'Get bladdered for six months!' - Gary Neville talks USMNT World Cup hopes, 'hell of a player' Christian Pulisic, 'relentless' David Beckham, and Cristiano Ronaldo to MLS

GOAL: What would you say a reasonable expectation is for Mauricio Pochettino as U.S. manager?

NEVILLE: I think he said quarterfinal (at the 2026 World Cup). And Tim Howard said quarterfinal. I think for the US to get to a quarterfinal would be an amazing result. I honestly do. When I think about the golden generation of English players that I played with - and we didn't create the tag ourselves - we only got to quarterfinals of World Cups. So you think about us being golden generation of players with [Frank] Lampard, [David] Beckham, [Paul] Scholes, [Steven] Gerrard, Sol Campbell, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney, and we can only get to quarterfinals of tournaments... It's pretty obvious that the US team currently doesn't have that level of quality that I've just named in that group of English players, and we only ever got to a quarterfinal. So I think for the US team to get to a quarterfinal would be - I always think of it as in golf, that would be a birdie. I think getting into the knockout phases would be par. I think getting to the semifinals an eagle, and if you get get to the final, it's an albatross.

GOAL: And if you win it?

NEVILLE: To be honest with you, just go and get bladdered for six months!

GOAL: I've always wanted to ask, do you get recognized in the States?

NEVILLE: Particularly in the airports, you get recognized a lot. So U.S. soccer fans in airports, particularly, I think if you're walking around the shopping mall or shopping center, I think it's in those busy places when you're walking around... sometimes in the hotel, but it's less so. The waiters that are working in the restaurants, they always support football teams or soccer teams... So I remember going to a restaurant in New York last time I was there, a few weeks ago, and there was Juventus fan, and he just remembered Juventus playing against Manchester United throughout the '90s, 2000s and basically said, "I remember those tussles with Man U and you guys, and I'm a Juventus fan." So I get recognized because of my Premier League profile, but because playing against supporters of other teams - or playing against other clubs.

GOAL: Talk to me about It's Called Soccer... Why now?

NEVILLE: Three years ago, I had this quite clear vision just at the start. I felt as though there was this movement towards short form content, and everyone was going towards, like, 90 seconds. It's got to fit TikTok, it's got to fit Instagram. I get that and understand it. But I felt like there was still a conversation for long-form without live football, just people talking about the game. I knew podcasts had become a thing. I wasn't necessarily into podcasts at the time. I'm more into the sort of production, visual side, and wanted to set up basically a channel of my own. I knew I would take it into the fan debate. Knew I was going to get into stick to football. I knew I wanted to go into live shows.

But then eventually I thought, actually, I'd like to do something in different territories. I love the Middle East. I love the Far East, but I recognize the strength of the game growing in America and the U.S., the World Cup coming up in a couple of years. And I think the potential just for football content over there is potentially greater than probably in the Middle East and Far East this moment in time. So yeah, just decided that we're going to go for it and try and create an American or U.S. bias with a scouser and a Manc!

GOAL: Perfect. Infallible as a model. What's the biggest challenge of doing that, of having a Scouser and a Manc bringing soccer to Americans?

NEVILLE: Authenticity is the most important thing to me. So in one way, it's authentic because we're being ourselves. We've played in the Premier League all our lives, and we're speaking to a global audience, but a U.S. audience. What we have to do is try to sort of mold and refine this piece of content, which we are continually doing. How American do we make it? For instance, so far we've had had guests on like Mauricio Pochettino, there's an obvious American link. We've had Jurgen Klinsmann, again, an obvious American link. We have Christina Unkel on every week doing the ref watch. Obviously, an obvious American link. We've had my brother on, who's obviously managing in the MLS and coached in the MLS, Robbie Keane, who played for LA Galaxy.

Five out of our first six guests have an understanding of U.S. football in some way or the other. It's us, it's The Overlap. It's me, it's Carra. But we're actors trying to interview people who've got a a passion and knowledge and intelligence over in the U.S. about soccer.

GOAL: Your brother, Phil, has been out here for three, almost four years now (now head coach of the Portland Timbers). What has he told you about American soccer, and do you follow MLS?

NEVILLE: I've followed Phil's games over the last few years. I was over in Miami for three weeks a couple of years ago now, and watched a couple of games of his. Phil wants an athletic team. Phil wants a team that's full of vibrancy and energy and youth. He told me he absolutely loves it over there. I don't think he's coming back. I think he absolutely loves the US. I think he loves the people. I think he loves the way of life. I think he's embedded himself with his family.

We are quite a committed family in the sense that when Phil moves to Miami, he buys a house in Miami. When Phil moves to Portland, he's bought and built a house in Portland. He commits to the people, to a city, to a team, to a group of fans, and that's the way we are as a family. He thinks that the football quality is high standard. He obviously knows it's not the Premier League. I mean, we all know that, but he accepts that.

He knows the game's growing and the crowds are growing, and that the fans are very passionate about it. He believes there is a very good crop of young players who can become excellent players in the U.S. and that the U.S. games is getting stronger and stronger. He wouldn't be over there, for three years if he didn't enjoy it.

GOAL: And on Miami, you have a good friend who may or may not be involved there in some, way, shape or form... What have you made of [David Beckham's] job as an owner and as a spearhead of a project? Because he's a larger than life figure when it comes to the game...

NEVILLE: Do you know something? I go back to the very first story that everyone told about David Beckham, when we all got Honda cars when we were 17-18. We all had fabric seats, and he got the leather interior. We all had the normal speakers, and he had the Bose surround sound. There is an element of that, at the time could have been deemed as being the flashy cockney. But what it is is an ambition for perfectionism, for being the very best and doing everything to a level that is just excellent all the time.

And you look at everything that he's done in his life... it's always been to a level whereby it's got to be special, it's got to be something different, it's got to be something he's passionate about. What he's done with Miami... he established it in the first couple of years, which was something that obviously you need to do. But he always had this vision of creating the most exciting football team, the most exciting football club that looks good on the pitch and looks good off the pitch. That's what David Beckham does. He looks good on the pitch and he looks good off the pitch. He's always treated both equally. At times that was deemed, maybe, seen as being distracted by the off field activity. But I've got no doubts.

You'll see this in his documentary, but if you think about a man who's willing to spend half an hour lining up his shirts, his own shirts, perfectly in a wardrobe, that's a guy who's got standards. That basically means that he's gonna apply those same standards to a football club, whether it be another business that he's part of.

I think it's amazing. That stadium that they built - which is temporary - it's the best temporary stadium in the world. It's like, "Oh my god, you don't need to build a new one mate! This one's great!" "No, no, I want to build the best Stadium in U.S. Soccer." I'm like, "No, but this one's fine. Don't worry!" I would have accepted that stadium as being our stadium forever and saved a bit of money. Not him. He's got to put leather seats and Bose speakers in his stadium.

GOAL: One thing I don't think he got enough credit for, personally, is that, the fact that it was going to take time to build Miami. I think everyone just assumed 'Oh, it's a brand, it's him!' But there were going to be a couple of years of a struggle, if you will?

NEVILLE: If they can win the MLS Cup after four years, that would be unbelievable. If you just said to him four years ago, you're going to have amazing crowds. You're going to create the attention you've created. You're going to have the MLS Cup inside four years, he would have snapped your hand off. It's an amazing achievement to do what they've done. And it won't stop there, because he is persistent, relentless, nonstop. He'll think of it as a great achievement. But he'll think about now I want to win three on the bounce, I want to win four on the bounce. He will want to dominate that space, because that's the way he thinks. It's the way he's been brought up.

GOAL: Who's your favorite American to watch in Europe?

NEVILLE: Christian Pulisic, for me. When he was at Chelsea, I remember first game I covered on him was away at West Ham, and I thought, "Oh, that's, Eden Hazard. That was Eden Hazard the way he way ghosted past, just drifted past players, that acceleration that he's got, and the ability to go either way." I thought, "Bloody hell, this is a hell of a player!"

So he's someone that I really did admire at Chelsea, but then didn't hit the heights, the potential that he obviously thought he would. He's now doing well in Milan. I love Antonee Robinson at Fulham. I think he's a bundle of energy going up and down that line. He's wonderful. Those two are the ones that stand out.

GOAL: To pivot to the Premier League... Do you think an American will coach in the Premier League again?

NEVILLE: Yeah, yeah, I do.

GOAL: Even after Jesse Marsch's struggles? Do you think the media landscape will allow for that, for more of a successful model?

NEVILLE: Let's not be too paranoid, thinking of it from a U.S. perspective, that Jesse Marsch gets mocked, or Jesse Marsch gets a bit of a rough ride with the media. Think of the rough ride that Eric Ten Hag just got, or the rough ride that Ralf Rangnick got, or the rough ride that Ole Gunnar Solskjær got, or the rough ride that going back through history, every manager at big clubs in the Premier League got.

I think there is an unsavory element sometimes to the way in which he was reported on that ultimately, I think is unacceptable. But generally, every manager does get a level of sick, and every manager gets a level of criticism. However, I understand and accept the principle of the sort of mocking nature of some of the reporting vs. Jesse Marsch is not acceptable to me, and something that doesn't sit well with me.

The U.S. growth of soccer that has happened in the last 10 years is going to continue, whether it's U.S. ownership in English Premier League clubs, whether it's us ownership in EFL clubs, U.S. growth in their own country with the MLS - you can't deny the power and resource that exists within America and the intelligence. So my view would be, there absolutely will be another US coach in the Premier League at some point in the future.

GOAL: OK, inevitable question. Ruben Amorim to Manchester United. Good hire?

NEVILLE: You can only ever say maybe, because we've seen great managers come and fail with great intention and great optimism. What we should never forget is that in football, as a United fan, you can never think that you don't have hope. So I have hope. I have optimism that a new manager is coming in. I think he's got a big personality. He's very young, he's enthusiastic. He's not tainted by previous experiences in the Premier League.

We're not quite sure what we're going to get. He'll be supported by a loyal fan base, that's a given. But he's got a very tough job getting this group of players molded into a team very quickly that look like they want to play football well for the club. I mean, the performance levels are really poor. At the moment, they're as poor as you'll get.

The 10 games this season have been awful. The one under Ruud Van Nistelrooy against Chelsea, I thought was just dreary. So he's got to inject a level of belief, confidence and energy and get the best out of those players that he's going to inherit. And that's tough job number one, but he will get some time. He's the first appointment of the new owners, and I'm always enthusiastic and hopeful when a manager comes in that they can turn the tide.

GOAL: On Man City and the many, many charges against them... what's your view on it?

NEVILLE: There will be no hiding place. If Manchester City get found guilty of the more serious charges that they're being accused of, there's no hiding place. They will get severely punished. They have to be. However, that's still yet to happen, and we've got to make sure that this happens quite quickly, because it's dragged on for years now. It's a shame on the game in this country that we can't get things like this through a lot quicker. I understand there is legal process, but you're talking about things that happened years ago and still not being concluded, and hanging over a club, but also hanging over the league. And we always would be very critical in England of foreign leagues that had issues of corruption or legality, or match fixing, or other such things of that nature.

So when things like this happen in our country, we've got to feel equally as disappointed, that they've got to be dealt with properly and dealt with through process, but also efficiently and making sure that the game gets clear and can move on. So for me, I want the process to be followed, of course, but I want this to be over quite quickly now, because the reality is, it's dragged on too long. If Manchester City are cleared, it will be huge embarrassment for the Premier League. If Manchester City are found guilty of the more serious charges, or the majority of those charges, they're in big trouble.

GOAL: You said at the start of the season that Arsenal would win the league...

NEVILLE: I'm not moving!

GOAL: You're not moving?

NEVILLE: I'm not moving. Honestly, the journey to winning the league is a series of mountains, a series of very difficult obstacles to overcome. It doesn't happen in a straight line. It's not plain sailing. It's not a bed of roses. And you've got to go through turmoil, and they're going through that at the start of this season, but they're still in touch. They're still in a place whereby they're going to get players back. They've had a period of injuries that they'll need to overcome, and I think they'll hit their straps and their form in the period of the season where it matters. We have got to say that it's helpful that City have lost a game and City have dropped points. That gives them encouragement. They've got to get themselves together quite quickly, but I still feel confident that they can win the league this season.

GOAL: How terrified is the United fan in you that Liverpool look decent under Arne Slot?

NEVILLE: I'm not terrified. I think that there's been a brilliant start from Arne Slot. They've got a lot of stability from the previous years of Jurgen Klopp that's helping them come through games. But I'm watching them, and I'm thinking that they're doing really well, they're getting good results, but they're not playing amazingly well. I mean, they played well at Old Trafford, so, yeah, that was fantastic.

But I watched them at Wolves, seen them against Brighton, seen them in the game against Nottingham Forest. Seen them in other games where I thought, "You've just got through that, you've got over the line. Well done. Congratulations." But it was a struggle. There were parts that game where it was tough for you. That's football, but I don't think they're quite to me demonstrating that this is a team that's going to go win the league yet. I would think differently if they're in this position in February, but I feel at this moment in time, I'd like to see where they are in January, February.

GOAL: Should Cristiano Ronaldo play in MLS?

NEVILLE: He's dominated in England. He scored goals in Italy, scored goals in Spain. He's now scoring goals in the Middle East. There's only really sort of the U.S. left, isn't there? That guy, to be fair, doesn't stop. I still think he'll be playing in a year or so when his contract runs out in Saudi. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he rocked up in New York, LA at one of the big cities, and sort of finished his career in the U.S. for a year or two, doing what he does best now, which is score goals.

GOAL: Gary, this country would explode if Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were play in the same league at the same time

NEVILLE: Maybe they could play for the same club! That'll cost a few quid, Becks mate, put your hand in your pocket again.

PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF MIC'D UP:

Oct. 31: Herculez Gomez on Mauricio Pochettino's impact, the USMNT's 'wide-open' striker race, and a player pool 'that lacks accountability'

Oct. 29: NBC's Rebecca Lowe on the growth of soccer, the 'incredible' Emma Hayes and 'profile-raising' Mauricio Pochettino

Oct. 24: Apple TV's Andrew Wiebe on MLS playoffs, Lionel Messi's 'nuclear form' and how Inter Miami can become league's 'greatest team of all time

Oct. 17: Jamie Carragher talks USMNT, slams Man City over legal case, questions Maurico Pochettino despite 'great' hire