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American Fiasco

Episode 5: Captain for Life

American Fiasco

WNYC Studios

Sports, Soccer, History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.85.8K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2018

⏱️ 31 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Two months before the 1998 World Cup, captain John Harkes is abruptly kicked off the national team. The reason for Harkes’ departure is kept under wraps. Twenty years later, the team opens up about what really happened.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

John Hawks, he was off the team and it all seemed so sudden and ludicrous. After all,

0:13.3

Hawks was born to play on the US national team. He came from a place that calls itself

0:18.3

Sokka Town USA.

0:20.5

Karni, New Jersey. Karni is a factory town, 35 minutes outside New York City and when

0:26.6

John Hawks was growing up, it was a town full of the kids and grandkids of Scottish and

0:31.1

Irish immigrants. People who arrived in late 1800s to work in the thread in Lernolia

0:36.2

mills.

0:37.2

Only one town the United States has developed three US national team players. They also

0:42.4

have some pretty good fish and chips.

0:45.4

They put their passion for Sokka with them and handed it on down from generation to generation

0:50.2

and onto John Hawks.

0:52.2

We just constantly played. We got kicked off the baseball fields. We were kicked off the

0:55.8

American football fields. We got the ball stolen by the police and then had to have our

1:00.5

dads go down and get the ball back again so we could play again that night. You know,

1:05.4

your mom yelling out the windows in the apartment buildings, just yelling for dinner and just

1:10.7

still not home because you playing for four or five hours after school.

1:14.0

Playing Sokka in the streets.

1:17.2

When he wasn't playing Sokka, we were working at the local fish and chip shop. John Hawks

1:21.6

was watching the game.

1:23.1

He'd head to the Scots American club along with pretty much everyone in you.

1:27.0

You know, we were catching all game on a table or something from Liverpool's old 80s team.

1:32.0

How did the world cup, did the world cup, loom large in your life as a kid?

...

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