4.8 • 5.8K Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2018
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
What do you get when you put 22 soccer players on a plane headed to South America? A labor standoff with their bosses, and a team turning into a band of brothers. Plus: Expectations soar after the 1995 Copa América and an encounter with Argentinian soccer god Diego Maradona.
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0:00.0 | Okay, I'm going to take you back to 1995, to the beginning of July. |
0:12.0 | 22 soccer players are on a plane. |
0:15.0 | You know, just with all your buddies scattered out in middle seats and stuff. |
0:20.0 | And, you know, once again, not being in first class. |
0:24.0 | That's right. The US National Team, America's Elite Soccer Force. |
0:29.0 | They fly coach. |
0:32.0 | They're on the way to an international tournament in South America. |
0:35.0 | And the flight to Longwon. |
0:37.0 | Six hours into the flight. |
0:39.0 | That's when we got the piss paper. |
0:41.0 | Oh, the paper. |
0:44.0 | It's dropped under one of the sleeping players laps in the middle of the night. |
0:49.0 | The lights start turning on over the middle seats. |
0:52.0 | Drowsy soccer players, stir awake. |
0:55.0 | They stretch their arms, rub their eyes. |
0:58.0 | Unfold the paper and read it. |
1:00.0 | Guys, coming over the top of their seat, |
1:02.0 | everywhere, asking each other, |
1:04.0 | have you seen this? |
1:06.0 | If you've seen what they've just offered, |
1:08.0 | and I was a silly place, I'd know. |
1:10.0 | Now, in soccer, there's an old coaching cliche. |
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