Diego Luna
Appearances
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
I'm the kid, you know, that didn't really come from much. For me, it was always, you know, fighting for what I wanted, you know, needing to prove myself at any level and even on the soccer side.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
What's going on? Thank you for having me. How are you guys doing?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Yeah, enjoying a little off day, but yeah, we're doing good.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Yeah. Northern. Yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Yeah, so it was definitely a decision that, you know, my family, agents all had to be a part of, right? And I think for me, it was, you know, mainly my decision to understand that I was seeing kids getting, you know, brought into MLS teams and, you know, then just kind of, you know, floating around on the second teams, you know, not getting minutes and stuff like that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
And, you know, I was seeing this happen, you know, with my own eyes. So, I then, you know, thought about the opportunity to go, you know, prove myself and earn my spot and kind of rise up the ranks type of thing. And that's kind of been how my youth days were, kind of performing, then taking a leap. And I think that's what really made me, you know,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
make my move to USL to get the opportunity to play and showcase myself there to make sure that I am good enough, I can showcase myself here and then move up the ranks from there.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Exactly. Yeah. So that's the thing, you know, with, with, you know, of course not putting any, any hate on, on anything, but like when you go to MLS next pro, you're going to be playing against, you know, Academy players or, or, you know, guys that, that, you know, aren't, aren't young, young kids.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
But when you go into USL championship, that's, you know, that's a division of grown men, retired, you know, good pros. And, and, you know, if you're a young, a young player, like I was, Going into that environment, you're still competing against, you know, faster, stronger guys. And you're proving yourself and you still have something to prove there.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
And once you perform there, you know, you can showcase yourself. And like I did, show everybody that you, you know, you're ready for the next level.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Yeah. I'm a kid that didn't really come from much. My family worked really hard to give me what they could and provide me with everything that I'm extremely grateful for. So I think for me, it was always fighting for what I wanted, needing to prove myself. And at any level, and even on the soccer side, I never played my age. I was always playing...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
five years up two years up three years up you know it was never you know me playing against kids my age or my size it was always bigger faster stronger so for me it was just always gotta like I gotta do I gotta prove myself you know I'm not here just because You know, and, and, you know, taking it back, you know, my, my brother and my dad were my coaches.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
They would put me, bring me up on the, on the, on the older teams and put me on the bench. He's like, you're not, you're not proving yourself. You're not, you know, you're not, you're not playing well. You're not doing what you need to be doing. So no matter if it was my family, they were going to sit me on the bench and be like, you're not doing good enough.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
So I think it just came from the way I was raised and kind of the family that has given me everything and worked hard to put me where I'm at. And I just, you know, picked up on that to provide, to make sure that I'm doing the best to showcase myself. Yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
So in that game, you know, it was a big moment for me and always, you know, grateful to have the opportunity to represent, you know, the USA. So I break my nose middle of the game. I get pulled out to the side. They try to, you know, put it back in place right there on the sideline. And coach is looking at me like he's, like, are you ready to...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
come off and i'm like no there's no way there's no way like there's no way i'm coming off in the 15th minute because this thing you know i can still run i could still see you know you're not stopping me right now and i think that was just the mentality of me because you know you don't get these opportunities you know all the time you got to take advantage of the opportunities you're given
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
And like I said, you got to showcase, you got to make a name for yourself. You got to, you know, provide and stuff. So, you know, in those moments, it's like you go, you think in your head, it's like, this is an opportunity where you can take the easy way and, you know, hop off and, you know, broke your nose. What a story, blah, blah, blah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Or, you know, you're going to grab your chance and go for it. So I think for me, it was just saying like, there's no way I'm coming out of this game. And he was telling me, you know, that it's okay. You don't have to rush it. You know, it's preseason and stuff. And I was like, no, I'm going to, I'm going to, let me play my world cup.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Let me play, let me play until half. And, and from there we can make a decision. And, you know, he asked the doctors if that was okay. And then, you know, they said, yeah. And, you know, I was able to go back in there and, and, you know, maybe, maybe the best decision of my life, you know, to go back in there and, and, you know, get an assist right after. And, you know, from there, um,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Yeah, just showcase myself. And that was just, it's cool to me because it made a lot of headlines and stuff. But it was cool to me because that was just me. It wasn't like me trying to be anything. It was just exactly what my head wanted at that moment. And so that was cool to see and it made me feel good and stuff. But yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Yeah, and I think, you know, it isn't a secret that right now, RSL, we're struggling to score goals. And, you know, I think for me to step up and, you know, that's what I want to do. I want the pressure. I want to be that guy. I want to, you know, whether that's me getting the assist, whether that's me scoring the goals, I want to be that guy.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Um, and you know, right now I think it is, it is, you know, on me to, to take that, uh, take that, um, the pressure of, of scoring goals for RSL. Like that's, it's what I need to be doing. And yeah, you know, I, I think right now I'm, I'm working hard to put myself in the position to score goals and, um, you know, maybe, uh, In a couple months, it won't be me.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Maybe I'll have to be assisting more and finding passes to our guys and stuff. But I think right now, I'm happy to continue to contribute. And whether it's scoring goals or assisting, I'm all for it.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
I think it was, it wasn't a secret. And I think from the very first day I started at RSL, um, Pablo just made it very clear. Like you're not going to play. And, and it was also awesome because Pablo made it difficult for me to get the opportunity. He didn't just hand it to me. He made it difficult. He was, you're going to have to do this. You're going to have to do this.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
And you're going to have to do this. You're not working hard enough. You're not defending good. Your, your soccer, your soccer IQ on the defensive side is not good enough. Um, And what's better than that, right? Having a coach that's going to challenge you to become better and do all the right things you need to be doing to get the opportunity to play. So I think for me, I'm extremely grateful to
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
you know, for Pablo to really tell me how it was and really put it in my face that if you're not going to defend, if you're not going to, you know, help the team on the defensive side of the ball, then there's no spot for you here. So, you know, so of course, from a guy that wanted to be on the field, I had to learn and I had to do that. So I put in, you know,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
A lot of, you know, a lot of video sessions, a lot of, you know, mentally, you know, telling myself, you got to do this, you got to do this and kind of putting that on on a loop to make it a habit. Right. And make it a big part of my game. And then later on, I found out that, you know, that gives me the opportunity to score more goals. So why not do it? Right.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Why not defend better and to get the ball higher up the field and, you know, showcase myself?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Yeah, definitely. And, you know, like you said, first off, you don't want to say anything wrong and stuff like that. And like you said, it's just the evolution of soccer. That's how it works. That's that's the job we're in and stuff like that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
But, you know, for me, it's always been whatever club that I'm playing for at that time, you know, I'm going to give it 100 percent, you know, like that's that's bottom line. So, you know, wherever it is.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
But yeah, of course I think about that and, and what could be the next move for me and when that move could be, you know, it's, it's not always, you know, my choice or stuff like that, that, you know, there could be a team and, and ourself find an agreement, you know, in the summer, it could be in two years, it could be, like you said, after the world cup, you know, who knows, but for me, you know, I have dreams, I have, you know, goals in mind to, to perform and, you know, it's, it's,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
It's about providing for your family. So, of course, it's like wherever that's going to give you the best career and longevity and to be able to play and perform. And, of course, you know, a place that I can perform so I can get the opportunity to represent the national team and stuff like that.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
So I think for me, it's just about continuing to do what I can do for RSL and the opportunities I get with the national team. And then, you know, from there, see where that takes me. And then wherever I land next, give it 100% and then start all over.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Exactly. Right.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Exactly.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Yeah. Right?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
And I think, yeah, that all goes into consideration when you think about clubs, right? You got the big clubs, the big names and stuff like that, but it's not always where...
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
you know it's where you want to be but it might not be the exact time where you where you where you take that chance right you might have to like I said you know work up the ranks and and once you go to Europe you can start somewhere then go up and up and up so I think for me yeah it's been the plan for me and it's it's not going to change now because of whether it's money or or just a big name club you know I think it's it's about where I'm going to be able to play and and you know
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Yeah, for me, it's been awesome. I can't complain. Pochettino, for me, the biggest thing about him is that he made me feel comfortable off the field as a human, which allowed us to be able to feel free and no pressure when you're on the field. And I think that was the biggest thing for me. He knows how to connect with the players one-on-one and make jokes and laugh and stuff like that. But also,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
When you got to flip the script and you're on the field, it's locked in. You know, it's time to grind and you got to be 100% focused. But off the field, you know, there's jokes and there's stuff. So it makes you feel comfortable and allows you to express yourself on the field. And I think that was the biggest thing for me, that takeaway.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Yeah. And I think, For me, when you really think about it and you really lock in on it, it gives you like kills, you know, like goosebumps. It's like, you know, how crazy, you know, for me as the journey that I've had and to be, you know, one year away from potentially, you know, playing in a World Cup. It's crazy to even say that sentence, right? You know?
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Exactly, yeah. To even put that in the air, it's crazy to have that. But for me, it's about the grind every day now. And from here on now, that's the big goal, right? So every game with RSL, every opportunity I get with the national team, it's grind time. You got one big goal in a year. And every little thing you do is now setting you up to either you know, make it or to, to, to not.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
And that's just exactly how it is. And like you said, there's, there's a bunch of players that are extremely talented in this position that can play and, and that we have the opportunity to, you know, to, to represent our, our, our country. So it's not going to come easy.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
And I think for me, that, that makes it more, you know, more of a fun thing where you got a bunch of guys fighting for this, for this one opportunity to get in there. And, and, you know, it's,
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Yeah. So I think the tattoos is, it's just, you know, for me, it's just a part of me. I think like it's something I started when I was 15 and you know, for me, it's just been you know, nonstop things that I, that things that I like, things that I think are cool, meaningful tattoos, whatever it is, you know, I put it on my body.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
And I think it's, you know, for me, it's whether you, the story I have about tattoos is like, if you get a tattoo when you're, you know, 15, At 15, you thought it was cool. You thought it was badass. So there's no regret. At that age, you were like, that's awesome, dude. That was the coolest thing in the world for me. So I'm not going to, 10 years later, I'm going to regret it. No, no, no.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
When I was 15, that was the dopest thing in the world for me. So for me, it's just about expressing myself, things that I like. It's just my style now, I guess. It's just a part of me and kind of who I am. My parents are not big fans of it, but... But, you know, I think me seeing them, you know, seeing me have, you know, success on the field, it gives them some type of relaxation. Yeah.
Unfiltered Soccer with Landon Donovan and Tim Howard
Diego Luna lives the dream, Crystal Palace finally lifts a trophy and its MLS Rivalry Week
Thank you very much. I appreciate that.