesome.
00:40:00
Speaker
Now I do think we are behind eight ball a little bit in terms of development and how we develop it. I think we need to find a more centralized centralized pathway on first team, second team academy.
00:40:14
Speaker
But I'm all for multiple pathways because not every one shoe doesn't fit all. So there are going to be different ways and cream always rises to the top. So if you go a different route, but you're successful, you're always going to find a way to make it to the top.
00:40:28
Speaker
um And even at I'll go back to our club, Pflugerville FC, like we're trying to make it were We're dabbling with making a free, there is no paywall to play.
00:40:40
Speaker
Because there are underserved areas in all communities around the country. where let's face it, youth soccer is getting bought up by private equity and just different venture firms and stuff where it's like, what are we really doing? like is this Is this a big money grab or is this what's best for our players?
00:40:58
Speaker
So um at the end of the day, I think we have lost our way in terms of that with local clubs. I've seen it in Austin. I've seen it in Central Texas with clubs that don't really care about development. They just care about gobbling up as many assets as possible.
00:41:14
Speaker
So it's a very complicated question with a lot of different answers. um and don't Like I said, I don't think one shoe fits all in terms of that, but I do think we can get better at being here's pathway one, two, and three.
00:41:28
Speaker
You can fit one of these one of these three, and if you don't, that's great. We can always find another pathway for you. But the fact about it being this country in America is there's always a pathway.
00:41:40
Speaker
I love it. I love it. Well, that sounds like that's your new podcast right there. Soccer Development in America with Will Bruin. Thank you for coming on. Yeah, there you go. The Sounder Heart Podcast Network is expanding, you know, so.
00:41:52
Speaker
All right. We got one question from the community. i don't know if I'm going to be in. Should get it down? Get in here. All right. One question from the community. I'm like all falling apart here. Get closer. just you All right.
00:42:06
Speaker
Which club do you identify with most as a... Like, you go, oh, I used to play for this. Oh, 100% Seattle Sounder. Okay, that was the correct answer. So, like, when when we landed here, we went to... We're at our friend's house. We got in at midnight. Me and my wife went on a walk this morning, and she's like, oh, my God, I love this place.
00:42:26
Speaker
Because the grass is green. At our house in Austin, the grass is dead and yellow right now, and it's 88 degrees. I'm like, what the fuck's happening? But... um you know it's it's i would not I'm not saying we are, but I would not be surprised if we moved back here. and No promising.
00:42:42
Speaker
No promising. I never make promises. he give him a call. Right. But JP, do the dirty work. Let me know. Exactly. All right. So the other i wonder I had two fact checks for you, and you were right, both of these. So i just want to confirm. Stephen Gerrard's first.
00:42:57
Speaker
Road game was indeed at Houston Dynamo. They lost 3-0. He played 87 minutes, and I believe he was crying at the end of it. i definite the bird who was No, that was true. that was all other I'm go to say that was true. he was okay And then the other one was Nicholas Giacchini. Giacchini? That was the guy, the first pick. That's right, yeah. The first pick of St. Louis in the expansion draft. Kansas City boy.
00:43:22
Speaker
Not a St. Louis boy. Wrong side of the state. Burb-bate him, I think. you can say his name better than the GM was like, we're going with local boy. And i'm I'm watching this on the stream like, what? Who did they just hire two years in advance to do this? Did research. The first pick. Did his research. The first pick of the expansion draft. You guys will love this kid. He says, local boy. i was like, oh, my God. That guy was kind of a legend. He went from that to designated team. I mean, that's a legacy right there. so yeah from the like would be like so It would be like ah Adrian and Hannah are picking a Portland kid from it literally being like, local boy. yeah
00:44:00
Speaker
It's like Kansas City being like, we're getting a local boy. Like, literally, it's Kansas City getting a local boy. There you go. That's what I had for you. I thought I was right. but Yeah, I just wanted to powerbomb. I thought I was right, but I usually am right. No, you were right. Yeah. it' good J.O. closing it out. Yeah, i think i think we've kept Will for long enough, but so we'll wrap it right there. But thank you so much for hopping on the show. Great stuff. We'd love to have you back any time. Show the...
00:44:27
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Your boss will be very happy. Chill with the things I'm doing. Yeah, where can people find you? People can find me at Stiefel Financial. There you go. i'm a wealth management team, financial advisor. I see you smirking over there, you know.
00:44:41
Speaker
I'll give you my business card if you want it. um I'm trying to think of a quick little pitch. If you got financial issues and you need somebody to fix them, come to me at Will Bruin at Hopper Wealth Management.
00:44:54
Speaker
are you Here we go. Here we go. Are you dancing around your finances? Come to bear today. Oh, man. We'll get you all sorted out. We'll get you sorted out. we'll we'll put it We'll put your finances top bins. Come to the Dancing Bear. Your finances will be top bins. I do actually have one more question for you.
00:45:11
Speaker
So from the story you told, which is best I can tell, absolute canon, Are you telling me that they never connected Bruin to Bear in the reason of... think so. and That was like a coincidence. No, and the reason I got it, the reason people started to connect it was with I played with some Latino guys that were like, so, oh, so. Right, and then it was like, oh. People were like, Bear, Bruin, UCLA.
00:45:40
Speaker
Like, you know, the meme or what's his name from WWE? He's like, ah, Vince. What is it? Vince McMahon. Yeah, that's good. Just don't Google.
00:45:55
Speaker
dancing bear. That's it. That's it. Yeah, do not. Yeah, right. Googling this question. I said not to Google. Will Bruin, everybody. Thank you again for the time. We really appreciate it. And we'll we'll get you back on at part some point.
00:46:09
Speaker
That was one of my favorite interviews we have ever done. If you want to drink the same beer that me, Ari, and the dancing bear Will Bruin we're drinking in this episode, check out Project 9 Brewin.
00:46:23
Speaker
They are our sponsor of this video. They jumped on. They were so excited when they heard the opportunity to sponsor a Will Bruin interview. That's right. Sounders fans at their heart.
00:46:35
Speaker
Project9brewin.com. Check them out. We're huge fans. We've done events there. Really cool taproom up north. Just a great, great people. Good vibes. Check them out. Project9brewin.com.
00:46:47
Speaker
And see you guys soon. Peace.