Speaker 1: Welcome in. It's time for another soccer down here, one
Speaker 1: v one on the SDH network. I'm Jason Longshore and today,
Speaker 1: alongside Madison Cruz, we had the chance to sit down
Speaker 1: and speak to new Atlanta United center back in Ami Kai,
Speaker 1: the Albanian international. We've seen him on the field a
Speaker 1: few times now for Atlanta United, and I think it
Speaker 1: was pretty evident very quickly what kind of a presence
Speaker 1: he could have in this group. He came onto the
Speaker 1: field as a substitute and in his first couple of
Speaker 1: minutes wearing the Atlanta United kit, he was organizing. He
Speaker 1: was making sure that people had their marks. Love to
Speaker 1: see that sort of thing, and I hope you'll love
Speaker 1: to hear this conversation with in a I felt like
Speaker 1: afterwards I had a better sense of not just who
Speaker 1: he was as a soccer player, but who he is
Speaker 1: as a person. Hopefully you'll feel that as well. Here's
Speaker 1: our conversation with Nam Cockey.
Speaker 2: First thing for me, just for you, like when did
Speaker 2: it all start? You know, when did you find the game?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I was like I think when I went to a professional,
Speaker 4: professional professional like for kids playing for kids was like
Speaker 4: twelve thirteen years old.
Speaker 3: That's not too early, you know.
Speaker 4: It was like my father, my family, you know, was
Speaker 4: a little bit hard for them because they was working,
Speaker 4: so it was not so easy to drive me to
Speaker 4: the academy. I was in Rhodes is an island in
Speaker 4: Greece when I started, and yeah, then I moved on
Speaker 4: to one more academy that was like cooperated with a
Speaker 4: big team in Greece, Olymbihaicos, but was in the island.
Speaker 4: And then yeah, at sixteen, I went to my first
Speaker 4: club that was a professional club, Plandel, because it's a
Speaker 4: first division club in Greece. I left my family at
Speaker 4: this age, and then I became professional in this club
Speaker 4: and then I move on to palk to Portugal and
Speaker 4: now I'm here.
Speaker 2: I think, just you mentioned your family, what did it
Speaker 2: mean to you to have that support from them as
Speaker 2: well when you started so young and then going to
Speaker 2: your first special club when you were sixteen as well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I always respect them even more about this because,
Speaker 4: like I said, one more time, they sacrificed many things
Speaker 4: for me and my sister, Like they left the country
Speaker 4: for financial reason, they went to another country that it's
Speaker 4: not easy obviously, and then to my party know, they
Speaker 4: try to help me also sacrifice one more time to
Speaker 4: try to move on with the cars and all of
Speaker 4: these things, the stuff that I need. And even when
Speaker 4: I was sixteen, you know, it's not easy decision for
Speaker 4: a partent, So say to the kid, Okay, now you
Speaker 4: go in another place that's far from them.
Speaker 3: But they trust me.
Speaker 4: I trust them, and that's important and I'm really happy
Speaker 4: for what they did for me.
Speaker 1: You know when you were a kid, was there a moment,
Speaker 1: a player, a coach that you remember that kind of
Speaker 1: made you feel like, this is what I want to
Speaker 1: do for the rest of my life.
Speaker 3: There was two.
Speaker 4: One of them was when when I went in this academy,
Speaker 4: I told you that was a coach that teach me
Speaker 4: things like also he tried to help me even training
Speaker 4: with another team with then I was like thirteen years
Speaker 4: old and I was training with the with the team
Speaker 4: like with men. Not in my age, you know, there
Speaker 4: was men. So that was really good for me. They
Speaker 4: improved me a lot. And the second one and maybe
Speaker 4: the most important, was the first coach I had in
Speaker 4: the academy when the team might become professional in Panetardkos.
Speaker 4: His name is George Startasis, he's still like before I
Speaker 4: come here in the individual preseason I was doing.
Speaker 3: We work together.
Speaker 4: For me, his unbelievable coach, like also a person you know.
Speaker 4: I can speak with him and he always now tried
Speaker 4: to see my games, you know, even he's late comparing
Speaker 4: to Greece in no time. And that's one of the
Speaker 4: persons that I have in.
Speaker 3: My heart, and I'm really happy that I met him.
Speaker 2: You know, how important is it to have a support
Speaker 2: system like that, especially in the support as well, because
Speaker 2: I feel like, you know, we kind of get lost
Speaker 2: on it sometimes talking about I think the mental side
Speaker 2: of the game and everything. How important is it to
Speaker 2: have someone in that support system for you when you
Speaker 2: are in those moments.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's very important, you know, for me exactly what
Speaker 4: you say. One of the if you see some teams
Speaker 4: that maybe maybe they don't have so much quality or
Speaker 4: like they are not the big names or comparing. Sometimes
Speaker 4: they play two teams and you say this is the
Speaker 4: favorite of the game and the other one no, and
Speaker 4: then the other team is when why is happenings?
Speaker 3: For me? Is the relationship you have in football?
Speaker 4: You know, So that's important that we have to build
Speaker 4: even more here I don't say that is not good.
Speaker 4: Is in a good level, but we can improve it
Speaker 4: even more and more. And that's, you know, make the
Speaker 4: difference because in the end, when your teammates that you
Speaker 4: feel him like a really good close to you, when
Speaker 4: you do a mistake, you would run for him to
Speaker 4: cover him, he would run for you, and that's make
Speaker 4: the big difference. So in football that's a really important
Speaker 4: thing because sometimes you know the things that are around
Speaker 4: the football, the money, the marketing, the pressure like sometimes
Speaker 4: make you come in a dressing room and like, okay,
Speaker 4: I do my job. I have pressure for that, or
Speaker 4: I don't have pressure to depend the player and I
Speaker 4: don't want to create a relationship.
Speaker 3: I don't want to.
Speaker 4: But in the end I had some older players I
Speaker 4: played with and they always say, like, what is staying
Speaker 4: is okay, the money we will not lie to. That
Speaker 4: is the money that stay in the end of the career.
Speaker 4: The trophies you want, and the friends you make from football.
Speaker 4: You know, that's three things, and the thirties the friend
Speaker 4: So it's nice to have this kind of relationship in pool.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you had a lot of those friends at
Speaker 1: family coal and it was probably difficult in a lot
Speaker 1: of ways to leave. You know, what was your time
Speaker 1: like in Portugal?
Speaker 4: Yes, especially my third year was the best one in
Speaker 4: this term of how was the relationship, but also the
Speaker 4: first two years. I make some good friends there, like teammates,
Speaker 4: but also the physios, other people that was like around me,
Speaker 4: like helping me with things. And yeah, it was not
Speaker 4: easy decision, but in the same time was a decision
Speaker 4: with heart and minded because I was feeling like I
Speaker 4: want to be in a place to be motivated to
Speaker 4: give more, you know, to push me. And I was
Speaker 4: feeling like after three years I achieved what I had
Speaker 4: to achieve and it was time to change. But like
Speaker 4: this relationship stay with me. And even now we are
Speaker 4: talking and we're going to talk in the future too,
Speaker 4: you know, that's important.
Speaker 2: I want to ask you. You know you were you
Speaker 2: were a captain in your last club. What were some
Speaker 2: of the biggest lessons you learned while being a captain
Speaker 2: and what were some of the biggest hardships you had
Speaker 2: to go through as captain as well?
Speaker 4: You know, the what I learned and what I try
Speaker 4: to keep with me is like the captain have to
Speaker 4: do two things here daily in the trainings, in the games.
Speaker 4: You have to be the example, the example, not only
Speaker 4: performing scoring being the best. You know, that's the that's
Speaker 4: impossible to happen, you know, to be always the best,
Speaker 4: but the example of sacrifice, the example of hard working,
Speaker 4: the example of when something going going wrong, to take
Speaker 4: the responsibility. And that's what I take like a lesson
Speaker 4: from my previous adventure as a captain in my last club.
Speaker 4: But sometimes, you know, let's have some hard things, like
Speaker 4: you have to be tough even with your like we
Speaker 4: say before French teammates in the dressing room, you have
Speaker 4: to say the truth to them. They have to say
Speaker 4: to you the truth, you know, and that sometimes become
Speaker 4: a little bit hard. But I think me personally, I
Speaker 4: prefer when someone say to me something like in my face,
Speaker 4: you know you have to do better, you did it good,
Speaker 4: or I don't know what or you have in this
Speaker 4: situation of out of football, like even in the dressing room,
Speaker 4: I didn't like how you spoke to me, or I
Speaker 4: like what you said to me. And that's an important thing, you.
Speaker 1: Know, hearing that you definitely sound like a rownnie dialog
Speaker 1: kind of player. And what were your conversations with him
Speaker 1: when you were making the decision about coming here. What
Speaker 1: swayed you about wanting to come to Atlanta?
Speaker 3: Many things, you know, many things.
Speaker 4: When I spoke with him, First of all, he explained
Speaker 4: the way of playing. And you know, maybe you say, now, okay,
Speaker 4: the results are not exactly what we want, but I
Speaker 4: see in moments of our play that what we can
Speaker 4: create and what we are creating when we'll arrive in
Speaker 4: the point that will be ninety minute with consistency will
Speaker 4: be something like not many team can face, you know.
Speaker 3: And I think that's the first part.
Speaker 4: And the second part it was what he was thinking
Speaker 4: about me, what can I bring to the club, to
Speaker 4: the team, and uh, what he wanted from from me?
Speaker 4: And that's it's a little bit more personal. I don't
Speaker 4: want to, but yeah, it was really important and I
Speaker 4: understand that also the project is not in three months
Speaker 4: four months, but it's in long term and that's a
Speaker 4: important thing. And uh yeah, maybe now later someone we're
Speaker 4: gonna hear and have some doubts about it, but I
Speaker 4: don't have doubts about it.
Speaker 2: I wanna ask you about, uh, how has you adjustment, Ben,
Speaker 2: you know, coming to Atlanta and coming down here, as well.
Speaker 2: What has it been like for you getting to see
Speaker 2: the sites, getting to see everything, even though it's probably
Speaker 2: been you know, no MOUs time to actually get to
Speaker 2: go around and see Atlanta right now with the season,
Speaker 2: But how's it been like for you?
Speaker 4: Justin I'm impressed, Like you know, when you speak when
Speaker 4: you are in Europe and you speak about usay, you
Speaker 4: think like huge buildings, no green at all, like many people,
Speaker 4: a lot of traffic. Honestly, I really like I see green,
Speaker 4: a lot of natural and that's really nice for me.
Speaker 3: I like it.
Speaker 4: I like sometimes when I have a day or for
Speaker 4: a little bit time enoughternoon go to work with my family,
Speaker 4: and that's the important thing.
Speaker 3: Also when I came here, everyone.
Speaker 4: Say like the traffic is terrible, But honestly, until now
Speaker 4: I don't face it, you know. I also I use
Speaker 4: enough and sometimes it's not sometimes daily it's even worse
Speaker 4: than that. So it's not something too bad, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's true.
Speaker 4: I don't have too much time to see the city.
Speaker 4: But what also impressed me is the people here. And
Speaker 4: I think this is probably in all the usay, but
Speaker 4: here they are very kind, like really kind, and that's
Speaker 4: really nice. You know, I'm impressed of that, and yeah,
Speaker 4: everything is nice. Now I try to set it, you know,
Speaker 4: with my apartment. All of this did I'm not in
Speaker 4: my apartment, so it's a step by step, but yeah,
Speaker 4: it's I'm really enjoyed. In the start, I was a
Speaker 4: little bit worried, you know, like I'm a guy that
Speaker 4: I like more quiet life, and I was thinking this
Speaker 4: would be hard for me. But until now what I face,
Speaker 4: I really enjoyed.
Speaker 2: You know, you did an interview with Ilani and I
Speaker 2: that was posted yesterday. I want to ask about this too.
Speaker 2: You talked about nature, like where did that love of
Speaker 2: nature come into play for a lot of this too.
Speaker 4: I think walking in the nature and all of these
Speaker 4: things is a way to relax your mind, put out
Speaker 4: thoughts and this kind of thing. So it's something that
Speaker 4: I always I don't know, I don't have the reason.
Speaker 4: Maybe because the island I was living is Green Island,
Speaker 4: you know, maybe because of that, and maybe I don't
Speaker 4: know exactly why, but it's something that I really love
Speaker 4: to like to enjoy the walk in this kind of nature,
Speaker 4: in this kind of thing.
Speaker 2: Listen, I'll give you a recommendation. Coffee spot Chattahoochee River
Speaker 2: Company and it's right on the river, so you can
Speaker 2: go get a coffee and it's right on the river.
Speaker 1: Is gorgeous.
Speaker 2: I go there all the time to work on stuff.
Speaker 2: It's gorgeous, right. I think it's right up your alley
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, how important is it for your family getting
Speaker 1: settled as well? And I know it's something that we've
Speaker 1: talked about a lot with people here at the club.
Speaker 1: They go out of their way to try to not
Speaker 1: just get you settled, they get everybody that is with
Speaker 1: you settled. However, they kind of settled into Atlanta. How
Speaker 1: are they liking it so far?
Speaker 4: Yeah, First of all, Louise and Money here from the
Speaker 4: club like doing everything for me.
Speaker 3: I'm really I.
Speaker 4: Have a huge thing for them, and you know, they
Speaker 4: do everything for me and I really appreciate it. Yeah,
Speaker 4: it's quite hard because my son now is in the
Speaker 4: eleven months you know, started working, and for my wife,
Speaker 4: like I spent here like from seven until two to thirty,
Speaker 4: so I spent many hours here. So in this moment
Speaker 4: it's a little bit hard for her. But okay, yeah,
Speaker 4: you know when we move to our apartment and we
Speaker 4: find our like daily routines. They're gonna be better. And
Speaker 4: also later her mother, my mother, my family, her family
Speaker 4: will come here so we will have a person to
Speaker 4: help us more. But they are doing good, you know,
Speaker 4: they also like my wife like it. It's of course,
Speaker 4: I don't want to lie. Sometimes it's hard. You know,
Speaker 4: we are new in the in the city. We don't
Speaker 4: have many people like go in a coffee or come
Speaker 4: to our house, you know too. But even with Louis,
Speaker 4: like we went many times for Land's dinner.
Speaker 3: So it's nice. It's nice to really good.
Speaker 2: How is becoming a father impacted the way that you
Speaker 2: play the game in those months, whether it's you know,
Speaker 2: the way you view the game or how you approach
Speaker 2: it on the field as well, how's becoming a father
Speaker 2: helped in those moments?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: You know what I think changed on this situation is
Speaker 4: like when you become a father. You know that maybe
Speaker 4: before of that football.
Speaker 3: For me personal maybe this is personal.
Speaker 4: Like for me football was like top of the top,
Speaker 4: everything was around it.
Speaker 3: I don't know. Now it's not that it's not like.
Speaker 4: This still is like this, but you know, in a
Speaker 4: bad day, in a good day, especially in the bad day,
Speaker 4: you have in your mind that Okay, I have a son.
Speaker 3: I have a son that you know that's.
Speaker 4: He wants to go to home to play with me,
Speaker 4: his smile to you, so you for everything. That's a
Speaker 4: nice think and I think this is the biggest sense
Speaker 4: that when you become a father helpen you know. And
Speaker 4: also like many times when you're entering the pitch, when
Speaker 4: I'm entering the pitch, I feel like, Okay, now I
Speaker 4: play also for my son, like to feel proud for
Speaker 4: his father, not for the performance, but like the guy
Speaker 4: that he entered, excite and give. Everything is good or bad,
Speaker 4: but he gave everything, you know.
Speaker 1: That's big thank you to NAA for taking the time
Speaker 1: to sit down with us after a pretty intense training
Speaker 1: session in Marietta as Atlanta United gets ready to face
Speaker 1: the Colorado Rapid. It's also big thank you to everybody
Speaker 1: with the Atlanta United communications staff for making an AA available.
Speaker 1: We'll be catching up with more Five Stripes as we
Speaker 1: go the rest of the way, hopefully introducing you to
Speaker 1: some of the new faces that are representing the club,
Speaker 1: both with the first team and with the second team.
Speaker 1: It's a busy weekend for Atlanta United. Soccer on ninety
Speaker 1: two nine the game and the SDCH Network. Saturday night
Speaker 1: eight point thirty is the start for the Five Stripes
Speaker 1: Countdown with Madison Cruz and with nick A Leafy and
Speaker 1: maybe with Jarrett Smith chiming in with Mike Conti and
Speaker 1: myself in Denver, Colorado technically Commerce City as the Colorado
Speaker 1: Rapids will host at Lanta United and then Madison and
Speaker 1: myself and John Nelson will join the fray and we
Speaker 1: will have at Lanta United to soccer for you on
Speaker 1: the SDH Network on Sunday live from Kennesaw. Hopefully you
Speaker 1: can join us for that pregame coverage we'll start at
Speaker 1: seven pm or we'll see you at Fifth Third Stadium.
Speaker 1: Thank you for supporting everything we do at the SDH Network.
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Speaker 1: very very soon. As always, we are around the corner
Speaker 1: from everywhere and