Brian Dunseth hilariously recalls how he got into broadcasting. Just weeks after being unceremoniously cut by then-LA Galaxy GM Alexi Lalas (a future friend) - a transaction Dunseth attributes to then-manager Steve Sampson - the defender, who enjoyed a nine-year professional career mostly in MLS, found himself facing an uncertain future.
“I was like, dude, I’m done,” Dunseth told GOAL.
Returning to Salt Lake City, where he had played the previous season, Dunseth decided to attend a Real Salt Lake game at the stadium then known as Rio Tinto Stadium. While there, he quickly noticed a blind spot in the coverage.
“Spence Checketts, the son of Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts, was doing a game preview,” Dunseth said. “I was like, ‘Dude, you’re missing this matchup and that matchup.’ So, in my typical joking fashion, I found Trey [Fitz-Gerald] and Spence afterward and said, ‘Hey, let me know when you want someone who knows what they’re talking about.’ It was a tease, but with a hint of seriousness.”
Fitz-Gerald, who is RSL's long-time PR executive, warned him that the job didn’t pay, but Dunseth quipped, “I can’t let your listeners sit through this stuff.” From there, as Dunseth described it, Pandora’s box opened, leading to several larger opportunities.
Today, Dunseth is nearing the summit of American soccer broadcasting. He’s one of the lead voices on Turner’s U.S. Soccer coverage, an analyst for Apple TV with co-host Max Bretos - and co-hosts a SiriusXM Radio show called Counter Attack with USMNT legend Tony Meola on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It’s a development Dunseth couldn’t imagine that night years ago in Salt Lake City.
“It’s been a great experience,” Dunseth said when reflecting. With U.S. Soccer now in a new exciting territory under manager Mauricio Pochettino, Dunseth has a point of view.
“This is our opportunity to kind of take those monumental steps as a collective group to take us as a footballing nation to the next level,” he said.
Dunseth touched on Gio Reyna’s future, Christian Pulisic’s overall impact in soccer and a story few know about Pochettino in this edition of Mic'd Up, a recurring feature in which GOAL US taps into the perspective of broadcasters, analysts and other pundits on the state of soccer in the U.S. and abroad.
NOTE: This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.