For me the success I had early on was all I was used to. I didn't know any better to expect any less. I was sort of thrown in the deep end and it was sink or swim. Luckily, I was able to adjust to the higher level and it got my career off to a great start.

2) You grew up in N. Carolina known to most for NASCAR, college basketball and those South of the Border ads on I-95. How did you gravitate toward soccer especially with so few visible Blacks in the game at the time.

I wanted to play football at first like my pops but I was too young. Soccer was all they had for my age, so I tried it. Who knew?

3) Growing up did you get the "Soccer? Black people don't play soccer" comments that DaMarcus Beasley said that he heard all the time and how did you deal with them.

Of course, all the time. It was not cool to play soccer if you were Black. However, once my friends or others saw me play they accepted it much more. Also, when I went to play in college it was considered a great thing by my peers. The fact that I was allowing soccer to pay for my schooling was a big deal at the time.

I ask African-American kids now what continent their ancestors are from. Then I ask them what is the biggest sport on the continent. I then explain to them that soccer is in their blood, they just never knew it.

4) Grant Hill once said that he played so well in a game in High School that he came to the realization that he was going to be a special player. Did you ever have a game or moment after which you said, "I'm going to be really really good at this game."?

For me it was in High School as well. But as I went on to higher levels I was humbled quite a bit. But I always adjusted pretty quickly as the skill level rose. Then I would be back near the top again. I never let myself feel to comfortable b/c there is always something new to learn and always somebody better at it.

5)You played 3 years at UNC before entering the MLS draft. You insisted that your contract allow you fly back and forth to Chapel Hill to continue taking classes towards your degree. Why was that so important to you?

I actually played 4 years. I wanted to go back just to try and finish something I had already started.

6)After a slow start in 96, DC United seemed to turn the corner during a July home game against the now defunct Tampa Bay Mutiny that I remember as a defensive struggle featuring a loud, large crowd, a late goal Marco Etcheverry goal and lot of rain. When did you as a team realize how good you could be?

I joined the team pretty late because of the Olympics. When I got there I felt like our team was special. But when we acquired Jaime Moreno it really took us over the top. Once that happened nobody could stop us.

7) Many people still believe that the team DC had between 96-99 especially, the '97 edition, was the most dominant MLS has ever seen. What made that team so good and why, in your opinion hasn't there been another team as dominant since?

I think our best team was in 98. Most of the guys from that team would agree. We had so many good players but so many national team players. Because we were all competing at a high international level we were always very sharp. There were games where we probably had 9 or 10 national team players on the field at one time. That year we won the Inter-American Cup which is [made us]the best team in all of North America and South America. No American team had ever done that before.

With DC in 97: "Nobody could stop us"
(ECA-DCU)

8) As dominant as DCU was, the fall was equally as startling. Aside from losing head coach Bruce Arena to the National team, to what do you attribute DC's fall from grace?

All good things come to an end. But for me it was when we traded Roy Lassiter. Everything went wrong then because up top we were not nearly as dangerous as before. We had also lost John Harkes and Tony Sanneh and we became very predictable to play against. Also, Roy was the leading scorer at the time and it was a trade that I will never understand. The final blow was losing our training facility which forced us to train on sub-par fields at our stadium. We lost the professionalism that Bruce Arena always made sure was present at the club.

9) You went to the NY/NJ Metrostars after 7 seasons with DC. There were some DC fans that suggested that you had started to play better and harder in a US shirt than you did in the Black and Red of DC. Others suggested that you were not vocal enough as a leader as reason for the trade. Your views on this and the trade in general?

DC had become a place where I was not improving as a player. The environment was not one where I was challenged on a daily basis. Players need a challenging environment in order to grow.

The reason people thought I played better in a US jersey was because I did. Better not harder.

National team camps were and are fierce environments where everyone wants to improve and get better. Including the coaches. Everybody wants to start and everyday is a battle for that position. That is how you get better.

As far as not being vocal enough, I was a part of a backline that made it as far as any other US team in the World Cup which is obviously at the highest level of our sport.

For me the trade was a good thing because, again, I was not improving as a player in that environment. Once I heard that Bob Bradley was going to be the coach I knew that the demand would be high and that I would really be challenged everyday. That was exactly what I wanted.

10) NY/NJ has, on paper been one of MLS' best sides but reality as seen the Metrostars mired in mediocrity. What's it going to take to bring the Metrostars to among the elite teams in MLS?

On paper NY/NJ has not been any better than any other team. As a matter of fact, we have had the youngest team in the league for the last two years. I think people want NY to get a championship simply because it is NY and major city in our country. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way, you have to earn it. No one has higher expectations than we do for ourselves. So we will be trying achieve our goals just like every other team.

11) You had several offers to leave MLS and play in Europe. When you look at the acclaim and recogntion players such as Rio Ferdinand and Sol Campbell get do you ever say, "Man, that could have been me."?

People always think that there were a million offers for me. the ones that I had did not have all the right circumstances for me at the time. I don't dwell on others in Europe b/c I cant complain about the success I have had and want to continue to have here.