Hi, I'm Grant Wall, and welcome to the Planet Football Podcast, where I go in-depth with the most intriguing people in the world of soccer.

In this episode, I'm joined by Tony Sani, the original Big Cat. We talk about his standout performance in World Cup 2002,

some hilarious stories from his career in Germany, and the work he's doing these days for his

foundation, which just last week was named a finalist

for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's 2018 Sports Award.

Just a quick reminder, it's a huge help if you subscribe to rate and review the podcast. It helps people find us.

A quick disclaimer, we had some echoes where we recorded this interview.

My apologies that the sound quality isn't perfect.

Onward!

Our guest today is Tony Sonne, who had one of the best World Cup performances ever by a US player when he was part of the US's run with the quarterfinals of World Cup 2002.

He also played for six seasons in Germany with Hurtib Berlin and Nuremberg and eight seasons in Germany with Hurt of Berlin and Nuremberg and eight seasons in

MLS. Tony, welcome to the show. Thank you, I'm happy to be here. I kind of stalked

you on on Instagram. I saw you were in New York I messaged you and actually this is one thing I love about being in New York is you can kind of do this from time to time. So thanks for doing this on short notice.

Oh it's great. It's been great to be here and catch up with people.

And, you know, social media has definitely

helped us keep up relationships.

So I'm excited.

Now, one of the things I think about when I think of your career and also with the national team is at the time in 2002

US soccer and the men's national team maybe didn't have as many fans as they do today

And I think in a way your performance at the World Cup in O2

Is almost overlooked not enough people who are fans of the team today know about it.

Do you almost feel like you were ahead of your time in a way?

...