The Play is making friends and we want to show them off. This week's episode is a sample from a similar soccer podcast, This Football Life, designed to take fans into the (real) life of people around professional soccer. Just as fans tune into The Play to learn about behind-the-scenes info, This Football Life digs into questions and topics few other shows consider.  This week's guest is British footballer, Adebayo Akinfenwa. If you Google him, you'll know exactly who we are talking about from the first picture that comes up.

You can find out more about This Football Life at www.tifofootball.com/podcast.

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Bobby Warshaw answers questions from listeners about his book, When the Dream Became Reality. He is joined by 11-year MLS veteran, Stephen Keel, to get help on the questions and to provide a different perspective. Bobby and Stephen talk about the role of vanity in becoming a pro player, their regrets when they look back on their careers, the development of sexuality in a male locker room, and some thoughts on grooming children to be both talented players and good people. 

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Bobby Warshaw is joined by Michael Stephens, eight-year professional veteran, to dissect Columbus' second goal in the first leg of their playoff matchup with NYCFC. Bobby and Mike also talk about how a team deals with going down a man after a red card; the importance of leadership on the field; a potential difference between domestic and international players; and how a group of players (ie. Columbus) might handle being told they are moving cities. 

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In our finale episode (for now?), we just hang out and talk. Host Bobby Warshaw is hanging up the mic. For his last show, he is joined by friends and fellow former MLSers Michael Stephens and Cole Grossman. They meander around to different topics, from the growth of MLS over their careers, to the role of agents in their lives, to the thought process around retiring.

Thank you to everyone who has listened over the last two years. It's been fun. Hopefully you've enjoyed listening to The Play as much as we have making it.

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Ever wonder what it's like to date a professional athlete? Or how a pro player - always moving from team to team, city to city - holds a boyfriend or girlfriend? To put it simply, it's not easy. There are dynamics to a professional player's life that make having a partner difficult. Some make it work, while others don't. Host Bobby Warshaw bumbled (no pun intended) through relationships throughout his career. On the flip side, Chris Seitz, GK for FC Dallas, and Jeb Brovsky, six year veteran of MLS and NASL, are in healthy, loving marriages. They join Bobby to talk about making a relationship work, and even teach him a few lessons. What did they do that Bobby couldn't? How does a professional player make a relationship survive?

There are some topics of sports rarely hear about honestly from professional athletes. This is one of them. And this show is the anecdote. Thanks to Chris and Jeb for being so open about their lives.

This topic is taken from Bobby's book, When the Dream Became Reality, now available on Amazon. 

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Host Bobby Warshaw wrote a book, When the Dream Became Reality, about his life becoming and being a professional soccer player. He wanted to give fans a deeper look into life as a pro player, so he went ahead and jotted down 86,000 words (it sounds like a lot, but it comes to 264 pages). It's on sale now. To give people a glimpse of what to expect in the book (and perhaps tease them to buy it...), Bobby cedes the reigns to good friend and former teammate Matt Pryzdowski for a Q&A. Matt got an early read of the book and finally gets to turn the tables on Bobby and ask the probing and uncomfortable questions. 

Whenthedreambecamereality.com

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The summer transfer window has arrived. For fans, it's a time of excitement and entertainment. For players, it's their life. What's it like for a player to get bought, sold, traded, or cut? How does it feel to make a big change in your life and career? MLS veteran Stephen Keel and Helsingborgs IF goalkeeper Matt Pyzdrowski join host Bobby Warshaw to discuss their experiences changing teams and dealing with the uncertainty of the transfer window. They share their own stories and answer questions from listeners. 

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When you score on a bicycle kick, you get an invite onto the show. Ike Opara of Sporting Kansas City saw the ball rise into the air toward the goal, turned his body, and volleyed an overhead kick into the back of the net against LA Galaxy. It's the kind of play that's nearly impossible to describe. The only person who can do it justice is the person who performed it. Opara joins host Bobby Warshaw to break down his magical moment. What goes through a player's mind to decide he should try a bicycle kick? How does he get his body to go for it? From a general standpoint, Warshaw and Opara discuss set pieces and how to defend the second ball back into the box. Later in the show, Opara and Warshaw talk about achieving happiness, and how it impacts one's career. 

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Pundits and fans often discuss the power of home field advantage. It's become a key part of the soccer lexicon. Sometimes we need to stop ask: is it actually a thing? We turn to the pros - the guys that have experienced big crowds and long road trips - to find out if home field advantage actually exists. Danny Cruz, nine-year MLS and NASL veteran, and Ugo Ihemelu, former MLS center back, join host Bobby Warshaw to discuss the facts and myths behind home field advantage. They break down the physical factors (travel, playing surface), the atmosphere component, and the physiological elements.

Credits:

Producer - Courtney Andrews

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The US Men's National Team went to Estadio Azteca in Mexico City and got a draw against Mexico. The US took the early lead, but conceded when Mexico's Carlos Vela got the ball on the counter and cut inside on DeMarcus Beasley to put a shot past Brad Guzan. A big talking point around American soccer was Mexico's goal and whether the US team and, specifically, left defender DeMarcus Beasley could have prevented it. As always, we go straight to the pros to get the answer from guys who have experienced the exact type of play. MLS veteran outside defender Chris Wingert - a teammate of Beasley on the 2004!! Olympic Qualifying team - joins host Bobby Warshaw to break down the play and give his insight as an outside back. Should Beasley have forced to help in the center? Did he get left out to dry without help in the middle? Or should he have kept Vela to the outside? Or did something happen earlier in the play that mattered more than anything Beasley did...?

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