Celebs & Pros Talk World Cup

Welcome to Young Hollywood.

What's up Young Hollywood? It's Michelle Marie, MTV trace is kicking off the World Cup here on the field for the Rock and Goal event. We're going to talk to some of the athletes and celebrities who are here to go head to head in the competition.

You are looking to go. You're ready to go today.

Yeah, yeah, I am. I'm ready to do something. I don't know what it is. I haven't played soccer since I was 12, so. Oh my gosh. When it comes to rules and stuff and, and guidelines, I might just try to stay out of the way and let Akon and Balboa take over, because they seem to know what they're doing.

I know that you're also a soccer fan, so who are you rooting for as far as the World Cup?

I got four teams that I like really into. That's uh, Spain, England, Brazil and Mexico.

How do you think you're going to play today?

We'll see what happens, you know. The energy's different when you're playing with great players. You know, you never know, anything can happen, you know. I'm just gonna try to bring it to 'em. That's all.

Well, Michelle Rodriguez is, you know, she's a tough girl on the, on the big screen, but do you see her bringing it on the field?

Yeah, I think she knows me. We got a nice little chemistry, so. I think I'm gonna push to the left. She pushed me to the right. We go to the middle together.

You got your game face on. You're ready to go today, aren't you?

No, no game face. I saw the Bobby Knight thing. What's a game face, you know? I don't know what a game face is. I, I'm here to have fun, that's for sure. I will definitely enjoy myself. Definitely have some fun.

So what celebrity out there do you think you can take down? Do you have anyone you're afraid of out there on the field?

I think I'll be doing the taking down. I'm scared of Brandy Chastain. I know, right? She scared me to tie my shorts really tight, just in case with her, so.

Well you're no stranger to the World Cup, and you're a phenomenal soccer player, you've had a great career. What would you say, you know, to the viewers out there that don't know what the World Cup experience is like? What would you describe it?

You know, you can't describe it. It's something that you have to experience. And I think everybody found that out in '94. what a World Cup was. I think now that uh, soccer's grown so much that people have a passion for it. And they understand the game. So I think the important thing is to enjoy it because we wait four years for this special event. And uh, and I'm gonna live a full month of living soccer, and breathing soccer, and seeing the best teams, the best players in the world.

What are your expectations for the US team this year?

You know, I think like everything else, being a former player, being a fan, I think like everybody else. I expect us to get out. I expect us to get out of the group, and I expect us to be in the second round or quarter final. I think that's just something that we've we have as fans and as former players expect now. There's an expectation.

Who are you most afraid of on the field?

Uh, Marcelo Balboa.

He said that about you actually.

Seriously? Yeah. We spent the summer together working for the Olympics. And let me just tell you, Chelo is competitive. He is. And I am too. It's a good day. I wanna see him. I pretend like I'm not, but when he comes near me, I'm probably gonna kick him. Before he kicks me. That's, 'cause that's gonna happen, you know.

That's good. That's being a good sportsman. Now, you are no stranger to the World Cup, and you've definitely had, you know, such a phenomenal career. How do you feel about, you know, the way that it's, you know, become so popular?

I, I love the fact that women's soccer specifically has taken on this huge life of its own. I love that soccer is developing here. I have young sons. So for them to grow up knowing that soccer is an American sport, makes me feel so good.

What are your expectations this year for the US team?

Um, the expectations, you know, I think they're gonna do well. You know, I'm hoping that they do very well. You know, we have a, a difficult bracket. A lot harder than people think. But uh, you know, with the results that we've gotten in the past and hopefully, you know, the team's improving every year, you know, that we can just get out of this with a good result. It all, it's all gonna you know, a lot of it's gonna depend on that first game once we play against England.

Beckham is injured right now. What can we expect with the Galaxy? Do you expect him to come back? And what can you tell us about that?

Obviously, like you said, he has an injury where he's gonna be out for quite some time, you know. So it's, it's all about just seeing how that, that recovery process goes. He's, he's really, you know, made the US soccer fans come out of the woodwork here in the US.

How do you feel about, you know, when he first did come to the US?

Well, I think it was great. It was great to see David out here because he brings that extra attention. I think, I think we already had soccer fans out here and dedicated, but I think he brought more. He brought the average person, you know, that interest up, that interest level up a little bit. So people wanted to come and see what soccer was all about. And now is about the league, you know, kind of taking on all those new fans and capturing them and holding on to them and building off of that.

What are your expectations for the US, this World Cup coming up?

Well, I think the US has a pretty good group. Uh, I think considering, uh, you know, the first game is against England, if we could get somehow a good result, maybe a tie or a win in the first game, I think we'd have a, uh, an easy time getting into the second round. But however, if I think if we get a negative result in the first game, it's gonna be tough against the other teams.

Now, how's it gonna be today playing on the field with a bunch of celebrities, kind of meshing it up? Might be a lot of fun, right?

Uh, that's, that's what we're here for. Hopefully it's a lot of fun. Hopefully we can take first place, but have a lot of fun at the same time.

It's your boy Akon. Keep it locked right here to Young Hollywood. Yeah.