12-2-22 After Hours with Amy Lawrence PODCAST: Hour 1

Whether it's diamond earrings or an engagement ring, Blue Nile can help you design something special made just for her.

At Blue Nile, choose from thousands of diamonds and settings. Have your one-of-a-kind piece delivered right to your door in discreet packaging that won't give away what's inside. Guaranteed free shipping and returns. And now Blue Nile is offering special holiday deals. Go to bluenile.com and use code radio to save $50 on purchases of $500 or more. Hurry, this offer expires soon. bluenile.com code radio.

Ready to pop the question? Let your love sparkle with Blue Nile. Blue Nile has helped millions of couples create their perfect engagement ring. Their easy online tools will let you choose the diamond shape, size, and clarity, as well as setting style. Blue Nile's bench jewelers will then handcraft her one-of-a-kind engagement ring. The perfect ring to celebrate your love. Right now, go to bluenile.com and use code radio to save $50 on your purchase of $500 or more with guaranteed free shipping and returns. Well, last night we got to say happy almost December.

We were hours away from the whole country being into the final month of 2022, and now we can say officially happy almost Friday. I want to tell you I'm not a juvenile and I'm not a child, but then I see Odell Beckham Jr. posting on Instagram about how he's buckling his seat belt on a plane with the caption not today and a bunch of laughing so hard he's crying emojis. And then I think why are you such a child?

Why are you laughing at grown men acting like babies? Oh my goodness. Social media is the really it's the bane of my existence except then there are videos like that and baby animals and I think what would I ever do without Twitter and social media?

Oh my gosh. It can be funny at times, but the majority of the time it's very negative and can drag you down. It's just that seeing Odell Beckham Jr. make light of the fact that he wouldn't put his seat belt on or didn't put his seat belt on or was too tired to put his seat belt on or was passed out and so his seat belt wasn't on.

Whatever the case is just brings a little mirth into my Thursday night, into your Thursday night or Friday morning, whatever it is for you. If you're a Bills fan, while your weekend's starting out on a high note, if you're a Patriots fan, well it is back to the drawing board with that offense. We had seen some really good progress and I think positive drives. Downfield trajectory, the kind that Mac Jones wants to see more of.

Downfield trajectory against the Minnesota Vikings a Thursday ago, Thanksgiving ago, but that was not the case except for really one play. One chunk play was seemingly all the Patriots could manage against the Bills defense on Thursday night football to kick off none other than lucky 13, week 13. I'm not superstitious at all, but if you are, are you the kind of person that wouldn't ride in an elevator that has floor 13? I'm not sure any elevators have floor 13, which is a little odd because what happens if there's business taking place on floor 13?

You just have to walk the stairs, I guess? I'm not superstitious. I just know that lucky 13, week number 13, week number 13, it's going to be a good one for a lot of us.

I can feel it. Ever since I got Wardle on the first try, I'm all about good things happening and it's been a good week. It's been a productive week.

I just wish getting Wardle on the first try meant that I could sleep. It's not been a good week for sleep, but at least it's been productive. Checking lots of items off the to-do list and now into the final show of the work week. We're live from the Rocket Mortgage Studios.

Do you need to know what it takes for a home to fit your budget and your family? Rocket can. You can find me on Twitter, ALawRadio. Love hearing from you over the last 22-ish hours or so. As we head into week 13 with now six weeks left in the NFL regular season, what are the burning questions that deserve answers?

And so I've sifted through a bunch of your tweets, but also your Facebook posts and it's good to hear from so many of you. We'll try to review some of those, but boy do we have a lot to get to tonight. Not only is it week 13 in the NFL, but it's also potentially, I hope it's not the case. In fact, I would miss it.

I would miss the tension, the anxiety, but also the excitement, the anticipation. If this is the last weekend where we have U.S. Soccer at the World Cup, I definitely will feel a void, but I'm going to go into it with all of the pomp and circumstance and energy that I can muster in support of U.S.A. U.S.A. in Qatar. If you don't know, the coverage begins at six o'clock a.m. Pacific time on Saturday, nine o'clock a.m. Eastern time, and then the game begins, the match begins an hour later. There's been a lot of Americans there on Eastern time, and then the game begins, the match begins an hour later. There's been a lot of Americans there, a lot of red, white, and blue good American presence in Qatar, which I think is pretty amazing. Maybe it's Americans, expats who are living elsewhere, so closer to Qatar, but man that's got to be an expensive trip to get to the Middle East from here, especially this close to the holidays or really around the holidays. But it's been loud, it's been raucous, even in the game against Iran, where 75 percent of the stadium was rooting for the other team, that other team.

When the U.S. was playing well, which was fairly early in the game, the American fans were all about it. I'm all about it in my living room. I try not to make too much noise because even though my dog is half deaf, she still doesn't love loud noises. Loud noises! She generally tends to slink into another room or climb upstairs when I'm yelling about a game, but again, I try not to yell too much, not just because of her because it's not great for my vocal cords. No sense in losing my voice before I ever get into the radio studio. So again, find me on Twitter, A-Law Radio. We're gonna have our Game of the Week poll up very soon.

And also, sorry, the mouse is caught on something. Maybe some of these Christmas decorations that just magically appeared in the radio studio. I don't know, maybe Jay will take a photo. I really went all out this year. I moved them around, don't tell. Do you remember last year where we did our Christmas version of Ask Amy Anything?

What we had is our backdrop. The, uh, the red flowers. Not sure what they were, but they were very lovely. The only red flowers that appear at Christmas time. Do you know what those are called? I said I don't.

No, I have no idea. You don't know what poinsettia, you don't know that poinsettia, there we go. Oh my gosh.

Sometimes I feel like Jay's from another planet, or at least not the same planet as me. I mean, now that you say it, I know I just forgot the name. It's seasonal. It's seasonal. It's been a year. Right. So we actually last year rearranged the studio in order to make it look like a more appealing backdrop for our video.

I suppose for now, I'll leave them alone. What I have noticed is that there's no Christmas tree in here, because last year no one watered them and they died. There was, there were two Christmas trees in here last year.

They were real and no one watered them and so they died. Now we got a Christmas bush that appears to be real, which probably no one will water. No, it's a huge poinsettia. Oh, that's what that is. I can't talk Christmas decorations with Jay, apparently. I know mistletoe. That's one.

Do you? Is there any in here? I don't think so. There is. You better get rid of it. Is there really?

What? Is there really one in there? I know I said if there is, you better get rid.

This conversation is not going well. So last year we had a bunch of small pots of poinsettias. This year is a gigantic poinsettia, which maybe I'll sit in front of and take a selfie just for fun. Are we gonna name it? Is it ours? It is now. No one else has claimed it yet.

No. I guess if we name it though, we have to water it. Holly. It's not Holly though.

It's a poinsettia. Holly is the name. It was festive.

It's a festive theme. But Holly is an actual flower. I guess. Holly the poinsettia just. Exactly. Right. Except that Holly is something different.

We can get a, we can get some Holly and name it poinsettia. All right. Jay hasn't had enough sleep this week either. Not a good idea?

No. My first conversation with Jay on Thursday afternoon went something like this. I can't feel my arm. I said, Jay, you can hang up. We can talk later.

I can't feel my arm. I think I was under a couple of groans. Yeah. You want to talk about a one-sided conversation. It was just me talking. There was nothing coming from the other end of the phone. And I, I swear he fell asleep on the other end of the phone, except that I would hear it. And then Jay, just hang up. We can talk later. You can call me back later. I can't feel my arm.

And then I needed 10 minutes, which turned into like 25. No wonder he can't name this red flower and wants to call it Holly, even though it's not a Holly. It's a poly.

It can be a poly. All right. Sounds like a bird. Jay, have you decorated your house for Christmas yet? We have a little bit, not, not to the full extent, but you know, the, the, the basics are up. No tree yet. No tree yet. Probably this weekend, actually. That's what I'm doing on Friday. Getting my Christmas tree. All right.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence. Maybe I'll take a photo of Polly, the Poinsettia or Holly, the Polly, whichever. And we've got a lot to get to from the football world. Of course, Thursday night football kicking off in New England, as well as the return of Deshaun Watson, a game that pits, I don't know, half the Miami Dolphins against their former team, the San Francisco 49ers, plus a bunch of injury updates because the, the season is stretching on now. It's getting deeper into the fall. Pretty soon will be winter and guys are banged up.

Everybody's battered, bruised, bloodied in some cases and certainly playing hurt. And so we'll do our best to update you on the latest injury ramifications for this weekend as well. It's also championship weekend in college football and the games are already underway. The biggens start on Friday night. And so we may talk a little bit about college football. It's, it's all through the lens of the college football playoff rankings. The final set will be released on Sunday. So that actually predates the start of the NFL slate on Sunday, right? So there's a lot we're going to try to cram in as much as possible. Coming up in 30 minutes here on the show, really excited to introduce you to a former US men's national team youth player.

So he was part of under 17 and under 21 squads that competed internationally for team USA. He'll help us get set for the Americans and the Dutch. Knockout baby. We're going to knock them out. Mama says knock you out. Oh, I need some LL Cool J. Like right now I need some LL Cool J in my life. It's after hours. CBS 4tradio phone number 855-212-4227.

That's 855-212-4CBS. Yeah, there's so, so much to get to, including Christian Polisic telling you exactly what happened and what didn't happen to him. And so we're going to do it in Christian Polisic telling you exactly what happened and what didn't happen to him when he scored the only goal for the US against Iran. There were a lot of speculations flying around about what parts of him were injured. I even saw women on our Facebook page asking me what kind of treatment there was for getting kicked in the the little thunders. But according to Christian, that's not what happened.

He'll tell you himself. This was all the rage on Twitter earlier. I know because I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep and like a dummy, I opened up my phone. A neighbor of mine said to me, because he and I were discussing our sleep challenges, a neighbor of mine said to me, I put my phone across the room so I can't touch it when I wake up. Right.

I could do that. Jay's is buried in his cover somewhere and furthermore, he doesn't care. The phone will go off and he doesn't bother even to pay any attention to it.

He just ignores the alarm. I answered your phone call out of a mid-sleep. Yeah. How'd you do that actually?

I don't know. It was time to get up anyway, so it's kind of saved me a little bit. But you didn't. I did. I didn't rise, but at least it was up. Huh.

So what happened for the next 15 minutes after that? Yeah. I knew after that. Jay's a sluggy, but I like that sluggy Jay. He's funny.

He makes me laugh. Oh, nice. Wait, that's it. I don't get any more. I was just starting to get into the groove.

This is our theme for the USA, moving forward to the knockout stage. I can't believe that's all you're going to give me. I'm not going to get the actual payoff, the actual punchline.

I only had an instrumental bit. I mean, I'm surprised. All right. I'm going to let you work on that. Jay's been working on a lot this week, though, so it's been a busy, hectic, chaotic week, but productive, we think, and we are seeing and hearing from so many of you on social media. We're glad to connect with you again.

You can find us on Twitter or Facebook. Pretty soon we'll have our poll up for the after hours game of the week. All right, straight ahead. We'll dive into week 13, Bills Patriots. When last we saw these two teams on the postseason stage, the Bills walloped the Pats by 30 points. That's the big 3-0. You know, 40 is the new 30.

Could they make it 40 on Thursday night? Also Mac Jones, the latest to be caught on camera with f-bombs. He explains. As long as they're food.

Now, see, I can't dislike him for that very reason, that reason alone. It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence. Happy Almost Friday from CBS Sports Radio. You are listening to the After Hours podcast. Second down and 4 now with Jones to work from the gun at the Buffalo 48 takes the snap play fake inside throw left for Marcus Jones.

35 30 25 20. You're the one who protects the flock and that requires a lot of eye for detail because when safety and well being are on the line, it's the details that can save lives. Even when no one else is watching, you see everything. Grainger gets you and we're here for you and all the ones who get it done with a wide range of safety products and solutions. Plus board certified safety consultants here to answer your questions. Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. You're the one who protects the flock and that requires an eye for detail because when safety and well being are on the line, it's the details that can save lives.

Even when no one else is watching, you see everything. Grainger gets you and we're here for you and all the ones who get it done with a wide range of safety products and solutions. Plus board certified safety consultants here to answer your questions. Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. You're the one who protects the flock and that requires an eye for detail because when safety and well being are on the line, it's the details that can save lives.

Even when no one else is watching, you see everything. Grainger gets you and we're here for you and all the ones who get it done with a wide range of safety products and solutions. Plus board certified safety consultants here to answer your questions.

Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. The rookie is loose to the ten, scores, touchdown Patriots. They duped him on the first offensive play of his NFL career.

They told me a pregame be ready for something early. They wouldn't tell me but they slipped the defensive back into the lineup, flex him all the way out to the right. Josh in the gun, second and goal from the eight, takes it, fakes a handoff, wants to throw, fires one into the end zone, caught. It is a touchdown. Stephon Diggs, touchdown Buffalo. An eight yard shot from Josh Allen. He threw it on the money for the Buffalo touchdown.

This is After Hours with Amy Lawrence. The Patriots started out on a high note, their longest play from scrimmage. 48 yard touchdown to a guy who never touched the ball on the offensive side before that snap. Marcus Jones, remember him? The rookie who took the punt return, 84 yards for a touchdown against the New York Jets in the final minute a couple weeks ago. He lines up as a receiver and he ends up hauling in a touchdown. He has a sweet move up the left sideline to get through a half would-be tackler and goes 48 yards. By far that was the longest play from scrimmage and really the only chunk play for the New England Patriots. They held a 7-3 lead in the first quarter as you hear with Bob Socey and Scott Zolack on New England Patriots radio but the very next drive the Bills march 82 yards and Josh Allen finds Stephon Diggs, John Murphy on Bills radio.

It's After Hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS sports radio. It was a lot more of Josh Allen moving the ball around using all of his different targets and weapons getting as many people involved as possible. Even guys like Naeem Hinds able to complete passes to six different guys. He actually targeted eight but six different receivers and then three different running backs.

So they were definitely marching, they were definitely controlling the ball and they made good use of their opportunities. Three for three in the red zone were the Bills. Josh Allen goes shotgun two receivers lined up right side one to the left. Josh looks gonna throw pressured moves to his right out of the pocket looks into the end zone can't find anybody chase to the sideline fires into the end zone and it is caught. Gabe Davis makes the catch in the end zone.

There is a flag on the play. Yeah it's gonna be a hold on the defense this is going to stand what a play by Josh getting barreled down outside of the pocket and able to make the throw with Matt Wilson. Before the pass was thrown holding defense number 13 this penalty's declined the result of the play is the touchdown.

Third and goal from the one. Bills looking to cash in Allen working from the gun two receivers off to the right Singletary shifts to the right handoff Singletary a blast up the middle touchdown Buffalo. Devin Singletary slices in and the Bills build on their lead it's 23 to 7 14 31 to go in the fourth. Touchdown catch by Stavon Diggs by Gabe Davis and a touchdown run by Devin Singletary. Everybody in the pool all the Bills getting involved and as you hear with Ian Eagle on Westwood one that Devin Singletary touchdown run capped a 15 play 94 yard drive that lasted nine minutes. So early in the fourth quarter think about what that does to a defense even a Patriots defense that is fairly good at producing takeaways can generally stuff the run pretty well. I like the Patriots defense but a nine minute drive they're dying and as bad as the Patriots have been well I shouldn't say that as unproductive as the Pats have been in stretches this season offensively meaning the points are just not there that doesn't help your rhythm and they certainly heard it from the fans in the late stages in Foxborough.

High snap is back to Jones a deep drop stands and throws it left underneath caught by Myers in the flat he dives ahead to the 47 yard line go for it and the Patriots are going to point. There's a white flag wait waiver rate white flag waiver game and the fans Buffalo loves it look at Buffalo loves it look at them. Well the Patriot fans are booing the Bills fans and there are a lot of them here tonight.

That stinks. At least down below our booth happy with what they're seeing. Scott Zoellick thinks that stinks on Patriots radio with Bob Sose. So that was early in the fourth quarter in fact the very next drive after the Pats defense is out there for nine minutes of game time instead of going forward on fourth down the Pats punted away and they end up in this game with just the one touchdown that comes in the first quarter they do have a field goal as well but only into the red zone one time how about that over one in the red zone it's not that you can't score from outside the red zone they did with the 48 yarder to Marcus Jones but otherwise a field goal in the final two minutes was the most that they could generate that's all they could generate after the first quarter it's after hours with Amy Lawrence first win in the division for the Buffalo Bills after starting out 0-2. Good to get a win it's a hard place to win against a good football team well coached football team I thought the guys did a really good job of playing complementary football impressed by by the leadership the character of our football team and the stretch that we have had over the last three games here divisional wins important we knew coming in here it's going to be tough like I said against a good football team and they're really well coached and prepared every week so you know we're thankful to get a win and in the division on top of that.

And that's now a really difficult stretch for the Buffalo Bills that is in the rear view mirror three wins in 12 days so they top the Cleveland Browns remember that was a game that was played in Detroit because of the snowstorm then they go back to Detroit for Thanksgiving Day and they win against the Lions and now this against the Patriots in New England so not only have they bounced all over the northeast including Michigan there as well but they also pick up three wins and have tied the Kansas City Chiefs for most wins in the AFC nine. We could have used every excuse in the book but our guys you know we work we work extremely hard we care about each other care about each other's families and I think you know when you have that type of love in the locker room you know you're gonna find ways to win football games and yeah it's it wasn't easy I'll say that. Helps when you can run the ball 132 rushing yards and and 16 more minutes with the football than the Patriots I would have thought that was possible the Patriots would like to run the ball as well they weren't able to in this game held to just 60 rushing yards so credit to the Bills defense but I wouldn't have thought it possible for them to to hold the ball in New England 16 minutes more than what the Patriots had it that was a key to this game. Coach Dorsey did a really good job of you know changing it up and when the run's working like it was at times you know just being able to stick with it and sometimes it wasn't but it's going to happen like that and just being able to stick with it I thought he was very patient in that regard and the old line I thought did a really good job. I thought Dorsey did a good job of mixing mixing those in I thought motor and James ran the ball extremely hard we were skipping some third downs which is always a plus and then when we did have third downs we were putting our you know noses down and going and getting it being really physical playing some physical football so again the more that we can get those guys going it's just going to open up so many different things for us. So now the Patriots have dropped three in a row to Buffalo once again the clear favorites in the AFC East with Miami as a game challenger Patriots fall to six and six and the questions persist why can't they generate more points offensively? We're just not consistent enough you know we we drive the ball get into the red area things like that but we can't score so we just need to you know work on that and just work on finishing our drives. We didn't play our best game obviously and we let our team down and I think when we all play together you know the defense special teams and offense when we finally get a chance to do that I think the results will be there got you know more games to be played season's not over and I got to watch the tape and see what we can do better and and just have a positive attitude. You know that's a good football team that we played against tonight we'll have to play against them again so you got to give credit where credit's due and yeah just got to work harder. So that positive attitude alluded Matt Jones when he was on the sidelines screaming about how the team should be running the football and I'm paraphrasing because I cannot use the words that he was using on the sidelines. If you have not yet seen the video I'm quite certain Marco Bellotti won't be quoting it in his update but if you haven't yet seen the video it's rare to catch him in that type of an emotional moment. He's a lot more like shoot an Eli Manning actually in that regard where he's really even keel but he was caught you can google it Mac Jones video screaming about how they should bleeping throw the ball and that running the ball essentially sucks and so Mac was asked about it because it went viral before he even got to the postgame press conference.

Mac was asked about it you'll hear about that soon but straight ahead this is why I have to get out on time here we'll be joined by a former youth national team member with U.S. soccer. You're the one who protects the flock and that requires an eye for detail because when safety and well-being are on the line it's the details that can save lives. Even when no one else is watching you see everything. Grainger gets you and we're here for you and all the ones who get it done with a wide range of safety products and solutions plus board certified safety consultants here to answer your questions. Call click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. Without the ones like you who work tirelessly to keep things running everything would suddenly stop. Hospitals, factories, schools, and power plants they all depend on you no matter the weather emergency or time of day you're the ones who get it done. At Grainger we're here for you 24 7 with supplies and solutions for every industry and access to product specialists ready to help. Call click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. Without the ones like you who work tirelessly to keep things running everything would suddenly stop. Hospitals, factories, schools, and power plants they all depend on you no matter the weather emergency or time of day you're the ones who get it done. At Grainger we're here for you 24 7 with supplies and solutions for every industry and access to product specialists ready to help.

Call click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. He now has his own soccer academy he's all in on the red white and blue he'll help us get ready for this game against the Netherlands on Saturday morning. It's after hours with Amy Lawrence.

You are listening to the after hours podcast. Robinson back for the captain Tyler Adams. Austin McKinney just making a big run it's meant for him.

Test is snuck in behind Desi scores might have paid the price but the U.S. takes the lead. Very emotional moment for me just the whole match leading up to it you know knowing you need a win going into it you know the pressure was on and I'm really happy that I could have that moment and and just help the team and score and yeah it's a big relief and just really excited and hoping that there's a lot more to come. This is after hours with Amy Lawrence. Christian Pulisic finally speaking after his first ever World Cup goal is the only one Team USA gets against Iran. Yes he went to the hospital afterwards though he says he's doing everything he can to be ready to play against the Netherlands on Saturday. The call there on Fox Sports and he also did an exclusive interview with Fox Soccer.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence CBS Sports Radio. We are so thrilled to welcome a former youth national team member who now runs an elite soccer club in New Jersey Vincenzo Bernardo joining us now here after hours and I'd love to hear your reaction as someone who's played with the national team. The U.S. men's national team gets to the knockout stage.

What do you think about what you've seen so far from the Americans? Well it's been great watching them you know during the qualifications for the World Cup and then leading up to this event. They're really young and exciting team to watch you know full of talented players now that all compete pretty much at the highest level in European teams so it's been exciting. The last game especially against Iran you never know what's going to happen in games like that where it's do or die and you know they showed that they had some some character and they got the result which was really exciting to watch and I know the country's really getting behind this team and it's going to be really really good to see what happens in the next round. You say exciting and I think heart palpitations and I can barely sit down and the second half against Iran which just about sent me into orbit it felt like it was four hours.

Do you go through the same emotions as someone who played for the U.S.? Absolutely I mean you know especially the last 15-20 minutes being up 1-0 and having to hold that lead and defend and having some opportunities against us late you know you just get really really nervous you know but they did a great job battling in those tough moments and they got the result that they needed. What does this team do well, Vincenzo? So this team is very young it's got a lot of energy you know they have a lot of chemistry and you could see that you know off the field you know I follow them on social media they're all friends and they're all together and there is an understanding on the field that you can see that they've built throughout the years you know they work very hard and they believe and I know that the fans too in the United States we all believe in this group and I think you know with that all put together it created this great three games ahead of us and now with the Netherlands coming up I think it's going to be really special for this country to watch a team compete at the highest level. When you saw the makeup of the roster with just one guy who'd had any prior World Cup experience did the youth give you pause at all? Not really because the players even though they're young and they don't have that World Cup experience under their belt they still play at a high level and they have been playing in European matches that are really competitive against the best players in the world so I know that the talent I knew that the talent was good enough it's just exciting to see now that when it's all put together that they're actually you know winning these games and showing the world what this team's capable of.

Vincenzo Bernardo is with us here after hours on CBS Sports Radio he played with the national team as a youth and so understands what it's like to rep the red white and blue and now has his own elite soccer academy which we'll talk about. What was that like for you to be part of the system and to play on some of the youth teams the teams that kind of feed into this national team? Honestly when you represent the country that you live in where you're from and you play with for them and the sport that you love to do it's just really exciting and it's an honor being able to play at the at the U17 level and the U20 level for the United States it's always an honor and it's been great for me and you know I get to see them now on tv and I get to mentor the kids in the club throughout the way so it's just a great honor. What's that process like whether it's qualifying whether it's the practice the development what is that like when you're a kid and you're getting the opportunity to participate at the national team level? Well it's really competitive it's really hard you know there's a lot of a lot of players out there that want to wear that jersey and with that being said you know it's just you got to work every day at that level when you're young and as you build the you know the confidence of the player you just hope that you continue to stay informed and hopefully one day play in the world cup which is everyone's dream. As you watch this team recognizing everything that goes into its development and then see how it compares to some of the other elite teams around the world where soccer is the only sport and so everybody who's a great athlete ends up playing their football or soccer.

How much of a disparity is there how much separation is there between the U.S. and the upper echelon? Well I'd say you know in the last five years we've done a good job you know getting to a level where we where we can compete with these with these top countries in the world you know I think United States now is in a position that's probably the best position they've ever been when it comes to quality and I think that in the next world cup which is which is here in the United States I think they'll have they'll have an even better roster right I think these players here that are on the team now are most likely going to be part of that roster but they'll have four years more experience so I think we're heading in the right direction. The way that soccer is treated here in the United States versus what it's like in other parts of the world you've experienced that so I love the way that our fans are passionate but I still get those responses oh it's soccer I just wish more fans could appreciate it for what it is. Yeah you're right I mean honestly with with all the sports that are going on in our country here with you know it's just it's just a lot going on and for fans to even be watching the United States compete in the world cup you know there's always excitement during this time of year but I think that these world cups doing well in them yeah you just grow you grow a fan base right so the country is behind this team regardless if they like baseball if they like basketball or football you know any other sport but the world cup brings the countries together so I think that this is good the more that success that they have on the field the more success for the sport in our country.

Oh yes we definitely like winners as Americans we're on board with winners that's for sure. Vincenzo Bernardo is with us here after hours CBS Sports Radio former youth national team member now has his own elite soccer program since you had a chance to wear the red white and blue you've been in those atmospheres where the fans are extremely passionate in the stadiums how does that feel when you've got the wave and you've got the chanting and the singing and all of that energy that filters down to the field? When I played you kind of just like everything just goes off and you just focus on playing so I'm sure the players you know although there's so much noise and excitement in the stands and you know I'm sure the players are locked in and they know what they need to do but you know at the same time when the game's over these players these United States players they know the excitement that's behind this team and how happy the country is for for the result to move on to the next round so I'm sure they're really excited and also motivated because this sport is growing in the country and these are all young players that want to make a name for themselves.

Right there's the challenge of having to be able to communicate especially on a pitch that's as large as it is for soccer and and yet the noise in the stadium can can be so overwhelming and in their last game against Iran you had what 75 percent fans rooting for the other team though the better the U.S. played man you could hear the fans in the stands it was pretty amazing. Yeah yeah and it goes back to the chemistry point where if if you have good chemistry with your team you know it's not even as much you know hearing them you just know where they're going to be at that time and you have a style of play and and you execute it. After you retired you decided that you want to work with youth and you formed a team called Morris Elite which is based in New Jersey why is it important to you to start developing players and and to work with players who are younger? Soccer has been my life I've played in my my entire life um it's given me great opportunities and for me to now retire and move on with the next chapter of my life you know I wanted to make sure that I was still involved in the game and I wanted to give back to the game especially in my local community in Madison, New Jersey which is where Morris Elite is is um has that started so for me it's it's exciting to to still be involved in the game and offer the absolute best platform for these young players to express themselves on the field and get better so um it's really honestly a dream come true for me.

And how does it work? How do you find talent and how do you develop them and help them appreciate the game of soccer even as they're working on their own skills and abilities? Yeah so it's exciting because a lot of young players are starting to play soccer at a young age so we get them at around the age of five or six um and we just develop them from the ground up we develop their skill set um on the ball off the ball training and uh you know some players obviously take in the training better than others and and you know we see their growth and we kind of just mentor them along the way. I know that I've traveled in other countries specifically Central America, South America, so Ecuador, I've been to Cuba, I've been to parts of Africa and there are three and four year olds who can dribble circles around me with a soccer ball it's pretty amazing but how much they love it and and even being in countries when the world cup was going on Ecuador for instance didn't have a team in the world cup when I happened to be there and yet every single stall in the local market was tuned into this little black and white tv to be able to watch the games that passion is pretty incredible.

Did you experience that in other countries too? Absolutely I mean soccer is the world's game it's the world's sport everyone um around the world is watching the game um especially this time of year with the world cup but the excitement's there from from when a when a when a young girl or young boy is born you know you're just automatically uh given a soccer ball you know and I think in this country we're not there yet but it's it's gotten a lot better so you know the the excitement and the growth for the sport is um is growing here in the states and I think it's going to continue to. Looking ahead to this game against the Netherlands how does the U.S. approach this match against an opponent that is really prolific when it comes to scoring and is one of the better teams in the world? Absolutely I mean it's going to be very very tough for the United States to get the result here but at the same time you know their their youth their energy their their exciting team to get behind and support I think they have a a good chance that they just defend well um stay organized as a team and make sure that they don't make mistakes early on um I think the team that makes the least amount of mistakes this game will will get the result um you know we hope to be we hope to take it take our chances in the final third and and uh you know kind of do what we did with Iran. Yeah so it's interesting too because we've seen multiple strategies right we've seen Greg Berhalter use different formations whether it's exploiting the midfield matchups whether it's the prevent defense which makes me so nervous against a high scoring team like the Netherlands how would you play it? If you open up the game and leave a lot of spaces for the Netherlands they're gonna they're gonna rip you apart and they're gonna finish their chances so you want to limit the space you want to make sure that you don't sit back kind of like the way we did when we were up one nothing you want to go at them you want to keep possession of the ball as much as you can and again like limit the mistakes and and set pieces are going to be crucial in this game as well. Can't wait although I'm already feeling the the hard palpitations looking ahead to the knockout stage he is the president of Morris elite soccer club in New Jersey and you can find it online morriselitesoccer.com also on twitter at vb10 vincenzo bernardo former youth national team member and now can help us break down what we're seeing at the world cup level so great to have a couple of minutes with you thank you for your time thank you for having me and if you're looking to check out his website it's on the tweet that we put up to promote the interview after hours cbs on twitter now in the next few minutes you'll have another reason to check out our show twitter or our facebook page we'll put up our game of the week poll because we're heading into the bulk of week 13 and there are some pretty cool matchups i'm jazzed up about these matchups on paper and i'm sure they'll be even better in real life for reals one hour in the books it's after hours with amy lawrence on cbs sports radio without the ones like you who work tirelessly to keep things running everything would suddenly stop hospitals factories schools and power plants they all depend on you no matter the weather emergency or time of day you're the ones who get it done at granger we're here for you 24 7 with supplies and solutions for every industry and access to product specialists ready to help call click ranger.com or just out by granger for the ones who get it done without the ones like you who work tirelessly to keep things running everything would suddenly stop hospitals factories schools and power plants they all depend on you no matter the weather emergency or time of day you're the ones who get it done at granger we're here for you 24 7 with supplies and solutions for every industry and access to product specialists ready to help call click ranger.com or just out by granger for the ones who get it done without the ones like you who work tirelessly to keep things running everything would suddenly stop hospitals factories schools and power plants they all depend on you no matter the weather emergency or time of day you're the ones who get it done at granger we're here for you 24 7 with supplies and solutions for every industry and access to product specialists ready to help call click ranger.com or just out by granger for the ones who get it done