As it turned out, Stewart could not have timed his trip any better because his father suffered a heart attack after he arrived.
"There was a little bit of luck I was here," he said. "He's doing really well now. He's back at home. We're blessed and happy that things are going really well."
A dual citizen of the United States and Netherlands, when Stewart decided to play for the U.S. in 1990, he essentially became a pioneer of sorts as one of the first USMNT players who had a military background and grew up playing overseas. Stewart’s future two-time World Cup teammate Thomas Dooley (Germany) followed suit in 1992, while current U.S. players John Brooks (Germany), Sergiño Dest (Netherlands) and Alfredo Morales (Germany) are more recent examples of players who have fathers in the U.S. military and learned their soccer abroad.
Stewart, 51, stressed he never had any intention of being a pioneer.
"I just love the game that I play," he said. "Playing for the U.S. National Team has always been an amazing thing for me, just from a sports perspective but also from a life perspective from the things that you see around the world. It was always something at the top of my life, just helping to win games for the country that I love and doing that at the highest level. I was always thrilled to be part of the program."
Growing up and playing professionally in Europe certainly gave Stewart a unique perspective. When he was General Manager of the USMNT, it enabled him to relate to the likes of Brooks, Dest and Morales through a shared experience.
