You won’t want to miss the latest episode of Winging it with Zak and Brad.
With everyone stuck at home, the Sounders legends supplied the soccer content we all need right now, inviting special guests Stephen Hauschka and Columbus Crew SC midfielder Darlington Nagbe.
Hauscha, who spent six seasons as a kicker for the Seattle Seahawks, joined Steve Zakuani and Brad Evans to talk about his first love: soccer. In fact, the NFL veteran went to Middlebury College to try and make the soccer team as a walk-on. When that fell through, his roommate suggested he tryout for the football team as a kicker, which turned out to be an excellent career pivot for the eventual Super Bowl champion.
Asked to supply a scouting report for himself as a soccer player, Hauschka provided a rather frank assessment of his strengths and weaknesses.
“He’s got really slow feet,” he joked. “He’s lumbering around the field. But if you give him some time and you give him some space, he can kick the ball wherever he wants on the field. He can spread the ball out wide. He’s really good at passing. Great free kicks; great delivery on corner kicks… He has like two moves that come up once in a blue moon.”
Later in the pod, Zakuani’s former teammate at Akron University and Evans’ former foe with Portland Timbers, Darlington Nagbe, to talk all things soccer.
Given his longstanding friendships with Evans and Zakuani, it led to a fascinating, frank discussion about his MLS career, views on the game and reasons for turning down U.S. Men’s National Team call-ups.
“I’m at the point where I just want to be home, spend time with my kids and not travel as much,” said Nagbe. “The thing for me is, being home with my family is a lot more important to me than national team games at this point in my life.”
You can listen to the full episode here.
