The Interview: Bob Bradley

One of My Favorite Interviews We've Done for This Platform

Bob Bradley is out in California with Toronto FC during preseason training camp (Photo courtesy Toronto FC)

An audio clip from our interview when I asked Bradley if he’s ever concerned about intimidating his young players:

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I go back with Bob Bradley to September 1992, nearly 30 years ago. I covered his men’s soccer team for the Daily Princetonian student newspaper. We always joke that I have been asking him dumb questions for three decades now. At the time, neither of us knew that I would go on to cover soccer professionally, or that he would go to coach the USMNT at a World Cup, become one of MLS’s greatest coaches and lead the Egyptian national team, Swansea City and other overseas clubs.

Over the years, I was there writing about his Chicago Fire team’s 1998 MLS Cup title, his U.S. team’s run to the Round of 16 in World Cup 2010 and his remarkable tenure with Egypt, where he coached a young Mohamed Salah.

Literally the first magazine story I ever got paid to write was on Bradley for the Princeton Alumni Weekly in 1993 after his Princeton team had gone on an unexpected run to the NCAA semifinals before finally losing to Bruce Arena, Claudio Reyna and the University of Virginia:

I don’t hide my admiration for Bob, who treated me with respect, as if I were a professional journalist, even when I was a student. And while we don’t communicate all the time, we do every once in a while, and he’s someone whose opinions matter to me. Both my parents passed away in the last couple years, and I have occasionally gone to Bob for life advice.

Yet we still hadn’t done an interview in two years until Saturday, when we connected for about an hour. That interview is below, and I think it might be the best one I’ve had for this Substack platform yet.

The entirety of the written interview is reserved for paid subscribers. As always, you can still get the entire free audio versions of my podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you like to go for your pods.

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Grant Wahl:

Our guest now is Bob Bradley, the new head coach and sporting director of Toronto FC. Bob, it's great to see you. Thanks for coming on the show.

Bob Bradley:

All right, Grant, 2022. Let's get going, man.

Grant Wahl:

I can't believe it's been two years since we've done one of these. I've lost all track of time during the pandemic, but it's great to have you here now. Your team just made Lorenzo Insigne the highest-salaried player in MLS history by a mile, by the way. What are your thoughts on the whole thing?

Bob Bradley:

It's exciting. Look, first off, that discussion started long before I came on board. And Bill [Manning, the Toronto president] took the lead. Bill and MLSE, the board, there's a strong feeling about stars, about players that are relevant in the community. One of the strongest fan bases for TFC over the years has been the Italian community. And [Sebastian] Giovinco obviously was a huge part of the team's successes in 2016, '17, '18, and now the possibility for Lorenzo. He's a special talent. He's got quite a personality, and immediately the excitement level in the city was incredible. So I think that part speaks for itself.

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Grant Wahl:

How will you go about incorporating a player like Insigne when he arrives mid-season?

Bob Bradley:

I think first is just that we establish football ideas in the way we play that make us a good team, as far as how the ball moves; when we lose the ball, what are our ideas defensively? How do we react? How do we step up? So there's so many football things that I think I want to establish with teams, and that's building a strong foundation. When I watched Italy last year in the Euros, I really felt that [coach Roberto] Mancini had done a fantastic job with the way the team played. And there were similarities with what they tried to do with what I think we were even doing at LAFC. And so for me, the starting point is establishing ideas. And then of course, Lorenzo has got some big games coming up, certainly their playoff to get to the World Cup and then the finishing of the season with Napoli.

And then when he arrives, it's just making sure that, everybody's going to be excited, but now they'll see right away what it's like to have that kind of guy. His way in the locker room is really special. And I've been really fortunate over all the years of coaching that when you have some big-name guys, some big personalities, the tone of how you work with them, how you speak to them in real ways, hold them accountable so that when they come into a team, nobody's afraid of them. Everybody's excited. Everybody looks forward to being on the field with him, create training sessions where his qualities can come through right away. And then at the end, when you have really talented players, your ideas as a team have to be how to get that player into the right positions, get him the ball with options in front of him, get him the ball in ways that now he can be creative, where he can make final passes and where he can get in position to score.

Grant Wahl:

There is always a sense with Giovinco, who I understand is not the same player as Insigne, that Giovinco really wasn't getting called into the Italian national team, because partly of the choice he made to come play in North America. Has Insigne gotten any sort of assurances from Mancini that he'll still be considered, that this is anything to be concerned about with the Italian national team if he comes to MLS?

Bob Bradley:

You know as much as I do. We all read that Mancini told him that as long as he's in good form and continuing to contribute the way he has, there's no issues. None of us really know the story with Giovinco. Seba in our league has two qualities that, well, there's three parts. I mean, he's still a clever dribbler. He's a great shooter, and he's great on free kicks. And so if you have those three skills, your ability to put up real numbers, it's going to pay off. 

Now in the Italian national team at that time, with other options that they had, that's a coaching decision, and whether that was really based on MLS or not, or whether or not they felt they had other players that had some of those qualities and did more for the team, yeah, those are the behind-the-scenes type discussions that don't usually end up in columns because it's more engaging in some ways to write that the reason he wasn't called in was because he was in MLS.

Grant Wahl:

We're also seeing reports today that Mario Balotelli is set to be called back in. So if Balotelli is still in the mix, I would certainly hope Lorenzo Insigne would continue to be in the mix. In terms of salary structure, this is far and away the biggest salary that an MLS team has ever paid a player. Do you think that this is a turning point in the league? Do you think this will change how other teams in the league approach spending on the very high end?

Bob Bradley:

Hard to say. I'm always a believer that in every league, different teams have to have different identities. And so again, there are teams that focus more on the youth. There's teams that have done a really good job of having homegrowns and moving them along. There's teams that are more interested in selling at a certain point. But like a lot of leagues and like even other sports in the U.S., there are going to be teams that really value big names, that value stars, and Toronto had success in 2016, '17 and '18 with big-name players. 

And again, my early discussions with Bill Manning before I took the job, he was quite clear that there was a strong feeling that the board would rather spend money in that way for a big name that really registers than go scouting and take chances on some younger players with the idea that you can develop them and sell them. And so I think it just is always interesting, and for me really important that you see different approaches. I think that's normal. I think we see it around the world in every league, and I'm a firm believer that it should be part of MLS.

Grant Wahl:

We've seen reports that Toronto is also potentially pursuing other big signings, including names like Andrea Belotti. Could we see more big signings in the near future for your team?

Bob Bradley:

I think it's possible. Like I said a second ago, I think that is the identity of the club. At the moment, you can't answer for specific guys because there are different discussions going on in terms of how we rebuild ourselves, what our roster's going to look like. It's a work in progress. And so I can't speak to any of those different discussions. I just know that the work to build the team and build the roster is going to be ongoing for the next weeks, month, who knows? Maybe months. 

And so it will be interesting to see how some of those things play out, and the idea of how you build a team, how you build a roster, how you connect some ideas with how you want to play without knowing in every case who's going to be with you. That's a challenge, but certainly you have to do those things at the same time.

Grant Wahl:

Your team at LAFC over the past four years did some unprecedented things in MLS. Why did you want to leave LAFC and join Toronto?

Bob Bradley:

In the summer of 2017, I had an idea for the people at LAFC of what kind of team I wanted to have, what kind of football we wanted to play, playing style, identity, a way to connect with the fan base, with the city. And look, I was excited that they thought that that made sense. And so for four years, that was an experience that all of us enjoyed. In football, it doesn't always work that just because you're a good team, just because you're fun to watch, exciting, you don't always get everything that you hope for. And certainly, the last two years with the pandemic, and just with some extenuating factors, we weren't as consistent as we had been. I thought we did a very good job of continuing to play in the way we always had gone about things.

We didn't want to throw that out. That's for sure. But I think that it's normal that at the end of four years, both sides have a moment to reflect and try to understand is everybody still on the same page? And again, maybe from management or from ownership, maybe there were some people that weren't as committed to what we had laid out in 2017. And so in that moment, it's fairly easy to just say, "Listen, it's been a great four years, and you guys have to do what you think is best, and I'm always excited for different challenges." And so that's how it played out.

Grant Wahl:

You're the sporting director at Toronto in addition to being the head coach. So you're in charge of personnel for the first time in your career. Why did you want the sporting director gig and how does that change your day-to-day job that you're doing?

Bob Bradley:

Yeah, I didn't have the title before, but I'm not sure that the responsibilities end up being that different. This time around, the idea of being sporting director also aligns with my hope that we can connect dots between the first team, the second team, the academy. That was part of the idea at LAFC, for sure. For different reasons, I don't think we managed to be as successful in connecting all those dots, simple point that in the early years at LAFC the academy didn't have fields right there. And so they were training in all these different spots. And so it wasn't like on a regular basis I got to see the academy kids. I loved in preseason or when we had injuries the ability to get some of the younger kids into training.

And eventually there were some homegrown signings, Tony Leone and Cristián Torres and Erik Dueñas. But I didn't feel that we were always able to connect those dots in all the best ways. And I'm hopeful that we can do a better job with that. The potential in those ways in Toronto, the potential is incredible. The talent in the greater Toronto area, the diversity of the talent. I had an awesome experience for a year in Le Havre, and French football with kids from so many different backgrounds, so many different kinds of upbringings, the multiculturalism, that is such an important part of football, and that is absolutely the case in the academy in Toronto. And look, that doesn't even include the kids that are going into other academies in the area, and haven't been part of Toronto's academy.

So I'm hopeful that as sporting director, we can really connect those dots right off the bat. The training ground, I see the academy kids. They're coming through. It's important that you see them, that there's a connection, that they know you're following them, that you can initiate conversations. I love, it's something I've done everywhere I've been with young players, and I've done it with Jayden Nelson and Ralph Priso early on before we started training. I saw them in the gym one day. And they're not academy players anymore, but I'll always say, "Do you guys watch football?" And they'll say yes, and then I'll say, "All right, when you watch, who's the player or a player that you watch that not because you like that team or not because they do certain special things, but who do you watch that you think you have some qualities similar to that player?"

And it's a good way to engage a young player to just see, are they willing to give you an answer? I've had young guys that go on and on and on and say, well, ummm. And I'm like, "Come on, man. There's no right or wrong here. Give me a name." I did that with Freddy Adu years ago, the first time he came in with the national team, I was pushing and pushing. He wouldn't give me a name. Finally, he said to me Robinho, and I said okay. And I had my portable DVD player, and we had played Brazil in Soldier Field not that long before that. It was a great game. We lost 4-2, and I showed him one or two plays from Robinho. And I say, "Okay, Freddy, if we can get you to look like that, we're going in a good direction."

So anyway I enjoy the give and take with young guys. Jayden Nelson told me Raheem Sterling. So I thought, okay, that's fair. If we can help you, and again, in different moments when we show him video, whether we pick Raheem Sterling or whether we pick [Serge] Gnabry, whether we pick [Leroy] Sané, it doesn't matter. It's just giving him some ideas of how certain players that have similar characteristics go about things. We showed our team a little bit of the way Liverpool steps up before one of our recent training sessions. And I was making the point to some of our attackers that when [Mohamed] Salah and [Sadio] Mané and [Roberto] Firmino go after people, they really go after them in a hard way. And you don't see Salah just standing out on the right side doing nothing. And the next day in training, Jayden did it a few times. And that was awesome. So I enjoy that part of the work.

Grant Wahl:

I'm trying to figure out the best way to ask this, but when you are working with young players, do you ever have a concern that you might be intimidating to them?

Bob Bradley:

I enjoy trying to find a way to connect with guys and then to engage with them. There's different ways to do that. I had a situation at Le Havre early on with Ferland Mendy. And I had asked some of the other coaches about him, because he wasn't playing. He was young. He was hard to get to know. And from the other coaches, I didn't get very positive feedback, and so, Ferland didn't speak any English. And so there was like a really important friend of mine at Le Havre, Michael Bunel. Michael was involved with the academy. He's done some work with coming here [to MLS] as part of the French-model course that different people have taken. And Michael was also doing some video analysis and helping translate a little bit.

And so Michael and I sat down with Ferland, and the first thing I said was, "Do you have any idea what everybody thinks of you?" And he shook his head and I said, "They don't say the best things." And he got really angry and I said, "Look, man, that's not what I'm saying about you. That's what everybody else is saying about you. So we’ve got to figure out if you're a good guy, why others aren't seeing that." And so, look, that's not a standard approach. It's not by-the-book that the first thing you do is tell someone that you've heard certain things about them, but it's a way that from the beginning you are finding a way to see, to look him in the eye, to have a real conversation, to see has he had very many of those up until that point?

And look, I've always tried with all the players that I've coached, and this goes back to college guys, and certainly along the way, to try to find the right tone, the right way to be encouraging, to be supportive, but to also find ways to be honest and engage them. And so I think that you'd find enough players that have played for me that would maybe not want to say this right away, but eventually they would admit that whatever they had heard going in, that probably now the day-to-day part was different, because the way that you engage them and try to push them and make them better, a lot of guys do appreciate that. They really do. So yeah, I always try to find the right way.

And no, I don't think in the end they're intimidated. And part of that, I think that's also important, Grant, is that if you're going to get on a young guy for certain things, then you have to hold the older players and the experienced guys and the veterans to high standards as well. And I did mention earlier that I'd been fortunate. I've coached some big players, and I had some pretty good back and forth with guys like Hristo.

Grant Wahl:

Stoitchkov, for listeners.

Bob Bradley:

Yeah, Hristo Stoitchkov, there's only one Hristo. And so look, that's part of why we're still friends. If I had been afraid of him, he would have spit me out for sure. But we had some really strong moments, good moments, things we can laugh about now. And look, I think that's an important part of the way you work, that you're real, that your ability to look at people, talk to them, hold them accountable, admit you're wrong, laugh, joke, whatever. So yeah, I still try to bring that to every player that I work with.

“To continue to grow the game it's got to be more of an open system. I think we’re seeing the commitment from some of the clubs in lower leagues to develop players. And so: Rewards, punishments, opportunities. I say many times that in order to grow the game, you’ve got to make everybody feel that they’re part of it. You can’t have a game where so many people feel like they’re not included. That doesn’t work. And again, that’s just an important overall concept that I think is what the game is all about around the world.” — Bob Bradley on promotion and relegation in the United States

Grant Wahl:

Some of the names, you just mentioned one of them, obviously you coached Mohamed Salah with the Egyptian national team. Ferland Mendy's with Real Madrid now. Carlos Vela with LAFC, others over the years.

Bob Bradley:

Only one that won the World Cup, however. Do you know who that is?

Grant Wahl:

Let me think. I should know this. Who?

Bob Bradley:

Youri Djorkaeff.

Grant Wahl:

Djorkaeff, yeah.

Bob Bradley:

So yeah, no, look, it's just always interesting that you get a chance with some of these guys. Different personalities, but I appreciate that part.

Grant Wahl:

Do you ever bring those guys in to talk to your players or not? Is it sort of left unsaid that your guys understand that you coached guys like that in the past?

Bob Bradley:

I'd bring all of them in if I could, but they're all still successful and busy and doing different things. It's still great when you run into guys. When [Bradley’s USMNT] beat Spain in 2009 at the Confederations Cup, after the game, speaking of our man, Hristo Stoitchkov, he was there doing media work. And he was in our locker room after the game. Man, he was pretty excited for us. And obviously, guys like [Stoitchkov’s former Chicago Fire teammates] DaMarcus Beasley and Carlos Bocanegra, and he remembered [Bradley’s son] Michael from when he was young. That's always a good part. I wish you could do it more, but if it happens, great.

But I do think that every now and then, to use an example of what this player was like when he was young, I mean, Salah was a player from the beginning [when Bradley coached Salah with the Egyptian national team] who was humble, wanted to get better, wanted extra work, wanted to be coached, was a great teammate. And again, I still hear from him. And so when you see early what a guy's all about, and you see the values and the way they treat people, it's always nice that sometimes you can use that as an example for another player and say, "Look how hard he worked. This is the reason that he's where he is." Nothing to do with me, just a guy that was so committed wherever he's been. He just wanted to take in information and get better. And it's been fun to watch.

Grant Wahl:

Do you think [Salah’s] the best player in the world now?

Bob Bradley:

Right now? Yes. But look, that question is always interesting. I mean, I appreciate football. I mean, what a year [Karim] Benzema had last year. I mean, there's another player that along the way, you see him in certain moments. I've seen Real Madrid train many times when they were in the U.S., and to see him continuing to play at the level that he plays is incredible. So I give credit to that. [Robert] Lewandowski, with everything, hasn't gotten all the recognition that he probably has deserved. 

And part of it is just that in all of this, we've all been so fortunate to see Lionel Messi over all these years. For me, he's the best player ever. And so when you're saying who's the best player, yeah, it's who's the best player today or in this game. But if you're just saying who's the best player, sometimes you just say, "Yeah, well Messi's the best player." So it makes it hard.

Grant Wahl:

So you're out in California right now with Toronto FC training camp out there. What are the most important things on your to-do list from your perspective in the next month as you get ready for the season?

Bob Bradley:

Well, the thing that I always put first on the list is find the best way to have really good training sessions every day, training sessions that engage every player. Where there's real coaching in the simplest way where you create as many game actions that fit the way you want to play, that fit things that will happen on a field to work on reactions and decisions and execution. And so look, I love that part the most. And I want players that are excited to be coached who have open minds to how they can still get better. So the number one way to make a good team is to try to connect with every guy and make every player better. And so that's always the starting point. And then yes, given everything in the next month, from top to bottom, there's so many different things going on.

I'm tired of the expression moving parts, but yeah, we’ve got a lot of moving parts, so it will be necessary to do a lot of things at the same time, but I won't let any of that get in the way of just what happens every day. When we get on the field, we still spend time. Then later in the day, looking at training, discussing plays, usually put together a little bit of video, even in preseason, might be 10 minutes. It might be three, four, five plays from training. It might be a couple of plays from other teams that are similar to the situations that occur in training. And so I think all of those ways of working show players what we're trying to do every day. So I'm really into that part.

Grant Wahl:

Toronto was the second-worst team points wise in MLS last season. What's a realistic goal for this season in terms of the standings or the playoffs or whatever you're using?

Bob Bradley:

First is just to make a good team, to establish real ideas. When a team loses confidence, when a team has too many players that have sort of lost their way for one reason or another, the attempt to get to the bottom of it, understand who are guys that still really want to be here, who are guys that even if they were good players in the past have sort of, for whatever reason, decided that it's time to move on or move out, when those things get started, sure, there's the usual goals, win as many games as you can, get in the playoffs, be a team that can compete to win everything. But you don't get to any of those things without the day-to-day process. And so I don't get caught up writing the other type of goals down on a sheet of paper. I think we just focus on the process every day.

Grant Wahl:

What kind of role will your son Michael have this season? Will he be in any way a player-coach, or will it be pure player?

Bob Bradley:

Look, I think anybody who knows Michael, and it's been especially true in his time in Toronto, I think he always tried as well with the national team. He's a guy who, his level of professionalism, his level of commitment, and I think he's trying to help guys. The relationship that he has with young players here, it's easy to see. It's been that way over the years. Again, at different times in the past, I've read articles where somebody like Justin Morrow was talking about the role that Michael played. So I think he'll continue to play an important role. And look, I've said 10 times in this discussion, this idea of coaching people and trying to still make guys better. So I'm excited to still try to coach Michael every day. I have coached him in the past, but not in a while.

See little things in training, open up his mind to things that can still get done at a higher level. One thing I know is that when you create good training sessions every day that challenge players physically, mentally, technically, he'll be excited about that. I mean, he still loves to play football. He's a tough one because if a training session is good, he'll be the first one to say that was awesome. And if a training session is no good, he’s the first one to speak about that too. So he's got strong opinions, but I think the challenge of continuing to find good ways to push him is something that just like with every other player I'm looking forward to.

Grant Wahl:

We know how close MLS teams have come, including Toronto, including LAFC, to ending Mexico's 16-year reign over the CONCACAF Champions League. And I realize that's not something in Toronto's near future. But what's it going to take for MLS teams to start winning CCL even fairly regularly? Forget just once.

Bob Bradley:

I mean look, to win it once, yes, there's teams that were right there. And so this idea that, and look, all media do this. So I know you're the one that says, ah, it's another year, and MLS still hasn’t done it. It's fair. It's honest. You can't ever deny that. Toronto had a big chance. Certainly, the second leg in Guadalajara [in the 2018 final] I thought they had the opportunity to get the second goal. It goes into penalties and they lose. In a different format at the end of a wild year [in the 2020 final], LAFC over the first 60, 70 minutes against Tigres, I thought we played really well.

We would never have been in that spot without Carlos [Vela]. And as it turns out, when it was 1-0, [one of our guys] got by a guy on the right and cut a ball to Carlos, and Carlos had a big chance to put us up 2-0 and wasn't able to take advantage. He had really been physically pounded in that game. And by the end of the game he was tired. And then late we gave up a goal on a set piece, and then a late winner by [André-Pierre] Gignac. That was really disappointing. I thought we had the chance to win. So there's those single moments.

What does it take on a bigger scale? Look, there are people that talk about the difference in budgets and all this. I prefer to just focus on the football part. You need a really good team. You need a team that especially if the format includes a number of home and aways, and we [at LAFC] only had the one at the beginning of the year, February, late February and early March, first in León, and then the return match in Banc of California. So we didn't have a series of home and aways like Toronto had to get to the final, but if you're going to compete in all those home and aways, you've got to have a team that is motivated to do that. It's a challenge for every coach because the depth of your roster and how you rotate and balance, but in order to do that, you've got to put a priority that we want to win this thing.

And we've seen a few [MLS] teams that have clearly done that, others not so much. So you need good teams. You need players that are excited about it. I mean, when we went into 2020, Carlos Vela was so excited about Champions League, and even in a year where he had some injuries and he was away from the team—he wasn't with us in Orlando for MLS is Back because his wife was expecting. But at the end of the year, he was refocused and motivated for going back to Orlando and for what turned out to be the quarterfinal against Cruz Azul, the semifinal against Club América and then the final. So you need your big players to be really motivated. You need them to play at a high level, and then you need a good enough team that you can play against good teams and in different kinds of conditions and find ways to play good football and win.

Grant Wahl:

When you and I did an interview two years ago, you said you thought it was time for MLS to consider promotion and relegation and eliminating team-specific geographic areas for signing talent from. Are you still in the same place on those things? And how likely do you think it is for those things to actually happen?

Bob Bradley:

Yes, I'm in the same place. I appreciate the fact that to continue to grow the game it's got to be more of an open system. I think we're seeing the commitment from some of the clubs in lower leagues to develop players. And so: rewards, punishments, opportunities. I say many times that in order to grow the game, you've got to make everybody feel that they're part of it. You can't have a game where so many people feel like they're not included. That doesn't work. And again, that's just an important overall concept that I think is what the game is all about around the world. So yes, I absolutely believe in that. 

How will that work in the future? I'm not involved in any of those discussions [laughs]. I try to be very honest with my feelings about what's good for the game and how to move things forward. And then along with that, I try to put my biggest amount of focus and energy on working with the players that are in front of me every day and the teams that I get the opportunity to coach. So look, I express myself, but how possible is it? Probably in the short run not very possible, but little by little, different leadership, stronger voices, yeah, maybe there will be some changes, even if they come gradually.

Grant Wahl:

Do you think there's any potential for a sooner change with MLS rules on where you can sign young players from?

Bob Bradley:

I hope so, but again, I don't know the ins and outs of that discussion. It doesn't take a genius to realize that in all professional sports, oftentimes behind closed doors, discussions go in the direction of what's good for me, what's good for our club? And so there's got to be enough people that are part of those discussions that can really powerfully push for what it will mean in a bigger way when things get opened up, and up until now maintaining some level of control obviously has always won the day.

I just think that if there are teams with different identities, different playing styles, the ability then to bring players to your club that fit what you’re looking for, fit your model, to make it more competitive. Yes, I've also said that if there's a club [in MLS] that doesn't want to have an academy, then they shouldn't be forced to have an academy. There are successful clubs in Europe that even if they have academies, the academies don't have anything to do with the first-team success, or little to do. So I think there's different ways to go about this, but the more people that are involved and are committed and then are in a competitive situation with better scouting, with better coaches in the academy, I think ultimately that's good for the game.

Grant Wahl:

Are there any other things, big things, that you think MLS should consider changing that would be significant?

Bob Bradley:

Well, if I speak about the idea that we need to make sure that everybody feels that they're part of the game, then look, the more that we can do, whether we're talking U.S. Soccer, whether we're talking MLS or we're talking just how the game is run in our country, we've got to make sure that playing opportunities, all neighborhoods, all kids, quality coaching, good scouting, opportunity, opportunity, opportunity is there. And that's opportunity for players. That's opportunity for coaches. 

I still have too many people that tell me it's hard to get into coaching courses or that coaching courses are too expensive, and the cost of a pro license in certain countries in Europe versus the cost in our country. Look, we should be trying to not only create as many good players, but as many good coaches. I have always tried that if there are coaches in the area where I am working, whether that's been in the U.S. or outside, if they're into it, if they're serious, if they want to come watch training, if they want to have a football discussion, I've always tried to make sure that look, there's an open door here.

And I have always a lot of time for young coaches that are into it and are motivated and want to see what's going on. So I don't know how you make all that happen, but I do think it starts at the top. And I do think it starts with a tone that comes from the top. Let's face it, U.S. Soccer hasn't always managed that. That doesn't mean there haven't been good people along the way in different spots. I mean, one of the best guys that was ever involved in soccer in the U.S. was Mooch Myernick. And because of just Mooch being a real guy, obviously he's from Trenton, [N.J.], every place he went, just the work he did. 

A friend of mine that I coach with is Charlie Inverso. Charlie's the coach at Rider University. And years ago, Charlie started a program in Trenton for the kids in Trenton. It's called Mooch Soccer. And so that didn't come from the top of U.S. Soccer, that's for sure. But it came from U.S. Soccer because Mooch was a real guy who was a big part of some good things at U.S. Soccer. So indirectly, Mooch's impact, and what that meant to anybody who was ever around him, and how well Charlie knew that and appreciated that, that directly led to a program that man, we should have hundreds of programs like that. So for me, yeah, it's got to be a tone that starts at the top. And then you just need as many people who find ways to give back to the game. Giving back to the game is still really important.

Grant Wahl:

The U.S. men's national team has some big World Cup qualifiers starting this week. As a former U.S. men's national team coach, what's it like for you to watch these games?

Bob Bradley:

I watch as someone who wants to see our team play well. I watch as a guy who loves football, loves to see good football. I understand what the qualifying's like, the pressures along the way. In the moment, look, I think the team has made progress along the way, just the mentality of the group. We know that there are some young, talented players. Seeing them grow, take on bigger roles, get a little bit of an idea of what it's like to come in for qualifiers, where sometimes you’ve got to switch gears quickly just because now you played the week before in Barcelona in a big game. It's still going to be a different kind of challenge to come in and sometimes play in a World Cup qualifier where maybe the conditions aren't great.

Now, if you play at Barcelona, from a technical standpoint, you can certainly do it. But when you switch gears, do you know what's coming? Have you said, "You know what? I love playing in Camp Nou, but man, this next game's going to be a challenge in a completely different way." And so I think I've seen from Gregg [Berhalter, the U.S. coach] and his staff and so many players, I think I've seen progress in that regard. So I hope that can continue. The team can continue progressing.

I think we've seen adjustments to the way the team plays. Early on, I thought they were a little bit mechanical in different ways. And now I think it's become more fluid and more dynamic. I think that takes advantage of some of the qualities of some of our players. And look, I'm always excited when I see players, whether they're playing in Europe or whether they're playing in MLS, leave their clubs, come in, immediately realize that they're part of something that's bigger than they are, no matter what club they play on. 

That's something that Youri Djorkaeff did speak of, that no matter where he was, when they came into the national team in France, they all knew it was bigger than them. And so when I see good examples of that, and I see a team that goes on the field with the right mentality, then yeah, I'm excited, and I'm proud of that when it happens. I'm looking for more of it.

Grant Wahl:

Would you ever be interested, not next week, not next year, but someday coaching the U.S. men's national team again?

Bob Bradley:

No, I think there's going to be other options that are better moving forward. I loved my time there. I'm proud of what we were all about during those years, the way we improved, our ability to grow in the course of a cycle, our ability now to early on with some friendlies play against some big teams, find out what that was like, and then be ready later in the cycle, if we have the chance in a competition to play a big team, to be ready for that. I think with every team, you try to find a balance between getting the right group of players technically, but getting guys that also every time they step on the field, their way of competing, their way of helping each other.

So I think our teams had balance. And so look, I was proud of all that, but I don't live in the past. I enjoyed my time with the national team. I really enjoye the day-to-day part of club football the most. I still enjoy just the idea of every day what is training going to be like, making sure that everybody that comes in is excited for what we're going to do. 

So no, I had my chance, and I'm excited now that there'll be other coaches moving forward, that it will be their time. But in the moment, I give Gregg credit. I've known him a long time. I had him in Region 1 ODP when he was a young guy, and I always appreciated that he was into it, asked questions, wanted to talk about the game. And so it's not a surprise to see that obviously he had a good playing career and that he's taken that into the coaching side and look, any of the young coaches that I've had a chance to work with as players, or at some point along the way, it's always with great pride that I watch them move on and move their careers along.

Grant Wahl:

A couple more questions with Bob Bradley, really enjoying this and appreciate your time. What do you think about FIFA wanting to have World Cups every two years?

Bob Bradley:

I don't like it.

Grant Wahl:

Why?

Bob Bradley:

Because I think club football's important. I think the Euro competition's important. I think you've got to understand how in order to continue to have high level games, you have to understand how many games a player can play you in a one-year period, in a two-year period, in a four-year period. And so look, I appreciate every four years, I appreciate the different tournaments that come in between. Africa Cup of Nations is going on right now. So that's not an ideal one on the calendar for some people, but it's still an exciting tournament. And it's exciting for the players to go and play for their countries. I know how much that means. So no, I don't like a World Cup every two years.

Grant Wahl:

Do you ever think we will see a European Super League of the kind that was proposed and quickly died a year ago?

Bob Bradley:

I hope not. Because once again, club football, the competition week in and week out, I still feel that's important. And then that obviously sets itself up well that something like Champions League has a real special place. So no, I love to see what goes on week in and week out with all the leagues and still love then the opportunity when the best teams do compete in Champions League to see what that's all about.

Grant Wahl:

Bob Bradley is the head coach and sporting director of Toronto FC. Bob, thanks for coming on the show.

Bob Bradley:

Good, Grant. Keep it going, man.