Speaker 2: Welcome in.
Speaker 1: It's time for another one v one on the SDH network.
Speaker 1: I'm Jason Longshore and today I'm joined by brand new
Speaker 1: Carolina core attacker Anthony Sumo Junior. Anthony, thanks for taking
Speaker 1: some time for us today.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me in. Jason, I'm
Speaker 2: grateful to be here.
Speaker 1: I've known you for a long time through your exploits
Speaker 1: in UPSL Georgia and the NPSL with Apathios. How did
Speaker 1: everything come about for you to end up in MLS
Speaker 1: next Pro with Carolina this year?
Speaker 3: First of all, before I say anything, I just want
Speaker 3: to say I'm grateful and thankful to God because he
Speaker 3: is him in the strength and the perseverance to be
Speaker 3: able to get through all the obstacles that was in
Speaker 3: a way, and looking back at it, it's just been
Speaker 3: hard work and putting my faith in God. Just hard
Speaker 3: work and working hard. Like because Bruno, which you know,
Speaker 3: he always told me, hey, everybody has talent, everybody can
Speaker 3: pass the ball, everybody can drive the ball.
Speaker 2: Is whoever wants that the most, that's who's going to
Speaker 2: get it.
Speaker 3: So he told me, he is like, hey, before you
Speaker 3: get out of here, you got to you gotta be
Speaker 3: the difference. You have to score, you have to score goals,
Speaker 3: you have to assist goals, you have to do those things.
Speaker 3: If you're not doing these things here, what makes you
Speaker 3: think you're going to do at the next level.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that level of consistency that is always that
Speaker 1: challenge going from one level to the next. How much
Speaker 1: has that journey that has been not a crazy long one,
Speaker 1: but a time where you've been a consistent goal scorer
Speaker 1: in UPSL, You've been a consistent goal scorer for KSA
Speaker 1: And how does that make you a better player today?
Speaker 2: It's just being consistent.
Speaker 3: I think playing football, if you want to be a professional,
Speaker 3: you have to be consistent.
Speaker 2: That's what separate you from the other people.
Speaker 3: Because Bruno always told me, hey, if you're not scoring
Speaker 3: two or three goals every game, I don't think you're.
Speaker 2: Gonna go anywhere.
Speaker 3: So the moment you realize that you start scoring two
Speaker 3: three goals in a game, then we can start talking
Speaker 3: about other places.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, you mentioned Bruno Kolangi a few times. How
Speaker 1: important has he been in your career?
Speaker 3: He's well, he was one of the reasons that I'm
Speaker 3: still playing soccer today because when I moved across country
Speaker 3: from like Bear to the United States.
Speaker 2: Life got very hard.
Speaker 3: It was very difficult, and putting my faith in God,
Speaker 3: praying and trusting in him that stuff is going to happen.
Speaker 3: Because Brunan brought me into his home, He brought me
Speaker 3: into his family. He took care of me, He mentored me,
Speaker 3: he taught me things, and he just kept me consistent.
Speaker 3: He always reminded me to train hard. He always reminded
Speaker 3: me too, to work harder than other people. He always
Speaker 3: reminded me to not listen to what other people are saying,
Speaker 3: just do just work hard. Yeah, he has been a mentor,
Speaker 3: a mentor or father. He's been like everything to me.
Speaker 3: So I'm very grateful and I'm very thankful to him
Speaker 3: for helping me, for helping me grow, helping me develop.
Speaker 1: And Yeah, I think something that has really stuck out
Speaker 1: to me over the past maybe twelve months and watching
Speaker 1: your game and watching your team play, is how much
Speaker 1: more complete you have gotten over the last year or so.
Speaker 1: You know, you've always been a goal scorer, no problem
Speaker 1: with that, but the runs off the ball, the pressure
Speaker 1: defensively creating opportunities for others. Has that been kind of
Speaker 1: a focal point for you or is it something that
Speaker 1: just comes with experience playing at a good level.
Speaker 3: I think it's many things. I think experience I think
Speaker 3: is for example, my dad played professional soccer and growing
Speaker 3: up he always told me, hey, you were born to
Speaker 3: score goals. He was born to play soccer. Just go
Speaker 3: and play. You're going to figure it out. You came
Speaker 3: from a professional soccer family. You're going to figure it out.
Speaker 3: And I always been that type of player. Whenever I
Speaker 3: go into an environment, I've been a great player always.
Speaker 3: But you have to fight for your spot. You have
Speaker 3: to show to whoever it is, that's that's the coach,
Speaker 3: assistant coach that And it was like that a kiss
Speaker 3: when I went there. There was many great players in KSA,
Speaker 3: and I was. There's a few times I was on
Speaker 3: the bench and Bruno would tell me, hey, if you
Speaker 3: can't like you're a great player, you're talented, but when
Speaker 3: you step on the field, you've got to be a difference.
Speaker 2: If you're not. If you cannot be a difference, it's
Speaker 2: not gonna work.
Speaker 1: I think one of the elements of KSA and the
Speaker 1: way the club has come together at the pro profile
Speaker 1: level and UPSL you know, you've had the chance to
Speaker 1: play next to quite a few guys who have played
Speaker 1: professionally at a good level. But you know, lately, I
Speaker 1: look at guys like Junior sound of All and Kareem Tamimi,
Speaker 1: two guys that I've known for a long time that
Speaker 1: I've seen their games develop. How much did you learn
Speaker 1: from guys like that who have been in your shoes
Speaker 1: now to help get you here?
Speaker 2: A lot?
Speaker 3: Like just being in that environment training every day with
Speaker 3: these guys joining Son Devar, Yosef sam or Muhammad Grant.
Speaker 3: The lists go on and on Lagos, there's I can like,
Speaker 3: there's a lot of people.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of guys. It's just like just speaking
Speaker 2: to them in practice every day.
Speaker 3: And I'm going back to Bruno because he would like
Speaker 3: he told me, hey, don't just sit with these people
Speaker 3: and just chat with them and be friends with them.
Speaker 3: Ask them questions, ask them hey, or what are the
Speaker 3: reasons that you're here right now?
Speaker 2: Like what can I do to move to the next level?
Speaker 3: Because they all have been there, they all know what
Speaker 3: it's like to be there, and yeah, they're all help
Speaker 3: me develop my game. They're all help me in training.
Speaker 3: They'll all help me in practice games, whatever it was.
Speaker 3: They were all communicating with me and telling me, hey,
Speaker 3: what you need to do to move up to get
Speaker 3: to the next level. So yeah, I'm grateful and thankful
Speaker 3: for these guys because Kisse provided that environment, that professional
Speaker 3: environment where I was able to go there and train
Speaker 3: hard every day from Monday to Thursday, sometimes Monday to Friday.
Speaker 3: We lived a life of a professional at Kids. And
Speaker 3: there's many, many, many many more players like me there, and.
Speaker 1: There's gonna be many of those who are going to
Speaker 1: get these kind of opportunities as well. Now you're in
Speaker 1: North Carolina and you're with a club that really turned
Speaker 1: a lot of heads in MLS Next Pro last season
Speaker 1: in their first year, a club that has a great
Speaker 1: fan base and kind of a unique spot in the
Speaker 1: league being an independent club in the league with a
Speaker 1: lot of second teams. You know, what do you know
Speaker 1: already about Carolina Core? And how excited are you to
Speaker 1: represent the club in front of that fan base.
Speaker 2: First of all, I'm excited to be here.
Speaker 3: I'm grateful and thankful to God for giving me this opportunity.
Speaker 3: Through the coaches and the training stopped down to the
Speaker 3: kid man everybody else, And I'm grateful for Eddie Pope
Speaker 3: for giving the opportun need to even be in this situation.
Speaker 3: He spoke to my agent, Lucini shout out to pro
Speaker 3: U Sports and they spoke about me and coming and
Speaker 3: they invited me over at the preseason when I first
Speaker 3: landed here.
Speaker 2: I love the environment. The players.
Speaker 3: Eddie Pope played in the MLS. He's a center back,
Speaker 3: He's a legend. Donovan Ricketts, like, come on, Andy Williams
Speaker 3: a model Cuvera like. The list goes on and on.
Speaker 3: I look up these people when I got to the
Speaker 3: apartments and I was amazed. I was like, I'm I'm
Speaker 3: going to be in an environment full of people that
Speaker 3: play the game at a high level, Like whatever, what
Speaker 3: environment do you want to be?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 3: That is a gift. So just being here learning from them.
Speaker 3: When I first came here, I'm a natural winger and
Speaker 3: they signed me as a striker. Just being there for
Speaker 3: a week, just talking to Andy, talking to Donovan, I've
Speaker 3: learned so much in in just a week from them.
Speaker 3: So I'm grateful for the opportunity to just be here.
Speaker 3: The players are amazing, the coaching staff, the kid man,
Speaker 3: the trainers, everybody are great people. They're welcome me and
Speaker 3: they're all happy that I'm here. So there's no other place.
Speaker 3: Great stadium, great fan base, great facilities, And like Jason,
Speaker 3: like I can't be more grateful, I can't be more
Speaker 3: grateful and more thankful, Like I remember praying to God
Speaker 3: and all I will ask God for. Hey, God, I
Speaker 3: just can you please just put me in a put
Speaker 3: me in a position where people are gonna care about
Speaker 3: me moving forward with my professional career and in life.
Speaker 3: Because football, all the time, it's not just by kicking
Speaker 3: the ball around. There's so many other sides to it. Mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually,
Speaker 3: All those different aspects comes into me playing. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm so grateful that I'm able to be here. And
Speaker 3: thanks to God. I pray every day and thank Him
Speaker 3: every day.
Speaker 2: Every day.
Speaker 3: I'm thanking when I walk into the facility and I
Speaker 3: walk into the locker room and I walk them through
Speaker 3: the fib But I'm excited to show up to the
Speaker 3: fens and I'm excited to help them win, and I'm
Speaker 3: excited to score goals.
Speaker 1: Yes, I think that's one of the cool things for you,
Speaker 1: being such a student of the game. And having learned
Speaker 1: from your previous experiences to go now into a situation
Speaker 1: where I mean the guys that you just mentioned, Donovan Ricketts,
Speaker 1: Andy Williams, Amado Guevara, Eddie Pope, you're talking about some
Speaker 1: of the legends of legends in playing soccer, professional lands,
Speaker 1: country and all the lessons that they're going to provide
Speaker 1: to you. I think the other aspect that's going to
Speaker 1: be really cool for you getting to know the program
Speaker 1: and knowing Eddie Pope and what he's done in the
Speaker 1: community and the foundation that he runs. You know, you're
Speaker 1: going to be a role model. You know, what kind
Speaker 1: of things do you when you get the chance to
Speaker 1: talk to kids who are wanting to be you down
Speaker 1: the line, what are the kind of things that you
Speaker 1: mentioned to them.
Speaker 3: I used to sing this song when I was little
Speaker 3: in church. I'm a Christian man and I always use
Speaker 3: a sing when Jesus say yes, no man can say no.
Speaker 3: And Cami moved migrating from Liberrier to the United States.
Speaker 3: Life are very difficult and not having paperwork, not having
Speaker 3: so many things. I was putting the uncomfortable situation in
Speaker 3: a difficult situation. When I graduated high school, South Whennette.
Speaker 3: I was one of the best player in the county
Speaker 3: and I had a lot of colleges after me, but
Speaker 3: I couldn't achieve my dreams because I had nothing.
Speaker 2: So I can. What I would tell kids is put your.
Speaker 3: Faith in God, work hard, and you're going to be
Speaker 3: like me, because that's all I did. If I can
Speaker 3: do it, they all can do it. Just trust in
Speaker 3: God and work hard every day. Because I was working
Speaker 3: hard every day. I was running miles, I was sprinting
Speaker 3: even I never knew what was at me. I was
Speaker 3: one of those players that would go to training every
Speaker 3: day and knew that I didn't have papers to sign
Speaker 3: a contract, so I was just there just to be there.
Speaker 3: But I never give up. I never give up on
Speaker 3: my dreams. And with the help of Bruno Kalunji, he
Speaker 3: stayed with me. He taught me. He was on my
Speaker 3: back every day. Anthony, do not give up on your dreams.
Speaker 3: He is like your star. Just keep working hard, keep
Speaker 3: praying to God and keep working hard. So my message
Speaker 3: to all the kids out there, all the kids in
Speaker 3: the upsl all the kids everywhere, I can say I
Speaker 3: Colunggisak Academy. Never give up on your dreams, keep working hard,
Speaker 3: keep fighting, It's gonna happen. Like, look at me, I'm
Speaker 3: in this situation right now. It's like a dream come
Speaker 3: true because if you look at me a year ago,
Speaker 3: two years ago, like I would never have thought I
Speaker 3: would be in this position because of the situation that
Speaker 3: I was in.
Speaker 2: But if I can do it, I think anybody can
Speaker 2: do it.
Speaker 1: I'm really happy for all your success, man, and I'm
Speaker 1: really glad you ended up in a great spot that
Speaker 1: I think suits you really really well. Best of luck
Speaker 1: this season. We're gonna be following it. We follow Carolina
Speaker 1: Core a lot here on the SDH Network, and we'll
Speaker 1: see you when you're back here in Kennesaw to face
Speaker 1: Atlanta United too later in the season.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thanks for the time, Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2: I'm excited to see you guys. Dude, thank you.