Sean Longstaff Quotes

Even all the top players going to Europe to play helps soccer in America, as do all the MLS players like Beckham and all that, they're trying to promote it. At the end of the day it's about getting the younger generation interested at an early age so most of them will move on and play.

Germany is where I had to become a true professional. They play in big games when they are young. We could model some of our soccer system after what they do.

I'm a big advocate of starting soccer young and always having the ball at your foot, but that's because I didn't do that. If I'd focused more on that when I was a kid, it would've been so helpful. It took me, like, halfway through college to feel comfortable with the ball.

All three of my kids play soccer. Each one of them started from the time they were about 5 or 6, and we just love it.

I think where we're still a little bit behind some other countries is just our pure soccer knowledge and our savvy on the field. That takes time and generations that have watched soccer growing up, played the game growing up.

Kids in Africa start kicking a ball when they are six or seven years old, if not younger. It's like baseball, basketball and football in America. If you're talented, people will find you. That's what happened with soccer. The number of academies has grown rapidly, and people are really into it.

My dad had a soccer school that he used to run, the Mark Chamberlain Soccer Academy, I used to go to that for two years until the age of seven.

I started playing with my dad, and then I started going to soccer schools in Sunderland and managed to get scouted from there.

I was hell-bent on being a soccer player all through junior high and high school.

I started playing soccer at age 6 and played both outfield and goalie. Back then, no one wanted to go on goalie - coaches would make deals with me so I'd do it. It's a tough position as a kid.

Kids are learning to play. That's why we're seeing an emergence. That's why we're seeing the Under-17s and Under-20s doing better in international football.

Here at Basel is where I made my first professional steps. I came up and grew up through the FC Basel school.

I started to play at four years old. I went to Corinthians at nine years old. Then, it started to become more serious.

If I can inspire kids to do what I do - want to become professional soccer players - then I think that that's everything I want to do.

Clearly, if you go abroad to a top club, it means one more step in your development.

From a pretty early age, my mother realized that I was a little bit more gifted and talented than my own age group. So, she moved me over to play with the boys' travel soccer team when I was about 11 years old.

I got to experience soccer at the highest level at a young age; I decided I wanted to be part of that for as long as possible.

I wanted to be a soccer player; I wanted to do it at the highest level.

I'm not a huge soccer fan, but I follow the sport. I played in high school, a little bit in college, played on various club teams most of my life, and all three of my sons are competitive soccer players and far better than I ever was.

I played varsity soccer at Yale and continued playing at Cambridge.

I played soccer when I was a kid. I started when I was 8 and played for 8 more years. I was pretty good. I used to train with Atletico Nacional, which is one of the most important teams in Colombia. I used to train every day.

I had wanted to play for Penarol since I was a boy. When I was young, I would go to their training ground, but at 18, I left Uruguay for Argentina, and my professional career started.

I have a lot of experience at Under-21 level, so hopefully that can show in my performances.

Mostly as a No 10. When I was really young, I played as a striker, but I grew a lot when I was 15 or 16.

I was looking forward to playing soccer, playing more minutes on the pitch, and I didn't have the chance to play more minutes in Manchester. So I came here to the Chicago Fire.