EXCLUSIVE: Hunter Freeman Q&A – PT. 1

By: Dave Martinez | May 5th, 2008

Hunter Freeman has been sidelined all season with a sprained ankle suffered at the Olympic Qualifiers. Nearly six weeks later, he has finally managed to find his way back into the starting lineup – playing against rival Toronto FC.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Freeman, grab some Starbucks, and talk a little bit about his career; from his time in Colorado, to his recent trials and tribulatuions. But we started things with a question from his end of the table.

“Where do you live?” I found it pretty interesting. So I told him – “I have a little studio apartment in the Forest Hills section of Queens. Just me, my dog, and a big screen TV . . . ”

With a laugh, he replies “Hey, thats 2 of mans best friends right there – a TV and a dog.”

You’ll find that, through a career that has featured success on nearly every level he has played in, including his work with the U-23 Nationals, he doesn’t let any of it get to his head. A straight arrow kind of Texan, Hunter Freeman, in many ways, is an open book.

We covered a lot of topics, so this will be part 1 of a 2 (or 3) part series.

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His Ankle Injury, and Toronto FC

So hows that injury doin’?

Its going good. Its one of those things that you have to take day by day. You know, everyday I feel like I am making progress. Today (4/30) was like what – my fifth or sixth day of training? It feels like its been longer. I feel like I am getting back in the flow of things. Still need to get better, sharper, stuff like that. But I feel confident, like I can contribute to the team. Obviously not as a starter since my fitness is probably whats lacking the most right now, but thats only going to come from playing. I thought maybe this weekend (against New England) I would get in 10-15 minutes, but obviously when Kevin went down with an injury, we had to use our third sub. But in the end of the day, we got three points, and thats what matters the most.

Is it more difficult to recover from an injury on that Giant Stadium turf than on a regular surface?

I mean, anytime you are recovering and your on turf, its going to be tougher. There are alot of people supporting field turf saying that it is as good as grass, but its not. I mean, I understand why people are using it because, obviously, the maintenance for it is nothing, you know? But at the end of the day, there is nothing like grass, even in other sports. I mean, soccer is kind of like playing golf on turf – yea you could hit the ball off the turf – its like going to a driving range, and your hitting off the mat, its not like hitting off the grass. Same thing with soccer. Certain balls you go to play, you can’t get under the ball all the time, you dont get a natural bounce – it bounces up off the turf. I mean, those are all aspects that play into it. But as far as injury goes, its just tougher on your body. You ask any player what surface they would rather play off of, they wouldnt even hesitate – grass. You just take more of a pounding. Its not as soft, not as forgiving.

Me coming back from my ankle, in soccer everything revolves around your ankle – your cutting, your striking, your strength – it all starts with your ankles. Its definitely not ideal, but at the same time, you do what you have to do and you deal with it.

Getting back to your debut, Toronto would be a great place to do it! Even with those annoying fans rooting against you and all . . .

Oh yea – its definitely the best atmosphere there is in the league as far as their fans – so numerous, sold out everytime, they are loud – yea, definitely obnoxious – but at the same time they are pretty knowledgable of the game. I mean, everybody feeds off it – it helps them (TFC) because they are rooting for them, but anytime, even as an opposing team, especially in this league, you dont get that atmosphere, the chance to play in it all the time, I feel alot of players feed off of that.

He and Mike Magee

So you and Mike Magee are roomies?

I’ve known Magee since I was 14-15 years old, and we went through residency together. Ive known him forever, so when I came here, it was an easy fit. Unfortunately for him, he has been injured for so long. I mean, I have such an appreciation for what he has gone through last year and this year. In the offseason, people pick up injuries, but nothing like him – I mean he has been out for nearly two years now.

What kills me is that around the time of his injury, he had a chance under the spotlight when Amado Guevara went down in 2005, and he showed plenty of promise.

Yea. I mean, anytime you get injured its unfortunate. But I am happy for him. I think he will be contributing more, game by game.

So do I man. With all the injuries happening this season with you guys, its a great time for him to start competing for a starting spot. I even think he would be able to compete with Reyna for a spot as the CAM.

Yea, I know Coach is pretty high on him. He had these acute nagging pains when he was coming back and stuff like that, just from not having played in so long. But now, those are out of the way and he is getting fit, which is why he is playing a little more, played a half last game.

You must have been psyched about his goal . . .

Yea definitely. I thought he did well in the game. Look what he brings to the game – he is a good passer, has good vision, which alot of guys dont have. I think the best word that sums him up is that he is a cheeky player. Not everybody is blessed with that talent. Yea, he is not going to blow by you with speed or something like that, but he is cheeky, and he is not a big guy, but uses his body just about as good as anyone. And thats the kind of player that we miss in there. So obviously, good for him to get a goal, and gettin more playing time.

Coach Osorio, Bruce Arena and Fruit Loops

Moving forward, what has it been like this year under Juan Carlos Osorio, as opposed to the Bruce Arena era . . .

Um, to be honest, I would say that they are like total opposites. Bruce tended to be more laid back, though he could be intense at times. But with Juan, he is pretty intense all of the time. You know that, no matter what day it is, you won’t be able to cut a corner here or there. Sometimes, though it doesnt necessarily have to do with Bruce, when a coach is a little more laid back, guys think they can get away with stuff, and at times, they get to. I think those are the biggest differences. I think they both demand quality with their players, but I think with Juan Carlos, you know day in and day out that he has his eyes on you. Even if he is not looking at you, he can see what you are doing. I think every player can pick out a moment, like when you are eating breakfast, that he will notice every single thing you ate and will call you out on it. He is not shy to call you out regardless of who you are, whether your a rookie, or Juan Pablo, or Claudio, or Dave Van Den Bergh – guys that are experienced. He treats everyone equally. He will praise you if you deserve praise or he will kill you when you deserve to be ridiculed. But even when he ridicules you, he does it in a way that says he knows that he expects more of you.

And I think as a player, the times you have to worry is when you know you messed up and the coach doesnt say anything to you.
That tells you the Coach doesn’t see any more out of you. Just from what I have seen in the lockerroom, I feel that he is just very honest. Some guys may not like that, but I think the majority of guys, even if he is telling you what your doing is bad, anytime you know what he wants from you, thats all you can ask for.

With some coaches, for whatever reason, you are not playing, and you ask the coach why you are not playing, and they say this is what you do – and you do just that, and you are still not playing. As a player, anytime your caught in lies, its never a good thing. When the coach lays it out there for you, and says “Hey this is what I want you to do, if you dont do it, you are not going play” – thats pretty plain and simple. And thats what Juan Carlos does very well.

Is it unfair to ask you so early what Coach Osorios influence has been on your game?

I think he definitely wants you to pay attention to detail off the field – how your eating, if you are scouting an opponent – he is all about details. And I am serious – it goes from watching the guy you are playing against to what you are eating that morning . . .

So he wouldn’t appreciate us having some Starbucks right now?

He is a coffee guy, so he might! But a funny little story from preseason – I was with the team, we were in LA, and we had a game. I had trained for three or four days, full out training, I just got back, and I was told I would play 15-20 minutes. Now, everyone has their own routine – the game was early in the morning, and it was like an 11 o’clock kick off. So we are eating breakfast, and I am having Fruit Loops – thats one of the things I have. I just love Fruit Loops. I know its not the best thing to have before a game, but at the same time, I had some yogurt and a couple of pieces of fruit – but early in the morning, my stomach, I can’t have alot. Even if its before a practice, I have a yogurt, a coffee, maybe a little bit of a bagel and thats it. I just cant eat a heavy meal! So right before the game, the guys that arent playing were just kind of juggling. He comes up to us and he says “I am not going to say WHO it is, but ONE of your teammates was eating FRUIT LOOPS this morning! Can you believe that? The guy ate Fruit Loops!” Well, the guys start looking around at each other, and I of course knew he was talking about me. And I dont say anything. But he kept going on and on saying “Do you guys approve of this?” All along, I had no idea he was watching what I ate so closely – thats how observant and attention to detail he is.

I think it was a joke – but at the same time, I dont think he was too happy about the Fruit Loops anyway . . .

He must have bought that over from his days in Europe, along with some training tactics as well . . .

The biggest thing that he has bought to this team, especially in training, is that everything is a competition, in everything we do. Especially when we play small sided games, with 4-5 teams of 5, every person puts in $2 and the winner gets the pot. And whatever, it comes out to $6 a person or something, but its a little extra incentive. You know, we are always playing for something, like pride, but you add a little cash . . .

. . . And the ability to rub it in your teammates faces when you win . . .

Ya, exactly. Thats the little things, in everything we do, we are always keeping score. He preaches a winning mentality – sometimes its going to be pretty, sometimes its not going to be pretty, but at the end of the day, when you are getting points, thats all that matters.

I think you’ve seen that in some of our games like in New England – we played one of the better games of our year. We dominated, had good sequences, had good chances, had some crafty and cheeky plays during the game, but at the end of the day, we made one mistake, and its a tied game – so all that good stuff is out of the game. Then you take this game against San Jose for instance – kind of a boring game, we still dominated, but did we really get rid of the danger the majority of the time? Not really. It took alot for us to put away the game, but its a win, you know?

What did Coach Osorio say to the team at halftime? It wasn’t just Jozy, everyone seemed to come back more intense, focused -

I just think there needed to be a little more urgency. I think we had the game under control – at no point in that game did we feel “Aw they’re on top of us, they are coming at us,” but sometimes you get too complacent to just keep the ball. And against team like that, if they can leave with a tie they would be more than happy. The further the game goes along, they are going to tend to sit back more and more. Its a fine line between keeping the ball, and trying to penetrate and create chances. But I think the first half we were too reluctant, keeping position in the middle half of the field instead of keeping it at the attacking part. I thought the second half, we pressed higher, put them under pressure more, but at the end of the day, it took us a while, but once we got the first goal you could tell all the game needed was a goal and obviously, we had the goal at the 93rd minute, a good goal!

Part II of this Freeman interview covers his beginnings as a Red Bull, including his thoughts on his time in Colorado (which is really some interesting stuff), his transition to NY, and maybe some Olympic talk (which may have to wait till part 3).

Stay tuned for more.