Speaker 1: Welcome in.
Speaker 2: It's time for another Atlanta United to one v one
Speaker 2: here on the SDH network, the proud home of Atlanta
Speaker 2: United to Soccer on the radio. I'm Jason Longshore. I'll
Speaker 2: be on the call tonight as Atlanta United to host
Speaker 2: Carolina Core in kennesaust Fifth Third Stadium. Pregame coverage will
Speaker 2: start at seven o'clock. Kickoff will be just after seven
Speaker 2: point thirty. I'll be joined by Madison Cruz and she
Speaker 2: had the chance to catch up recently with Javier Armis,
Speaker 2: the captain of Atlanta United. Two played every single minute
Speaker 2: of every match last season. This year, Hovey's been dealing
Speaker 2: with some injuries, but he has a different perspective. With
Speaker 2: a year of professional soccer under his belt, He's become
Speaker 2: a very well respected leader in the locker room and
Speaker 2: he's been a big help in developing that next generation
Speaker 2: of talent, the academy players who are coming up into
Speaker 2: the Atlanta United to you set up and performing and
Speaker 2: hopefully thriving. Here's the conversation that Madison had with Javier Armis.
Speaker 3: Let's talk about last season, you know, first year as
Speaker 3: a pro for you. What were some of the big
Speaker 3: things you learned coming out.
Speaker 1: Of that season, But this season is too long, That's
Speaker 1: the first one. I mean coming from college, you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes you kind of forget how lond this season is
Speaker 1: and how important is like every game and how many
Speaker 1: opportunities you have during the season. You know. So that
Speaker 1: was for Sutai one.
Speaker 3: Of the biggest things coming into season number two for
Speaker 3: you with Atlanta United, what were some of the things
Speaker 3: you wanted to take out of that first season and
Speaker 3: push harder in the second season and even continue to
Speaker 3: work more towards.
Speaker 2: I was.
Speaker 1: Related to the question before the how long decision is?
Speaker 1: I would say move on, you know, from one next
Speaker 1: to the other, you know, from one game to the other.
Speaker 1: For example, now we come from a tough loss in Philadelphia.
Speaker 1: You know, so it's like, okay, decision is too long.
Speaker 1: This game cannot detain the rest of the siasion. You know,
Speaker 1: we have to move on, like keep building the team,
Speaker 1: keep improving, knowing that it will win. This game is
Speaker 1: going to be so important too, So yeah, learn how
Speaker 1: to move on from being to it.
Speaker 3: How do you find that balance? You know, being a
Speaker 3: captain on the team, one of the captains on the team,
Speaker 3: and you have a difficult loss like that against Philly,
Speaker 3: how do you help the team bounce back from that
Speaker 3: and get them ready to go, especially now that you
Speaker 3: have a week break, which can help as well kind
Speaker 3: of settle things out. But how do you manage that
Speaker 3: as a captain?
Speaker 1: I would say you like learning from the mistakes and
Speaker 1: having everyone being in a very good men's ouse space.
Speaker 1: For example, this week it was awesome because we had
Speaker 1: two great days of videos Sesson. You know, so sometimes
Speaker 1: it's tough seeing yourself in a video on Mondays and Tuesdays,
Speaker 1: you know, making mistakes. But at the same time, if
Speaker 1: we all have the right mentality of like, okay, that's me,
Speaker 1: but it's good because I can improve. I have time
Speaker 1: to improve now we are in the beginning of the season,
Speaker 1: so watching the video is so good and just working
Speaker 1: on the thing with you wrong and something like that. Yeah.
Speaker 3: One thing that was interesting when we chatted with you
Speaker 3: before one of the games, you talked about being captain,
Speaker 3: and you were captain for every single year that you've
Speaker 3: been playing, almost how have you seen you yourself evolved
Speaker 3: as a captain throughout all of those years.
Speaker 1: That's a great question. I think at the beginning I
Speaker 1: tend more to be more selfish, you know. It was like, okay,
Speaker 1: my captain, so maybe I have to say everything that
Speaker 1: has to be done, and people have to more like
Speaker 1: I have to tell people what you do, you know,
Speaker 1: and almost people have to serve more than I do.
Speaker 1: And then I evolve more of like Okay, I'm the
Speaker 1: captain and the first that have to leave by example,
Speaker 1: and I'm the first has to serve other people, you know.
Speaker 1: So I think the safe tom mentality from being served
Speaker 1: just to serve other people. I think that was the
Speaker 1: biggest difference.
Speaker 3: Was there a moment for you, whether it was in
Speaker 3: college or you know, going into professional where you had
Speaker 3: that moment where you knew you had.
Speaker 1: To make that sw Yeah, I think it was like
Speaker 1: maturing for sure, Like when I became a Christian too,
Speaker 1: and I learned about God, about Christianity values and how
Speaker 1: who Jesus was and how we serve other people to
Speaker 1: you know, you and he was like the most important
Speaker 1: person got in the world, you know, So then it's
Speaker 1: like okay, I mean I want to be like him,
Speaker 1: so I want to serve other people. You know.
Speaker 3: How is you realizing and helping grow your faith helped
Speaker 3: you on a soccer field.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I talked about this a lot at
Speaker 1: the beginning. And when I was young, soccer was my
Speaker 1: life and soccer was my identity. You know, I was
Speaker 1: like a soccer player. Now I know I'm not a
Speaker 1: soccer player. My identity is not in soccer, about in issues.
Speaker 1: So I know that that gives me so much, like
Speaker 1: takes pressure out of me, you know, makes me play
Speaker 1: more free and knowing that this is not everything, you know,
Speaker 1: I learned. Also, I would send this by Ronald Rmande
Speaker 1: the first thing guy when we talk about our bibles,
Speaker 1: the strategy said soccer is the most important thing of
Speaker 1: the less important things. You know. So yeah, soccer is
Speaker 1: so important, but it's not that important anymore, you know.
Speaker 1: So that takes me like it makes me play better,
Speaker 1: you know, with less pressures like okay, less enjoyed.
Speaker 3: You know, this is not we've seen from on the
Speaker 3: field also off a field, how connected and how quickly
Speaker 3: this team formed. From talking to you, from talking to
Speaker 3: Steve Nick, all of them have said how quickly it
Speaker 3: is for you when you everyone kind of came into
Speaker 3: the fold. Was it kind of like a taken back
Speaker 3: for you how quickly everything kind of fit together.
Speaker 1: Well. I actually had a very good feeling at the
Speaker 1: beginning of the season, you know, knowing like everyone I
Speaker 1: just I had that feeling that well this you could
Speaker 1: you could feel it from the first day that the
Speaker 1: culture was going to be amazing. You know, everyone's going
Speaker 1: to have to be in the same page and once now,
Speaker 1: which was like would translate that into the field, you know,
Speaker 1: and we start winning games and doing like that, like
Speaker 1: we're gonna be unstopable for sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I have to ask. So we were told that,
Speaker 3: you know, your house is the place for the cookout
Speaker 3: for the two dinners. All right, so what what's your role?
Speaker 1: What are you there?
Speaker 3: Are you hosting? Are you cooking? Like? What what do
Speaker 3: you do?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I do everything with my wife.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1: I host I cook too, you know. I love to
Speaker 1: cook from scratch. Me and my wife would cook every
Speaker 1: day from scratch usually, you know. So that's like I
Speaker 1: learned that tradition from from Spain too. And now that
Speaker 1: is good weather. I can start making pigia, you know,
Speaker 1: and all the rice thing that, right. I love it.
Speaker 1: I think it's it's a great thing just to be
Speaker 1: all together and I think if we have those connections
Speaker 1: outside the field, then in the field is gonna be
Speaker 1: so much better.
Speaker 3: All right, what's your favorite meal?
Speaker 1: Cook?
Speaker 3: Do you have a favorite one?
Speaker 1: I would say for what it means, you know, it's
Speaker 1: not only the food, but it's like all together, you know,
Speaker 1: it's yes, I cook, Paiga. You're not gonna come to
Speaker 1: my house and sit when the food is ready. You know,
Speaker 1: you're gonna come when I'm cooking. We're gonna talk, listen
Speaker 1: to some music now, all together, and it's small a thing,
Speaker 1: not for the food, for what it means, you know,
Speaker 1: for all together.
Speaker 3: Does anybody else, any people on the team come help
Speaker 3: you as well?
Speaker 2: Or no?
Speaker 3: It's like you're when you're in the kitchen, it's you,
Speaker 3: you and your wife.
Speaker 1: For the moment is in me and my wife, you know,
Speaker 1: So they have to call my help a little bit more. No,
Speaker 1: But it's good because now, for example, on Tuesdays we
Speaker 1: do some Bible started with the team, and from now
Speaker 1: on it's the one different guy who's gonna cook the way.
Speaker 1: You know. So for example, next week, Nick is when
Speaker 1: I go to my house, we're gonna cook together. And
Speaker 1: then this week is gonna be like my says, I'm
Speaker 1: running something like that and I love it.
Speaker 3: Who is someone that you have to, you know, help
Speaker 3: a little bit more in the kitchen. Who is a
Speaker 3: little bit more of an issue in the kitchen?
Speaker 1: I would say for sure, Yeah, you gotta teach him,
Speaker 1: you gotta. Yeah, that's why he has to go now
Speaker 1: and I will teach you how to go. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Well, one thing before we ended here, I want to
Speaker 3: talk about the rest of the season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, continuing to build, keep things going.
Speaker 3: You know, you had this break and then next week
Speaker 3: you're going up against Carolina Core on Wednesday. Yeah, what
Speaker 3: are some things you all been working on to try
Speaker 3: and keep things we're solid and consistent on the field,
Speaker 3: and then continuing to improve Because one thing I think
Speaker 3: from watching the team this season, it's clear like there's
Speaker 3: there's something there. We've seen it and we know how
Speaker 3: the best team don't be. So what have you all
Speaker 3: been working on?
Speaker 1: I would say we're dominating most of the games, but
Speaker 1: we are listening now. I would say the most important
Speaker 1: thing in soccer, which is being better at both boxes,
Speaker 1: you know, so you can be the best overall in
Speaker 1: the game, you know. Yeah, play beautiful, have more possession, like,
Speaker 1: but then in the in the boxes, we're considering goals
Speaker 1: and then we're not scoring match. So we're working on
Speaker 1: those two big things. Like in the box, Okay, we're
Speaker 1: gonna have clean seats, you know, we want to staff
Speaker 1: from there, like Nobey's gonna score on Mass, and then
Speaker 1: we're gonna take it the opportunities that we have. I
Speaker 1: think we to take care of that thing.