When Pierre Littbarski was an infant - age one, the Berlin Wall was put up right behind his family home. He remembers as a boy going through ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ and smuggling food to friends and family who found themselves on the wrong side of that structure. Further, he talked about how he and his friends would play games kicking the ball up against that ‘wall of shame’ as it was known in West Berlin. Norman Rockwell could have done well with that.  

Pierre is a very unusual name for a German. And it is appropriate that this unique player have an equally rare name. If you watch the West Germany of the 1980’s you will notice a German doing it a little bit differently than his much larger colleagues – as if a Brazilian found his way onto the field. His skill, pace, quickness and vision was World class – on point with the best players in the world of that time.  

He was in 3 World Cup finals, lifting the trophy once – and has the record, with Pele and Maradona - for most assists in a World Cup Tournament. Rare company. 

Thank you for listening!

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The great Gaizka Mendieta on the podcast this week - we talk the curious refereeing at the 2002 World Cup, back to back Champions League finals, the superiority of Spanish cuisine over British, 1980's American heavy metal music and more...

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If you’d like to support the podcast, we invite you to visit our merch store at www.soccerpod/shop. Orders ship the next day, and we think you’ll love the gear.

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Mickey Thomas is my kind of character. He comes from a poor village in Wales where football was everything. As a boy, he dreamt of following in the footsteps of his hero – George Best – and he was talented enough to accomplish this – playing in front of 80,000 screaming fans in the ‘Theatre of Dreams’. And he immediately hated it. 

Way too much anxiety for Mickey and after a short stay, when he asked to leave Manchester, the staff half thought he was joking. Players don’t ask to leave Manchester United. But he longed for a friendlier situation. And he found that back at Wrexham – his home club. And, it was there where he would  captain the 4th tier Welsh side to the greatest upset in FA Cup history when they beat the English champions - Arsenal. 

Such a great career and such an interesting character – 

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Jens Lehmann joined us for a sit in Munich right after his return from Doha and the World Cup. We rapped about one of the greatest derbys in the world in Dortmund - which he saw from both sides - his heroics at the World Cup, to the ‘Invincibles’ – he is one of the greatest goalkeepers in German and Premier League history and I hope you enjoy him laying it out for you on the podcast. 

Thank you for listening!

If you’d like to support the podcast, we invite you to visit our merch store at www.soccerpod/shop. Orders ship the next day, and we think you’ll love the gear.

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Kristine Lilly won 4 NCAA championships, she won 2 Olympic Gold medals, 2 World Cups and is in the Guinness Book of World Record for most caps played for country with 354. Her first World Cup was in 1991 and was hardly covered by any American sports media – even her home paper did not write about it. But some 8 years later in the 1999 World Cup, her and her teammates would go on to break the record, still standing today, for people to watch a women’s soccer match. In a packed Rose Bowl that day, they won the final in dramatic fashion and won over their county in such a way that a Women’s World Cup will never be as anonymous as it was when Kristine began.

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In June of 1982, Norman Whiteside broke the Guinness record for the youngest person to ever play in a World Cup - at 17 years and 40 days. The record had stood for 24 years when a young Brazilian named Pele’ went to Sweden and won the World Cup for his country. When Norman returned home after the tournament, he received a letter from the great Brazilian. It was very congratulatory, very gracious and kind. But with wit, the great one ended it with: ‘now son, go to work on my other records’. 

Norman had many more stories to tell and it was with great joy that on a rainy Sunday in Manchester I got to hear him lay them out. I hope you enjoy it.  

Thank you for listening!

If you’d like to support the podcast, we invite you to visit our merch store at www.soccerpod/shop. Orders ship the next day, and we think you’ll love the gear.

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On the premier episode of soccerPod, Eric sits down with the great Freddy Adu. SoccerPod hosts conversations with soccer legends from around the world, and Freddy has a truly remarkable tale to tell. At 7 years old, he was playing barefoot in the streets of his Ghana fishing village – but a short 6 years later he would be a millionaire, the face of an entire league and the most famous American soccer player ever.

Give a listen and hear about the most unique soccer career in American soccer history.

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If you’d like to support the podcast, we invite you to visit our merch store at www.soccerpod/shop. Orders ship the next day, and we think you’ll love the gear.

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Greetings! Welcome to our little project we call soccerPod. 

On our show we host long form, heart to heart interviews with interesting characters from around the world who share one thing in common: the beautiful game. 

Give us a listen and I hope you enjoy our show!

Thank you for listening!

If you’d like to support the podcast, we invite you to visit our merch store at www.soccerpod/shop. Orders ship the next day, and we think you’ll love the gear.

And hey - follow us on all things social!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soccer.pod
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/SoccerPod1