If Ashley Cole is ready we have 15 players for the final. I'll have to choose between Hilario, who's not bad playing forward or I'll bring in one of the kids.
I have played against the big England players - Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole. I never like to point out somebody because they are all great players with experience.
Ashley Cole is a fantastic defender. I have seen him keep the best players in the world quiet.
I saw Ashley train every day and I said, 'This is what I want but better.' That was my motivation. He taught me the game, how to play nicely and sometimes dirty, all those kind of things. But I didn't become Ashley Cole. I'm Patrick van Aanholt.
I looked at a lot of players - the legends from Chelsea - when I was at the academy and witnessed the first team winning trophies and major trophies. I wanted to take things from every part of their game. I wanted to follow in their footsteps. Players like Lampard, John Terry, Didier Drogba, Ashley Cole, Petr Cech... All of them really.
Soccer players in L.A. can kind of just walk the streets. They have bigger people to take pictures of. They see Sylvester Stallone walking down the street, I don't think they are going to want an Ashley Cole picture, to be honest.
We all know ashley, dont we? your best friend ASHLEY!! you know Ashley Called Me a PSYCHO.. DO U THINK IM A PSYCHO NOW ASHLEY... HUH?!
I'm looking forward to playing against Sidney Crosby as much as I am looking forward to playing against all of the other players in the NHL. And there is no rivalry.
I like to have fewer players. That way, everyone is plugged into what you're doing. There is a risk attached to that sometimes but it's good to have a smaller squad. People have more chance of playing; they're ready and more motivated. Having 18 real players is better than having 25 or 26 not playing.
Sometimes I think that if I had to choose between an ear of corn or making love to a woman, I'd choose the corn. Not that I wouldn't love to have a final roll in the hay - I am a man yet, and something never die - but the thought of those sweet kernels bursting between my teeth sure sets my mouth to watering. It's fantasy, I know that. Neither will happen. I just like to weight the options, as though I were standing in front of Solomon: a final roll in the hay or an ear of corn. What a wonderful dilemma. Sometimes I substitute an apple for the corn.
I get some letters from a lot of people. Sometimes it's nice, with letters from kids or from parents of kids who want to be tennis players, but I also get racist letters. It's really painful to receive something like that because you're not ready for that. You think to yourself, 'That's really bad.' But I realise that there are people like that.
One of my brothers, Serge, was at a couple of professional clubs on trial, including Palace when they had Ashley Cole on loan. He was a winger, though left-footed, and I learned a lot of my skills from him.
The players you really feel bad for are the younger players, who haven't had a chance to experience playing in a World Cup.
I know the difference between right and wrong, and I can tell good from bad. But I also know that the more difficult decisions come when we have to choose between good and better. The toughest calls of all are those we have to make between bad and worse.
I played against Ashley Cole all the time in training. For me, he is the best left-back in the world. He was the hardest opponent and I had him every day in training.
Are you ready to fight for good jobs and and a solid level playing field? Are you ready to prove to another generation of Americans that we can build a better country and a newer world? Joe Biden is ready. Barack Obama is ready. I am ready. You're ready.
Many times, the game comes down to the final possession, the final shot. I want to become a better clutch performer. That's what separates the really good players from the really great players.