Johnston on representing Canada at the FIFA World Cup, the team's outlook and playing with Celtic F.C
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What insights does Alistair Johnston share about representing Canada at the FIFA World Cup?
Alistair Johnston in here. What's happening, Alistair? Nothing much. Excited to be here. Thank you guys for having me on. Great to see you. It sounds like you're hosting or co-hosting SportsCenter. Is that the plan tonight? That is the plan.
We'll see how that goes. But yeah, it's just the baby SportsCenter. Just the 60-minute one. Okay, save the 90-minute one. You know what's a big deal when you start seeing SportsCenter promo commercials on our network? Because they don't do them anymore, right? Remember back in the day, they used to do, what was it, Rodsky and Dutch? Oh, yeah. All the SportsCenter promos. I haven't seen one in years. But for this guy... Whose idea was this? Was this like you went to us or... No, I got floated a couple weeks ago. To be fair, even back in 2022 in Qatar, the plan was actually for me to stay on longer with TSN and do some kind of match commentary, be in the booth, do some post-match analysis, which I was really keen to.
But luckily enough, I actually had a move off of the back of it, and I had to get myself over to Scotland to sign for Celtic. which was kind of something that took priority over TSN, which I apologize for, but it's worked out well for me. So it's always kind of in the back of my mind that TSN have wanted to get me on for a couple things, and then this one ended up working out. I'm just coming back from an injury now, so I was coming over for a little training stint, and yeah, they knew that I was free for as many media obligations as possible. I love it. It's wonderful that Stevie Caldwell is in a back room somewhere, like hijacking his equipment, trying to... Possible.
Have you picked up on that, Kevin and Stevie? Are they all on board with this, or what? Man, those two are legends.
They're absolute legends. Have you ever enjoyed a cold beer with one of those two gentlemen? I have, but I've been lucky enough. Obviously, Steve-O was actually on our staff at one point a couple years back, and it was great after a big win or something, and the camp's at the end. It's a Tuesday night, and you're trying to figure out where to go, and you head down to the hotel bar and who's there, but... The big man has always got a pint ready to go, and he's one of the best chats of all time. He is, man. He's a great pint to have one with, and again, the stories I get off of him, and then I'm able to give back. He's well-connected to Celtic, obviously, growing up in Scotland, and his brother actually played for Celtic as well, so he's come over quite a few times.
We've shot a couple things over there, and one of my all-time favorite just dudes, but also, by the way, a really good coach, like That's a guy that knows his stuff. It was unbelievable for a lot of the young players, especially the center backs and defenders, kind of taking them under their wing. And when I first came to the national team, I was a fullback my entire professional career. But as I came to the national team under John Herbman, we were playing a back three. And I lied to him and said that I'd played center back before. So they put me there, and it was pretty much Steve-O's job to teach me how to actually play the role that I said that I knew how to do in the first place. Right. He has actually made my national team career and from off the back of my national team career, my professional career as well.
That's beautiful, man. And he gets you prepped for Scottish lifestyles, right? Like now you've been over there playing for Celtic. You said you're recovering from the injury. Actually, you had surgery, right, on the hamstring? Yeah. How's the hammy feeling these days?
No, it's come a long way. But again, I've learned through the hard way that a hamstring is a really finicky injury. I would take a broken bone over it every day of the year. With bones, breaks like that, it really is just a pain barrier thing. And I haven't ever really struggled with that. But with this, you get to feeling about 90% so quickly. But then you're talking to your, you know, your physios and the surgeon. He's saying, yeah, you still got three months more to go.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What insights does Alistair Johnston share about representing Canada at the FIFA World Cup?
0:00–4:12
2
How is Alistair Johnston recovering from his injury?
4:12–12:06
3
What is Jesse Marsch's impact on Canada's national men's team?
12:06–16:26
4
What are the challenges of playing with Celtic F.C. in the Scottish Premiership?
16:26–22:05
5
How does the atmosphere in Glasgow affect players like Alistair Johnston?
22:05–23:54
6
What lifestyle adjustments did Alistair Johnston make after moving to Scotland?
23:54–24:30
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from OverDrive
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