Speaker 1: Here's your postgame report from the Marshall Island's second match
Speaker 1: from the weekend of the Outrigger Challenge Cup in Springdale,
Speaker 1: Arkansas at Springdale High School. And so what we decided
Speaker 1: to do, John Nelson here with you is we caught
Speaker 1: up with a couple of folks that were part and
Speaker 1: parcel to the growth of the program and were responsible
Speaker 1: for moments in the three to two thriller before ninety
Speaker 1: plus two. And I don't know how two minutes were
Speaker 1: only added by the end of it all, but ninety
Speaker 1: two minutes were done and it would be a a
Speaker 1: gripping win for the Turks and Caicos in the second
Speaker 1: match for the Marshall Islands Soccer Federation. But the Marshall Islands,
Speaker 1: we've got some copy up at soccerdown here dot net
Speaker 1: with some postmatch interviews that you'll hear here as well
Speaker 1: coming up in just a little bit with a couple
Speaker 1: of added bonuses along the way. But it's a great
Speaker 1: conversation and it's a great marker for the program. Now
Speaker 1: that they have played their first two international matches against
Speaker 1: the US Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos, it's a
Speaker 1: time to reflect, a time to learn, a time to enjoy,
Speaker 1: and a time to go forward. So we'll see what
Speaker 1: happens next with the Marshall Islands as they continue their
Speaker 1: trek as the most recent last team on the planet
Speaker 1: to have a national soccer program. So what we're gonna do.
Speaker 1: We're gonna go through some of the postgame comments that
Speaker 1: we gathered while we were amongst all of the noise,
Speaker 1: and it was a joyful noise, rightfully so for the
Speaker 1: Marshall Islands after the two matches and the three two
Speaker 1: win before the Turks and Caicos against the Marshall Islands
Speaker 1: once again on the weekend in Arkansas. First and foremost,
Speaker 1: we're going to catch up with someone who kind of
Speaker 1: had to be put into service and he did some
Speaker 1: yeoman work at the back and it is a director
Speaker 1: communications Marketing for the Marshall Island Soccer Federation, Matt Web.
Speaker 1: Matt Web putting in some minutes and we caught up
Speaker 1: with him after he caught his breath and I mean
Speaker 1: that literally, how are you feeling tired?
Speaker 2: It's a bit of a hot one out there, but
Speaker 2: I mean really proud of it boys, to be honest,
Speaker 2: looking at where they've come from. We only played together
Speaker 2: for the very first time on the training field last Saturday,
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, seven days ago, so five training sessions,
Speaker 2: two matches, and here we are looking like a team
Speaker 2: so exceptionally proud, wondering potentially where we go from here.
Speaker 2: I think the message is really let's keep on the momentum,
Speaker 2: keep building upon this, don't stop when you go home,
Speaker 2: keep doing everything you can, and hopefully if we do
Speaker 2: this again this time next year, we're in a much
Speaker 2: stronger position.
Speaker 3: There have been folks who have already said on social
Speaker 3: media that groups see can't cook. Care if you guys
Speaker 3: can hang.
Speaker 1: What's it like to hear stuff like that.
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously that's very nice for people to say. Obviously,
Speaker 2: in reality we know we're still a long way away.
Speaker 2: It's not just on the pitch, it's also off pitch
Speaker 2: and having strength and death. If you look at the
Speaker 2: teams we've played against in this series, but they've got
Speaker 2: youth teams, they've got women's structures as well. So we're
Speaker 2: still committed to doing this in a very structured way.
Speaker 2: We don't want to run, yeah before we can walk
Speaker 2: this well sorry, but yeah, we want to do this
Speaker 2: in the right way. Obviously, it's very nice. Obviously on
Speaker 2: the pitch, I think we held our own and it's
Speaker 2: nice of people paying his compliments, but we're still focused
Speaker 2: on how we can develop in a sustainable manner.
Speaker 3: When you think back to day one when we started
Speaker 3: having these conversations to today having seen what was going
Speaker 3: on here in Arkansas, has it sunk in that you've
Speaker 3: gone from day one to here?
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 2: I think throughout the week I've had a few pinch
Speaker 2: myself moments when you kind of sit down and you
Speaker 2: take stock, when you're in news of certain people, when
Speaker 2: you're meeting people in real life and you like, go,
Speaker 2: what on earth is happening here? How do we get here?
Speaker 2: But no, I don't think it has some ken. I
Speaker 2: don't know if it will for a little while just yet.
Speaker 2: I have a little moments, But still I think it's
Speaker 2: an awful lot, quite overwhelming.
Speaker 3: So yeah, we'll say.
Speaker 1: And for those that might have missed the match, Matt
Speaker 1: had a couple of key stops at the back, backtracked
Speaker 1: and helped out when it came to the deadly transition
Speaker 1: opportunities that the Turks and Caicos offense had when they
Speaker 1: were coming off of turnovers. Their speed was really something
Speaker 1: that they were taking advantage of Matt doubling back from
Speaker 1: the back line and doing some yeoman work in cutting
Speaker 1: off some angles and stopping some chances as they would
Speaker 1: get in toward the edge of the Marshall Islands eighteen.
Speaker 1: So that's Matt Webb catching up with us on the
Speaker 1: postgame review from the Outrigger Challenge Cup. Also on the board,
Speaker 1: time to catch up with yet another one of the
Speaker 1: assistant coaches, another part of the brain trust that has
Speaker 1: been a part of this with the Marshall Island Soccer Federation,
Speaker 1: Justin Wally. Justin by the way, we caught up with
Speaker 1: Justin literally ten minutes before he had to lead to
Speaker 1: catch a plane to go back to Europe, and so
Speaker 1: this is an interview where we kind of pulled him
Speaker 1: off to the side and there'll be another you'll remember
Speaker 1: this location later on here in the post game. But
Speaker 1: here's our quick interview with Justin before he got to
Speaker 1: his plane.
Speaker 3: When was the last time you did an interview in
Speaker 3: a bathroom?
Speaker 4: I don't want to answer that. No, this is the
Speaker 4: first second.
Speaker 3: Now that these two matches have happened.
Speaker 5: Yeah, as it's sunk in yet.
Speaker 4: I think when we scored the first goal, there was
Speaker 4: a lot of energy came out. Raw energy came out
Speaker 4: of us. We were really good to see a goal
Speaker 4: will him quite quickly afterwards, and as you can see,
Speaker 4: play on and we said to his boys in the
Speaker 4: change in halftime, you can score three or four goals here.
Speaker 4: We can still get a result. And I think that
Speaker 4: that feeling at the end when he was three to two,
Speaker 4: we're pressing for an equalizer in the front and you
Speaker 4: can see I keep looking for the referees. Are going
Speaker 4: to blow? Is he going to blow? And then that
Speaker 4: sense of disappointment that we've only lost three too. We
Speaker 4: could never have imagined going into the tournament that would
Speaker 4: be gutted at the last moment that we haven't won
Speaker 4: the game or got a drawer out again.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so what's next, he asked.
Speaker 4: I'm going to the airport in ten minutes, time to
Speaker 4: flow back. We've just got to regroup, We've got to
Speaker 4: look at what we've done. I'm hoping that people will
Speaker 4: come in and support us. We'll get sponsors, more and
Speaker 4: more people from the community interested in helping us. Some funding.
Speaker 4: Now we can do an even bigger job. This has
Speaker 4: been done with almost no resources. This has been done
Speaker 4: from ten thousand miles away on occasion, right in a
Speaker 4: couple of thousand miles from here, so we can achieve
Speaker 4: a lot lot more. We've got a great group here football.
Speaker 4: They've gone above the quality they probably are yeah, as
Speaker 4: a group, a fantastic group of human beings. So we
Speaker 4: want to continue this. We don't want this just to
Speaker 4: be you know, some beautiful chapter doesn't have a next part.
Speaker 1: One of the assistant coaches for the Marshall Islands in
Speaker 1: the three to two loss to the Turks and Caicos
Speaker 1: on the weekend, and so it's time to catch up
Speaker 1: with a moment of history for those of you who
Speaker 1: are attached to the Georgia high school soccer scene from
Speaker 1: a handful of years back. Jasiah Blanton played at Roswell
Speaker 1: High School. Then he went to James Madison and that's
Speaker 1: where folks know him from that next level from the
Speaker 1: intercollegiate play. But Josiah Blanton is now your trivia question
Speaker 1: and it means a lot more than just the answer
Speaker 1: for a piece of trivia. But he's the first ever
Speaker 1: goal scorer for the Marshall Island Soccer Federation. We caught
Speaker 1: up with him after the match as well.
Speaker 3: When you think back to the idea of Hey, the
Speaker 3: Marshall Islands want me to play internationally for them today
Speaker 3: and what happened go from day one to now, what
Speaker 3: does make you think?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 6: No, no, no, going from day one being invited by
Speaker 6: a great person, Pierre, I played with him this summer,
Speaker 6: uh the fact to let me be involved in this,
Speaker 6: and thought I'm a good enough person to help provide
Speaker 6: my speciality to them. It was a big difference coming
Speaker 6: from thinking I was going to be in the marsh
Speaker 6: Islands and finding out I'm in Arkansas these past couple
Speaker 6: of weeks. I've got to learn these people and they're
Speaker 6: great individuals and it's a great community. So score be
Speaker 6: the first to score with them is great and very exciting.
Speaker 3: I was going to ask if that it's sunk in
Speaker 3: yet the gravity of what happened today.
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, no, I think I think it really did.
Speaker 6: And I'm looking up at the crowd and seeing how
Speaker 6: excited they were even yesterday, seeing these guys come out
Speaker 6: and really cheer at a point in time where we
Speaker 6: knew we weren't going to win there. It just shows
Speaker 6: the impact that I bring to them and kind of
Speaker 6: the importance to me as well that I can bring
Speaker 6: my abilities to help them out.
Speaker 1: So one of the cool moments, also attached to all
Speaker 1: the stories with the roster that you have with the
Speaker 1: Marshall Island Soccer Federation, is that you have the soccer moms.
Speaker 1: And one of those soccer moms happens to be the
Speaker 1: mother of two of the players on the roster, and
Speaker 1: one of them was named captain, and so we could
Speaker 1: not resist catching up with I guess the first soccer
Speaker 1: mom of the Marshall Island Soccer Federation, doctor Stacey Seidel,
Speaker 1: to find out what it was like for her to
Speaker 1: see her sons out there representing the Marshall Islands.
Speaker 3: What's it What's it been like to see all of
Speaker 3: this happen and have it make the impact that.
Speaker 1: It has here.
Speaker 7: It has been absolutely phenomenal. My boys have been hearing
Speaker 7: about the possibility of a Marshall Island soccer team since
Speaker 7: the beginning and to see it come kind of full
Speaker 7: circle and for Set to have this opportunity has been fantastic.
Speaker 7: We're super proud of him. We're in love with the
Speaker 7: coaches who and all the people who have made this possible.
Speaker 7: It's been fantastic.
Speaker 1: And there and I will say this, when it came
Speaker 1: to a reping and getting after the officials and and
Speaker 1: cheering on her sons, it was really cool to see
Speaker 1: doctor Seidel going just full boar, one hundred and twenty percent,
Speaker 1: representing her family, representing the country. And she could not
Speaker 1: have been more proud. She could not have been more
Speaker 1: nerve wracked, don't get me wrong, But at the same time,
Speaker 1: she could not have been more proud, and you could
Speaker 1: hear that from her there. Now for those of you
Speaker 1: that missed it on social media, we're replaying it here
Speaker 1: at the end. This was our initial conversation that we
Speaker 1: had with Lloyd hours after the match, the technical director
Speaker 1: and the head coach for the Marshall Island Soccer Federation.
Speaker 1: This is our conversation we had with him about this week,
Speaker 1: these few seasons and getting everything to this point. Here's
Speaker 1: our conversation. Well, Lloyd, three to your.
Speaker 5: Final score Outrord Challenge Cup Marshall Islands. A lot of
Speaker 5: fight over ninety minutes and I'm joined by somebody particularly
Speaker 5: you recognize this.
Speaker 2: Again, Oh how haween.
Speaker 5: So the look at that ninety minutes, Yeah, what's sticks
Speaker 5: in your head? With the fight that these guys had.
Speaker 4: Honestly don't believe we couldn't describe it because three two down,
Speaker 4: ninety have been in.
Speaker 5: I'm losing my ways.
Speaker 2: I put first, I genuinely think it's a penwy's a
Speaker 2: stone wall, and that brings it to three to three.
Speaker 7: It takes it to fenways.
Speaker 4: That changes the game.
Speaker 7: But to get into that position with every player on.
Speaker 5: The roster listening of playing, yeah, we couldn't ask the
Speaker 5: more so you looked at this from when we started,
Speaker 5: time been one and now has this weekend sunk in
Speaker 5: for you in the game?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: No, I think I think it's going to sink in
Speaker 3: over the next few days.
Speaker 2: For the next few days is just the case to enjoy
Speaker 2: where we are and build on for the next stages.
Speaker 5: But right now I don't think it's sunk in yet.
Speaker 4: How incredible these guys are in the backroom, staff, players,
Speaker 4: everything involved.
Speaker 5: How has the response being response has been astronaut up
Speaker 5: on social media, It's been amazing. There has it belonged?
Speaker 5: You guys away of pointing to see what the response
Speaker 5: has been about what you've been able to.
Speaker 1: Build it on top of the hand and play.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we knew that it's gonna be big, but I
Speaker 2: think it's bigger than you know of me.
Speaker 4: This week has been incredible in terms of the amount
Speaker 4: of support we have people on the accommodation campus.
Speaker 5: Just yeah, I've been around the group, but yeah, we're
Speaker 5: in a position now where we can just develop and
Speaker 5: bush on me and more and more hopefully with the
Speaker 5: support of people around the group.
Speaker 2: Has everyone seen what we can do.
Speaker 5: Where we can take this as a story three two
Speaker 5: fantastic effort an out Record Challenge Cup.
Speaker 3: He's going to take a shower because he's earned it
Speaker 3: and he definitely he's definitely earned it.
Speaker 5: And he's gonna go watch games.
Speaker 3: We're gonna go cut a bunch of stuff because this
Speaker 3: is social that's a story for Markansas.
Speaker 7: Thank you.
Speaker 1: So it was a historic weekend, historic week historic years
Speaker 1: leading up to this point in Springdale, Arkansas, Springdale High
Speaker 1: School for the Outrigger Challenge Cup. Thanks to everybody that
Speaker 1: is a part of the Outrigger Challenge Cup that made
Speaker 1: it happen, especially everybody there at the high school and
Speaker 1: with the Board of Education and everyone in athletics to
Speaker 1: make sure that facilities were ready to go, and it
Speaker 1: was just a very very cool moment to see everyone
Speaker 1: pitching in with this Marshal Lea's community here in northwest
Speaker 1: Arkansas to see this event come off and mean what
Speaker 1: it meant on as many different levels as it did.
Speaker 1: So once again, thanks to mad Web, Justin, Wally, Josiah Blanton,
Speaker 1: Doctor Stacey Seidel, Lloyd Ours, and thanks to you and
Speaker 1: thanks to all of you for understanding our support and
Speaker 1: telling the stories, continually telling the story of the Marshall
Speaker 1: Island Soccer Federation because it's not just about soccer, it's
Speaker 1: about a bunch of different other things. But this is
Speaker 1: the venue that we get to continue as that opening
Speaker 1: to tell these stories. So that is your postgame report,
Speaker 1: and we're going to effort to have Matt and Lloyd
Speaker 1: and maybe Justin on the show next week on SDHAM
Speaker 1: so we can catch up with them and see if
Speaker 1: they've officially slept in, caught their breath, and find out
Speaker 1: what it's like back in the real world, juggling real
Speaker 1: world with national team duties. That is the postgame report
Speaker 1: once again, Marshall Islands and the Outrigger Challenge Cup from
Speaker 1: Day number two, going up against the Turks and Cacoast.
Speaker 1: For everybody here at SDH, I'm just John. Thanks for
Speaker 1: dropping by and listening to pieces of history from Spring
Speaker 1: Deal Arkansas. Play safe, everybody, boota pot yea. We'll catch
Speaker 1: up with you next time.