Comcast's 10:00 broadcast tonight had several minutes on Marco's retirement, including the press conference with Marco, Payne and Etcheverry. It included Arena and Payne, both with voices cracking, and red eyes all around. Arena praised Marco in probably the most effusive terms I've ever heard him use -- it was very emotional. Was nice to see. Anyone else catch this?
I'm not sure if you want me to start a thread on this or you can split it later. The highlights of the conference started with a very emotional Bruce Arena saying how much Marco meant to him. Payne added that Marco was the ultimate professional on and off the team. He never showed up a teammate or do anything that wasn't in the best interest of the team. They then showed a clip of the awesome FK against Chicago. Ben Olsen said how much he learned from Marco about how to play on a soccer field and how to treat the fans. They came back to Bruce who got Marco crying after he said that he learned more from Marco than vice versa. pretty tough to watch.....I'll post the Univision interview after the 11:00 news.
Arena and Payne were both pretty choked up when they spoke. And I don't think I've ever seen Etch cry before.
One thing I forgot to mention. When they interviewed Marco about coming to MLS, he said his plan was helping promote the sport in the US. He said he was happy playing in Colo Colo in Chile and when the opportunity presented itself, he thought about it and decided it was something he really wanted to try and succeed at. Take it from me Marco, mission accomplished
Do they replay the comcast highlights show tonight? I want to see this! Nevermind just checked the guide and the replay of Comcast Sportsnite is at 1AM
Here's Goff's take on the press conference http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39554-2004Jan22.html Playing for another MLS Club, however is out of the question. "I don't see myself weraing another [MLS] jersey" he said. "This is my club. My heart and soul will always be with DC United."
From his interview on Univision..... The one point Marco wanted to emphasize was that the fans had alot to do with the success the team had on the field. He said our importance was never taken for granted, at home or on the road.
One thing that hasn't been mentioned here was that Arena talked about how important Marco had been in his life. That he had learned more from Marco than Marco had learned from him and that he had benefitted more from Marco than the other way around. Arena was clearly very grateful.
I stayed up to watch the news conference on the 1:00 am replay. It was an appropriately warm and emotional send off for Marco. They showed lots of highlights of Marco's MLS career. KP and Arena were excellent and it was clearly very touching for Marco to hear the praise from them. Ben Olsen got in some good comments on what it meant to play and learn with Marco as a young professional.
I saw the 7AM replay. I was happy that an offseason story made it into the show, let alone get the second spot (after Caps trade rumors). It was a good long piece, definately a nice send-off.
One might say that, by extension, Marco is one of the most important people in US Soccer history. 1) Was a big factor in the success of MLS 2) Was a big factor in Arena's success, leading to his moving to the National Team. 3) Was a big factor in the most successful soccer club in US history. Any thoughts?
Amen to that. I was choked up watching it last night and would like to thank Comcast for the excellent job they did.
I agree with this, and it's something that I realized as I was watching the clips from the press conference. I think this is what Bruce Arena was getting at when he said that he "learned more from Marco than Marco did from me" and that we won't even realize Marco's importance for soccer in this country until much later when we look back.
Clearly one thing Arena didn't learn from Marco was rudimentary Spanish. I was happily surprised by the Comcast report this morning - very touching.
Wasn't there always an ongoing joke between Bruce and Marco about this .... My brain is too fried to remember exactly. I think Bruce said he'd start to learn Spanish once Marco learned English. And Marco said he already spoke better English than Jaime did Spanish, etc....