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Just Checking In U.S. soccer player Josh Wolff
Chicago Fire forward Josh Wolff, 23, played forward on the U.S. men's soccer team at the Sydney Olympics. The U.S. lost 2-0 to Chile in the bronze medal game. Wolff Checked In with CNNSI.com after the game.
September 29, 2000
What inspired you to play soccer? No one made me play. My two older brothers played, and I looked up to them. I went to everyone of their games and wanted to be like them. My family and everyone around me was playing soccer. Have you had any fun in Australia? I won a lot of money in the casinos. We played golf on our off day in Adelaide. It was a good group. We weren't very good, but it was fun to get out with the guys and get away from the game. We had a lot of laughs. What about the Olympic experience? It's been fantastic. They have given us great support. All the venues were sold out. It was great. I think we are building a foundation here. We want to show the world we can play soccer. We are gaining respect from the world. It's great to see we did well here. These faces aren't going anywhere. We are all here for different reasons. But there is a real growth in soccer in the USA right now. We want to move on to the senior national team now and play in the World Cup. Getting to the second round was huge. We didn't have much left after we put so much emotion into the Japan win. It was hard to come back and play Spain (a 3-1 loss). It's been a lot of fun here as well. I know I will never be back here with this group of guys. It's been great to have my family and fiancee here. I just hope I have a job when I get back to the States with the Fire! They are playing great without me. The venues are set up great. You can tell they put a lot of work into the Olympics. The University of South Carolina has won three medals thus far. Have you been keeping track of any of your former classmates? South Carolina is proving it can produce world class athletes in every sport. There are not many colleges or universities that can say that. I am proud to be a product of the Gamecock family. I still keep in touch with Clint (Mathis), David (Tart), Nathan (Watkins) and of course Coach Berson. He has been very helpful in my career. I am excited about the Gamecocks this year. They have a great team and I was thrilled to hear they beat Virginia! I really got on the Virginia player about that. There is a lot of talk here about whose college teams are doing what, and I was extremely proud and happy to see them get into the top five after starting the season unranked. Clive (Charles, the USA head coach) is always telling me they don't produce good soccer players in the south. I like proving him wrong.
-- Josh
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