I kind of had to convince myself when I was playing for the Washington Freedom that this was the highest level that I'm going to reach. 'I'm going to be a professional player, and I'm going to try and be the best one I can be, but it's maybe just not in my cards to be an international player. I won't play in a World Cup.' That was hard for me.
I probably visualize myself, the shots I'm going to get in the game, how I'm going to play defense, what we have to do to stop the other team's best player, what it's going to take out of me, the whole aspect of the game.
I come from a generation where I couldn't even contemplate such a thing. I find it amazing... You can become a multi-millionaire as a club player without playing international football. But international football is about individual pride and wanting to perform at the highest level. If I got picked at 41, I would have played, even if I thought I would make a fool of myself. I just wanted to play for my country.
I don't think you're going to see any hockey player tell the media or anyone they're the best player in the world. It's just not who we are.
I think school is very important and I personally had a great experience at North Carolina, which helped shape me as a basketball player and a person. Every once in a while, you will have a player who can make the jump and have an immediate impact on the professional level, but most of the players who come out would absolutely benefit from going to college.
Whoever picks me up, I'm going to try and play my best for, to be the best player on the field at any given time.
My pro program is going to reach out to more than just the people who have had the luxury of going to makeup school. Personally, when I was a kid, I couldn't afford that. That doesn't mean that they can't be at a professional level.
Playing the game at a high level, understanding what it's like to get to where I've already been and where they want to go. I tell those kids that we're going to develop you, we're going to teach you, and we're going to have you ready off the court and on the court to be an NBA player.
I've had the opportunity to play with Neymar on the national team. Now I'm playing alongside Messi. He's a different player, but he's the best player in the world.
I went from being a player who had received just a few yellow cards in his career to a red card in a World Cup. It was a devastating moment for me. It was my first game in the World Cup, so I was excited and thankful for the opportunity. Being sent off was a big blow.
When I was a child I had a dream to become a football player. I always played as I played when I was a child. I tried to improve. I never dreamt of becoming a professional football player, I dreamed just to play with the best players in the best team. I never dreamed to be paid to play. I would have paid to play an FA Cup Final in front of 80,000 people in Wembley. I just tried to play the wonderful game that football is. So, I hope young players will still have this dream.
I led the NFL in attempts the past two years and they really didn’t go out and get a quarterback to help me so I knew it’s going to be all on me again. I could see my mortality as a football player, that I’m not going to be able to do this much longer. It just became obvious to me that playing football for me is not going to be fun, not something I’m going to enjoy and it’s time for me to do something different.
The mentor thing is overblown to me. I'm going to coach the player. I'm not going to have another player coach the player. They can be friends but when it comes to what I want him to do on the football field, that's my call, not another player's call.
The best thing to do is to find the type of play to make Italy win the World Cup, and maybe Baggio be the best player.
You're not going to tell me that you're going to find a person who's not a very good athlete and he or she is going to be a great player. But anyone can play the game. That's the nice thing about the game. You don't really have to be a world-class athlete to play the sport [golf] and have fun because of handicap systems.
When you're playing football, you have to have that zero fear. Because if you're scared, you're going to maybe not reach out for a ball, because there's a safety in the middle of the field. Or you might not want to make a play because you're going to be hit really hard.
I have stopped having goals. If you have many goals, and you don't reach your goals, it is very upsetting, so I just think of keeping it simple, working hard and going and playing the game. But I know there are going to be very important series for Indian cricket. I will just try my best to be in my fittest form.