What’s the special sauce that makes a strong Cup team? Is it luck, mentality, momentum, playing at home? All of the above?
DB: It’s a little bit of all of that. For me, though, I think you make your own luck with the things you do on the field and how you respect the game. But good momentum, having guys that are fit, these are important. Having a strong camaraderie in the team is too. All of that goes together to make a good product on the field. I think we have that and hopefully we can put it all together and win. At the end of the day, that’s all people will remember. We’ll remember we were champions. You hope the guys that haven’t felt that yet can experience it and hold it with them and use it as motivation in five or ten years and pass it on. They’ll know what it really takes to be a wining team. I’ve done it quite a few times with different teams, but you never lose that feeling of winning. It stays with you.
A lot of your playing years were spent overseas, where you also won Cups. The Dutch Cup in 2005, where you scored in the last second of a Semifinal to see off Feyenoord and reach the Final with PSV. You played in the FA Cup, won two Scottish Cups, and even played in the Copa MX. Is there a special energy to Cup play, to those live-or-die games?
DB: Cups are different. It’s one game. There’s no tomorrow if you lose. The league is its own thing because you can lose and then go and get three points and get yourself back on track. In the Cups you get a little bit more intensity. It’s just that one game. You lose and you’re out. That, in itself, makes Cup games interesting, fun and hard. But that’s what makes soccer great. Open Cup is the same.
You’ve had staying power as a player and you’re still on the field while so many from your generation have hung up their boots. When you were a teenager winning Open Cups in Chicago, did you ever think you’d still be at it when you’re 37?
DB: To be honest, no. You dream about playing a sport as long you can. When you’re a kid, you just play. When I was 16 and 17, I was just playing. I wasn’t thinking about where I’d be in 20 years. When you’re young, you don’t think about that stuff and I think that’s what makes young players so exciting. They just play.
What’s the secret to your kind of longevity in the game?
DB: You pick things up from the veterans you’ve known along the way. Around the age of 29, I started asking guys questions. How are you able to play this long? What do you do? What do you eat? I asked them all the questions I could think of. When you’re 16 or 17 you just see what they do and you’re ready to learn lessons. You don’t need to ask when you’re that young. You see them coming and doing the right things. You see them being on time and taking care of their bodies. They go to the gym after training. You see those little things and it becomes a part of your routine. For me, I try to take care of my body. I try to eat right and do the right things to make sure I’m fit and ready to play because here, in Houston, it’s hot. I’m sweating just sitting out here doing this interview [laughs].
