All eyes are on Team USA as it advances to the knockout round at the World Cup in Qatar. Bruce Murray, a former U.S. national team soccer player, joined Cheddar to reflect on the upcoming match, the decision to hold the cup in Qatar, and his own experience playing in the 1990 World Cup. 

All eyes are on Team USA as it advances
to the knockout round at the World Cup in Qatar. Bruce Murray, a former U.S. national
team soccer player, joined Cheddar to reflect on the upcoming match, the
decision to hold the cup in Qatar, and his own experience playing in the 1990
World Cup. 

Cheddar's News Wrap

Soccer Legend Bruce Murray On Qatar World Cup

the U. S. Men's national team will face the Netherlands at the World Cup in Qatar tomorrow. It comes after a 1 to 0 victory against Iran earlier this week in a grueling match. So joining me now is someone with personal experience on the matter, which is Bruce Murray. He's a former U. S. National team soccer player. So Bruce, thanks so much for coming on the show first. What are you expecting from this match against the Netherlands? Hey, Michelle, thanks for having me. Um, This is is a World Cup that the only thing that's predictable is how unpredictable it is, is upset city upset after upset after upset Saudi Arabia, Korea, japan Morocco. Um, absolutely fantastic. Um, I personally believe that the United States couldn't be in a better spot right now. We've got a lot of class players. We haven't played our best football yet. We're almost there. We haven't put two halves together quite yet. Uh, and we're we're playing a dutch team that's on the rebound? They're not exactly the same dutch team that, you know from the seventies In the 80s. So it's all set up for the United States of America and it really is going to come down to determination. One thing I would say about the way it's set up every, every venue is so close to every other venue travel is not gonna be an issue. So the US which relies on fitness is going to be able to get some real recharging of the batteries. Now the choice to host the World Cup and Guitar was really controversial from the human rights violations to even the timing of when they're holding the World Cup this year. So what's your take on the decision? Yeah. You know, again, I'm not sure exactly, you know, how, how the process works in terms of getting the World Cup, but but here we have, um, the first, you know, the first World Cup in the Middle East. Okay. And so far, what I've seen is is, you know, a gracious country, they're hosting everybody. They've they've said they're welcoming to LGBT Q. Um, you know, migrant white rights for the workers are are being being looked at, there being, uh, there's a 2033 I think it's a 2030 platform where they're looking to uh, to build on everything that's happening. There's, you know, 60% of the female population uh wants to go or is in college right now. So at the end of the day, um, you know, if you want to change, you have to let change happen, you have to at least give people a chance. And that's the way I look at it. I think there, I think from what everything I see, let's let these people have a chance because I I feel like they're looking to change and they're looking to get in the new world order and and obviously get business for dojo. Now, several teams have staged peaceful protests throughout the world Cup, even the U. S. Got in some controversy, Iran was calling for them to be actually ousted from the tournament after they posted some postings about without the Iranian um without the Iranian flag in their social media accounts. So do you think it's important for players and teams to use the stage to speak out against social and political issues? Yeah, it definitely is. Um you know, players are like every other human being, they all have their own opinions and and so forth. But um you know, the politics of this World Cup has really um it's really turned uh into A real uh not nothing, I mean it's just the football is taken over now and you know, and politics or politics, but there are meaningful changes that are coming, obviously they've been put in place and let's see what happens going down the road. Um there's no question uh that politics has played a major part, but now the soccer is is taken over for sure. Now you represented the US in the 1990 World Cup, what was that experience like? And how did it shape the rest of your career? Yeah, no, that's a great question. Uh We were a very young team, mostly college guys uh and we got a chance to go over and play Italy the host in Italy and almost got a tie in that game. Um But yeah, it it really allowed me and allowed the US players a platform to go to europe. So I played in England uh teammates of mine played in Germany and that that was the first foray into europe for our players. Now, we've got guys playing in the Premier League, we got guys playing in Germany, we got guys playing in Italy. So the U. S, the U. S. Player now is a respected player versus kind of like just a player who would run all day and just kind of fill up the lineup back in the day. Well, you know, it's a young team this year too, so a lot of parallels there to the 1990 team. Thanks to Bruce Murray, former US national T soccer team player.