Catching up with U.S. hero Mathis

'Cletus,' as Mathis came to be known by fans, wore a Mohawk at the '02 World Cup, further endearing him to staunch U.S. supporters. Simon Bruty/SI Grant Wahl's Mailbag Grant Wahl will periodically answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

SANDY, Utah -- The U.S. national team is in the Salt Lake City area this week for Saturday's important World Cup qualifier against El Salvador. But before I headed up to the U.S. training base in Park City, I sat down with a memorable figure from the team's past.

Clint Mathis is many things to U.S. fans. To some, he's the folk hero of American soccer, a Georgia-born sniper with wondrous technical skills who piled up a record five goals in a single MLS game, scored on ridiculous 70-yard runs, hit game-winning thunderbolt free kicks in places like Honduras, and silenced 65,000 South Korean fans with his goal (and his Mohawk) at the 2002 World Cup. How many U.S. soccer players have ever been as rampant for club and country as Mathis was for parts of 2000 to '02?

To others, Mathis is a player who failed to fulfill his vast potential, who missed his chance to become U.S. soccer's first international superstar. Hard to believe: It has been 4½ years since Mathis, now 32, last trained with the U.S. national team.

But Mathis is still playing, still producing on occasion for Real Salt Lake. He has two goals and seven assists this season, and every once in a while, he can produce a piece of magic that few U.S. players would even dream about. Mathis seems happy living here near the sparkling new Rio Tinto Stadium with his wife, Tracey, and their 13-month-old son, Maximus (named for the character in the movie Gladiator).

Over lunch at a Chinese restaurant here, Mathis and I talked about his Sports Illustrated cover, the '02 World Cup, the current U.S. team, MLS' refusal to accept a transfer bid for him in '02 from Bayern Munich and the U.S.' inability so far to produce a global soccer superstar. Here's an edited version of our conversation:

SI.com: I'm reading the new book by LeBron James, and he talks about how appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a 17-year-old changed his life. You weren't 17 when you appeared on the SI cover in '02, but how did it impact your life?

Mathis: Once I got on there, it puts you in a different echelon. They don't just put the average athlete on the cover of SI. Not only would I be more ridiculed for things I did, but I was definitely noticed a lot more, not just by my peers but by the public in general. I got to do some cool and fun stuff I probably never would have gotten to do before all that happened. Seven years later, wherever I go I'm still signing Sports Illustrated covers. We just went to Kansas City, and when I'm walking out, some guys asked me if I could sign their SI. It was pretty cool, just to see what I actually looked like with hair.

I don't think it necessarily changed my life as far as my beliefs and the way I live, but the media attention was growing, especially for that '02 World Cup. We haven't been able to produce a World Cup like we did in '02. And to be a part of that was a huge impact on my life, too.

SI.com: You scored one of the biggest goals in U.S. history at that World Cup against South Korea. What do you remember from that goal and that day in Daegu?

Mathis: I just remember Johnny O'Brien played a phenomenal ball. But what I'll remember most telling my grandchildren is, you couldn't hear anything during the game. There were 65,000 home fans screaming. You couldn't hear each other ask for the ball. And when I scored that goal, you could hear a pin drop. It was a really cool feeling. In sports, people always like to get the crowd up and to hear your fans, but in my opinion, there's no better feeling than to silence a crowd.

SI.com: Do you have any other memories of '02?

Mathis: Just being there with those guys. Everybody counted us out, even probably most of our home fans. Just being a part of that whole experience, you hope, as a country, that happens again. This [current] team has definitely showed some signs of weakness, and yet they've shown some signs of brilliance against Spain. That's all it takes when you get to the World Cup stage is having one of those games and having that confidence behind you. I think that first game against Portugal did that for our '02 team. Hopefully for Bob Bradley and the guys he's got there it's about timing, which all sports are.

You don't need to really be peaking now. You need to qualify for the World Cup but you need to be peaking next summer and get the first win under your belt like we did in '02, and the sky's the limit from there. You look at it, and the one game we should have won in that World Cup was against Germany, and if that's the case we go to the semifinals and play South Korea, which we'd gone 1-1-1 against in the previous year. And then we play them, have a good chance of beating them again and then we're in the final. And who would have thought the U.S. would be in the final?

It's just about the timing. Hopefully this new era of kids can withstand the pressure, because it is a lot of pressure. You've got a billion people watching you. I can't think of any other sport that has that. It's crazy to even fathom.

SI.com: You're still considered one of the most technically gifted players the U.S. has ever produced. Are there players you see on this current team who have that?

Mathis: You look at a guy like Landon Donovan; technically, he's phenomenal. Why hasn't it worked out in Europe? It could be personal reasons, I don't know. I told the kid a long time ago, 'You've gotta get outta here. You should be playing with the big boys.' Because he has that kind of talent. Clint Dempsey, I think, has some great technical ability. You could put those two guys over here and everyone else here.

And someone I think is going to be really successful, but it's two totally different positions, is Oguchi Onyewu. I think he's got the opportunity at AC Milan where he might not play for a long time, but just to be day in and day out with those guys and learn that mentality. When I played with Gooch, he was a younger guy, but he's made huge strides understanding the game. He's not just a big guy anymore who makes tackles. He's gotten so much better with his feet, smarter decision-making, and you can just tell that.

SI.com: I've always wondered, why is it America has not yet had an international soccer superstar, a guy who would go to Europe and really stand out for a top team? Mexico's Hugo Sánchez won five scoring titles in Spain. Dwight Yorke came from Trinidad to Manchester United and won the Champions League. What's it going to take for an American player to do that?

Mathis: I don't know. The American mentality is tough. You have so much to offer here. This is the best country in the world, and a lot of people want to live here. It almost spoils us in a way. I think sometimes that carries out on to the field and having that hunger because most of the countries around the world don't have the amenities that we have.