Philadelphia Union captain and center back Danny Califf sat in for Tuesday night’s recording of this week’s KYW-PSP podcast and gave a lengthy, candid and wide-ranging interview to hosts Greg Orlandini and Dan Walsh.
Califf opened up about his frustrations about the Union’s defensive struggles and talked about how he sometimes wishes the team had a more defensive philosophy, because the attacking mentality opens up holes that other teams exploit. He also chatted about:
- his optimism about the franchise and reasons for coming to Philly;
- Chris Seitz’s development (and why Califf thinks he’s close to being “the absolute man”);
- the team’s playoff chances;
- Union on-field tactics and personnel needs;
- rookie hazing in Mexico (or lack thereof?);
- the unique challenges of captaining an expansion team;
- the Philly mentality;
- how he takes it “personally” that the Union don’t have any clean sheets;
- and more.
Greg and Dan also talk about the Union’s recent stretch, the Philadelphia Independence’s terrific play, and the U.S. national team’s coach situation.
“What my job is, I get paid to kick people.” Up the Union.
Yeah, awesome quote. Was laughing about that even after the interview. He was definitely a great interview, one of the best we’ve had for the KYW podcasts.
These keep getting better and better. Califf was awesome, very frank and honest, with some good insight.
I’m glad you guys talked about the Independence as well. They do play some terrific soccer, and Dan, like you said on the podcast, I can be a bit critical, and I have nothing but praise for the quality of soccer the Independence put forward.
Just as the fantastic interview with Saliewicz gave terrific insight into the Union’s philosophy from a management perspective, the interview with Califf provides so much insight into what it means to be a player on an expansion team. I like Califf so much more after listening to him, he’s an articulate, self-deprecating, funny guy and I really appreciated his honesty.