Listen
Defensive midfielder Ilie Sanchez’s career includes an MLS Cup and an All-Star Game appearance. But his start in professional soccer came with his hometown club, a little neighborhood club called F.C. Barcelona. In the first episode of a two-part interview, the Austin FC captain talks about his many sides, gives little life lessons he has picked up, and espouses the importance of “context.”
The full transcript of this episode of ¡Vamos Verde! is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Austin FC AD [00:00:00] Everyone has a horizon, the line you can’t see past. Before it, the familiar, beyond it, the unknown, enter the Lexus GX. It’s designed to be capable. It’s design to be luxurious, but most of all, it’s designed to get you past your horizon. And the nice thing about horizons is that once they’re crossed, there’s always another patiently waiting its turn. Live up to it, the Lexis GX, experience amazing at your Lexus dealer.
Ilie Sánchez [00:00:29] No, I haven’t eaten yet. You’ve not eaten yet? No, no, no. Is that typical? You’re my priority.
Jimmy Maas [00:00:34] Well, that’s…
Ilie Sánchez [00:00:35] And it’s not typical either.
Jimmy Maas [00:00:37] It’s not typical.
Ilie Sánchez [00:00:38] You are special, but not that special. So I usually eat later in the day because I usually am still doing something around here that’s not lunch yet. So do you like fast in the mornings or? No, I eat breakfast before training at least a couple hours before, but then I fast at night when there is no light outside, there’s no reason for us to be eating, so.
Ilie Sánchez [00:01:07] You want to talk about this? No, well.
Jimmy Maas [00:01:11] Working on sound but this was this started to go somewhere interesting so I was gonna let I also
Ilie Sánchez [00:01:15] I also, yeah, I can keep going. I also separate carbs and protein.
Jimmy Maas [00:01:26] That was the voice of Elias Sanchez, your 2025 Austin FC captain. More on that in just a moment. Welcome back to Vamos Verde. I’m Jimmy Moss. And I’m Juan Garcia. And on this week’s show, we are not gonna talk to Ilya. No, joking. Of course we’re gonna talk to Ilyas Sanches. So he’s- You’re gonna tease us with Ilya and then you’re not gonna deliver. That would be wild, right? And very bad programming on my part. It would be.
Juan Garcia [00:01:51] Right up your alley.
Jimmy Maas [00:01:52] Yeah, I do like a good, what do you call it, a rope-a-dope, you know? Why are all, everything that’s coming to mind has something to do with boxing, anyway. You looking to fight somebody, Jimmy? No, it’s not. I was just trying to think. Are you fighting, Jimmy. You know where you, you show one thing and then boom, you got something else.
Juan Garcia [00:02:14] No, I don’t. Oh, okay. Well. That’s because I’m not really a fighter. I’m more of a lover than a fighter, myself to myself. You are definitely more of-
Jimmy Maas [00:02:20] and quite generous.
Juan Garcia Anyway… So All-Star Games coming up.
Jimmy Maas This just in, Austin Football Club will have a lot of representation at the 2025 MLS All-Star game happening right here at Q2 Stadium on July 23rd. Goalkeeper Brad Stuber and forward Brandon Vasquez made the All-star roster, Vasquez for the second time and Stuber earning his first after being maybe perhaps overlooked the last few years, getting the nod from his own coach, Nico Esteves, who will coach the MLS squad with the Austin FC technical team. Against top talent from Mexico’s Liga MX. Austin doubles its all-time all-star list in one game from two to four. They will share the field with some of the biggest names in soccer that this continent has to offer, including global superstars Leonel Messi and Jordi Alba, U.S. National team members Diego Luna and Miles Robinson, and Mexican forward Chucky Lozano, all playing for MLS. Sebastian Berhalter also made the team representing Vancouver, but real ones know he played in 18 games for Austin in its inaugural season back in 2021. It is the first professional all-star game, major league level, all-Star game ever held in Austin and a pretty big moment for Q2 stadium all coming up July 23rd. Good for them. They really deserve it. Yeah. Now leading up to that, there’s a whole host of activities, which I don’t know, could be, some of them sound quite fun. There’s gonna be like a fan fest downtown on Saturday and Sunday. Technically, it’s at Auditorium Shores, so- It’s like downtown-ish. Yes, but you know, the Austinite meeting is really like averse to calling that exactly downtown. But whatever, you get my point. It’s at an Auditorial Shores. That’ll be happening the weekend before, than theirs. The Skills Challenge, there’s a MLS Next All-Star Game at Palmer Field. There’s a Unified Team All-star Game at Parmer Field. A whole lot going on in and around Q2 and the St. David’s Performance Center complex. Just in case you’re wondering, the MLS All-Stars Team will be practicing at St. David’s Performing Center. The Liga MX All-STAR Team will practicing at… Saint Edward’s.
Juan Garcia [00:04:55] ¿En serio?
Jimmy Maas [00:04:59] I don’t know why they’re not doing it all at the same place, but whatever.
Juan Garcia [00:05:02] Know, it doesn’t make well, then you start to like get into tactics. And obviously, we know the states are really high here.
Jimmy Maas [00:05:09] Well, listen, I don’t know if tactics in All-Star games should be used necessarily in the same sentence. Jimmy, this is the biggest game of the year here in Austin. Tactics are going to play. That’s something to say, considering there was a gold cup match played here. Like I said, it was the.
Juan Garcia [00:05:23] Like I said, it was the biggest, this is going to be the biggest game of the year in Austin.
Jimmy Maas [00:05:29] I will say this, you have all-star games and other sports and that, like, like a hundred people make the NFL all-Star roster. The rough estimate, I did not actually count. Um, 60 some odd baseball all-stars will make, you know, the all- star game next month as well. But, uh, for one league just to have, what are they going to have? 27 or so. That’s, that’s almost like an, It’s essentially an all-pro team, rarefied air. You only get one side. It’s not like a traditional All-Star game where the whole league plays against each other. It’s just one league versus another league. So relatively difficult team to make.
Juan Garcia [00:06:10] Yeah. I mean, 30 teams in major league soccer and only, like you said, 25 spots. It’s not even like a player per team type breakdown. And even then some teams are going to send a few folks or it could be teams that have nobody on the pitch.
Jimmy Maas [00:06:26] Right. And I’m really hoping for liberal substitution rules. I don’t know the actual specifics of the game. I have to look into the rules. Sweet. Unlimited substitutions. There we g-
Juan Garcia [00:06:43] Go! So everyone better play.
Jimmy Maas [00:06:45] In and out as much as they want.
Juan Garcia [00:06:48] Nico can just leave the Austin FC players on the pitch and just swap everybody else out. It really does.
Jimmy Maas [00:06:52] Change the way you’ve used.
Juan Garcia [00:06:55] Or strategize about a game imagine 11 guys running off the pitch only for 11 different guys running on the pitch all at once swap the whole team out in one go no one’s in rhythm against a team that has been warming up for the last
Jimmy Maas [00:07:15] hockey line change. Yes. You know, a whole field player change. Yes. Yeah, that would be, that’d be wild. Swap out the goalkeeper while you’re at it. Why not? Just roll the dice. Yeah. It’s the All-Star game. Let’s see what these guys can really do. Yeah, this, these things, I mean, they matter, but they, you know, they’re, they’re a chance to experiment. Yeah? No one’s done it that way. Let see if it works. Yeah. Yeah so, Elias Sanchez, one time All-star for MLS with Sporting Kansas City from his time there. This man is so interesting that we have decided to do this interview in two parts. So this, today’s episode. Next week’s part two. That’s right. We are sending out a second episode between episodes just because Ilea Sanchez gave us so many great nuggets of wisdom and really an interesting person. So here he is, Ileas Sanchez.
Ilie Sánchez [00:08:15] I also separate.
Ilie Sánchez [00:08:17] And protein. Don’t mix them so that actually breaks my meals in carbs in the morning. If I’m very super hungry I also add the protein earlier than the carbs because they take longer to digest than carbs because it’s what I’m going to use for training. Lunch is protein to fill the muscle that I used during training and then that’s my lunch and then dinner usually it’s my carbs. And it’s around 4.30, 5 p.m. On the way back home. For me, performance is how much you can be available for selection on game days. So that’s the only thing you need to focus on, and that comes with nutrition, sleeping, and training. And the best you can balance those three, the more you will be available for the coach.
Jimmy Maas [00:09:15] These, this, uh, nutrition and health information comes to us from a man who single-handedly won a MLS cup. No, you did it with lots of teammates and other guys miss penalties, but yours was an actual winner. So, and the third captain in Austin FC history, Elias Sanchez. Welcome to the show. Appreciate you coming on. Thank you. We’re going to have to be here. I hope so because we’re going have a good time. Everyone says you’re going be great. No pressure. So i bar U.S. Soccer, we have a different sort of relationship with our clubs from where we live and where we grow up. You, like many Europeans who come to play for Austin, you played with your local team. It just so happens you were sort of born into this club, one of the greatest international clubs going. Would that be fair to say? Your grandfather had something to do with La Masia. Yeah, so can you explain his role with Barcelona? How this sort of planted maybe an early seed in your life.
Ilie Sánchez [00:10:23] I have a question first, those expectations that are on me are more to be funny, to be entertaining, to what’s the role that I should play here? Because I can show many different faces and I can try to be deep on my message or just because you’re, you’re the people that’s uh
Jimmy Maas [00:10:51] Here’s what I’d like to hear. I’d liked to hear the deep and the funny.
Ilie Sánchez [00:10:56] So I hear you my.
Jimmy Maas [00:10:58] The more interesting you can make this though, the better. And I think you’re very interesting. So, and I think there’s going to be some humor in there, some deep thoughts.
Ilie Sánchez [00:11:07] Sometimes I can be boring. That’s what I’m asking because.
Jimmy Maas [00:11:11] Well, we have editing for that. Oh, yeah. This is, we can just- So we’re not live. We could just literally just, yeah, it’s not live, no, no, we’re just gonna excerpt. If you go, oh man, that probably was boring. This was a question.
Ilie Sánchez [00:11:23] Were live so yes yeah that was a question as if it was live yes so keep it off the the record exactly
Jimmy Maas [00:11:29] Exactly. So can you please explain like the role your grandfather had with Barcelona? He was a Coolick, right?
Ilie Sánchez [00:11:37] Yes, it’s an interesting question because obviously you had to do your research to get to this one. But I come from Barcelona, born and raised, proudly born and raised in Barcelona, but also because for many reasons, but also because it is a soccer city, soccer country, Catalonia. Do you still think in Catalonia at all?
Jimmy Maas [00:12:05] That muscle sort of left.
Ilie Sánchez [00:12:06] Yeah, it depends on what I’m thinking of or what I am dreaming of. Sometimes…
Jimmy Maas [00:12:14] Just walk into a room, bon dia or something like that.
Ilie Sánchez [00:12:15] I find myself dreaming in English. That’s a sign of fluency. Yeah. For example, tonight, if you make this stuff for me, I’m going to dream or have a nightmare with you guys. And then it’s going to be in English, but then if it’s my family who is in those thoughts or dreams, then it is going to obviously be in Catalan. But I would say that still my native language, it’s Catalan, and that’s, I use every single opportunity I have to speak Catalan. And here in Austin FC we have a few of the staff members that speak in Catalan so I feel also like home when I have that opportunity to speak to them, to talk to them. Born and raised in Barcelona, in Catalonia, always. Since I was five years old playing soccer, because I have an older brother, Yuri, that’s almost two years older than I am, and that he started playing soccer. So I just wanted to be like him to play or to do what he was doing. And also in Barcelona, that’s the main sport around. And I wouldn’t say I grew up. In a soccer family more than any other kid that was born in Barcelona. Big fans though. Yes, we like the sport and we support Barcelona if you are from Barcelona or Espanyol. But we were very lucky to have my grandfather, the father of my mom, who was involved with one of the presidencies back in the day of FC Barcelona, which was the presidency of the president Núñez, Josep Lluís NúÑez. He was within the club for more than 20 years, and he needed obviously people around him that would support him in many different areas of the club. One of them was studying this building academy residency for young players to stay, to live in while playing for the academy because they were not from the city of Barcelona. Right. And my grandfather was the one named to be the director of the academy, no, for the building for La Masia for almost 20 years.
Jimmy Maas [00:15:07] And to be clear, he was not a coach. He was more helping out with their data. He was basically like the head RA.
Ilie Sánchez [00:15:17] A teacher, not in the sense that he would teach anything specific to the athletes, to the kids, other than values and morals, and keep them on track with their schedules, with their attitudes, with their behaviors. And he was running the place. That was his main function, and he had nothing to do with technical. Side of the academy or coaching or anything like that.
Jimmy Maas [00:15:50] And to further explain this, a lot of clubs do this now. I think Barcelona was one of the early adopters of this. But basically bringing young athletes from anywhere, Lionel Messi being an example, to go over there and live in the building with other adults who are not your parents telling you what to do and what not to do. And your grandfather had this very esteemed position in the early days of the building, correct?
Ilie Sánchez [00:16:17] One of the keys for you to have a successful academy in terms of bringing players up to the first team and having them be part of a first team is the scouting and then being able to add those players to your system, to your youth system. And most people would think that La Masia is special because of the game model, the training sessions, the level of their coaches. Plays a part on then having success on bringing players to the first team that can actually play constantly, regularly. But that process of scouting those players no matter where they play at, what team, city, country, and being able to add them to your teams, to your system, to me is the key and is the start of everything else. If you don’t have the quality of the players, What comes first? No matter how good your coaches are, no matter how clear is your game model and how great you are raising those players, you need both. And it happens the same in the first team. If you have really good players but you don’t have a clear game model and you don’t know how to train towards that game model, you only have half of the equation. If you only have the game model, the method, the philosophy, but you don’t have the players that can execute that, you’re also halfway to where you want to get, which is winning games and being successful.
Juan Garcia [00:18:04] We’ll be back with more from Ilya Sanchez after this quick break.
Austin FC AD [00:18:12] SeatGeeks, the ticketing app for fans like the Sideline Shotcaller. C’mon boys, pick up the… Seek it got him a great deal on seats right near the action so when he yells he could be absolutely sure the players heard him. SeatGeek handles the tickets to sports, concerts, and more. So fans can fan. Buh-bye!
Jimmy Maas [00:18:44] So your, your grandfather’s running the place, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are destined to take a part in this system in any way at this point in your life.
Ilie Sánchez [00:18:53] That helped me in anything throughout my own development process.
Jimmy Maas [00:19:00] But it did plant the seed. You got to be around the culture.
Ilie Sánchez [00:19:04] But I would say that that was more coming from my parents and my brother. My parents tried to follow our lead in anything that we wanted to do outside of school. School was always first, always the priority at home, I would say the main priority, but we also had free time that we, as a kids, wanted to fill doing something else, other activities. And we realized that as we were growing and getting older, we had to narrow down our activities because the time was more in school and less as a free time. So we kept leaning towards soccer and staying playing soccer. And then that came from my parents that drove around the city for us to be able to be in training and keep doing what we like to do in that free time I never dreamed of playing as a professional, that was never a goal I could dream of, but that was not a realistic goal for me.
Jimmy Maas [00:20:21] Didn’t feel.
Ilie Sánchez [00:20:21] Like that was going to be in the car. No, no, no. I just loved playing soccer. That that that was my passion. And I had I was very lucky that my parents were able to provide that for for me and for my brother. And if not, you can always find is a sport that you can find time or places to actually play at anywhere and at all times. So it’s not very difficult. For you to have the opportunity to do so. So that was it. In that time. Actually, sorry to cut you off. I joined the Barcelona Academy when I was 15 years old, almost 16. My grandfather passed away six months before I got the call from the Academy. He would probably love to have watch me join the academy or play for them, but I don’t think it changed anything other than we had no help coming from him or this background that he had for us to then do the next steps or even becoming a professional soccer player. Remember a story, short story, when I first went to meet with the Barcelona Academy directors, they sat with me and my mom, like similar to this set up, other than they were three and we were two. They always try to be one more when negotiating or explaining things. Sit in a higher chair, that kind of thing. Not Barcelona, any team, any company, any business, right? They tried to have the advantage right away. And they were explaining how that would look for me as a player, as a student as well, because they would provide different options for me to keep my study. And one of the first things that they asked me it was about my last name. In Spain, we have two last names. We have dad’s last name, mother’s last, mom’s last name, and then. Obviously my mom’s last name was my grandfather’s last name, and when they asked me about it, my mom hit me with… For me to not say anything about it, to pretend that I had no clue what they were.
Jimmy Maas [00:22:58] Get by on your own merits, not name drop.
Ilie Sánchez [00:23:02] Yeah, I know. It was like just a way for them to focus on who I was as a young player, not have anything to do with who my grandfather was for the organization. But also because the president at that time, when I joined the academy, was the president that somehow did not want my grandfather to continue as a director of the academy because they want to their own people, right? After all, when we agreed to them to join the academy, and obviously we told them who my grandfather was, and that was it. That’s my short story.
Juan Garcia [00:23:47] Kind of give you any kind of advantage in any way. It almost sounds like it would have been a disadvantage. It’s almost like it would be a disadvantage.
Ilie Sánchez [00:23:50] Neither an advantage, neither a disadvantage, no, no. If so, everyone had a good memory of how hard my grandfather was with values and schedules and trying to be, or to make everyone discipline.
Juan Garcia [00:24:11] Before soccer became that possibility for your future, what was the dream if it wasn’t playing soccer professionally?
Ilie Sánchez [00:24:19] For a profession, a dream profession.
Jimmy Maas [00:24:22] Sounds like you were pretty studious up to a certain point.
Ilie Sánchez [00:24:25] Health. I always liked the health.
Juan Garcia [00:24:32] Dr. Elias Sanchez.
Ilie Sánchez [00:24:33] But that’s so difficult.
Jimmy Maas [00:24:36] A professional soccer player, that’s pretty difficult too.
Ilie Sánchez [00:24:39] It is in a way.
Jimmy Maas [00:24:42] No, not in a way. There are way more doctors than there are professional soccer players.
Ilie Sánchez [00:24:47] It is a difficult sport if you compare it to other sports, but it has no purpose. Okay. So the degree in medicine, in healthcare, to become a nurse, to become a doctor, it’s at least six years. If you are lucky and smart enough and hard worker But it can be extended to 8-10 years, depends on what you want to specialize yourself at or into.
Jimmy Maas [00:25:22] I’m just suggesting that having known you for a very short amount of time That at 34 The same amount of times dedicated to a specific. Yeah. Okay. You that’s a good call be a I mean the same amount a dedication you put into your diet and your your workout routine, etc
Ilie Sánchez [00:25:41] But I wasn’t like this at 23. Oh, okay, fair enough, fair. Or 22. We obviously evolve and I would like to think that we improve. And yes, I’ve always, I would say that I’ve been very lucky to have the parents I had that if I didn’t have the discipline myself, they would just have it for me. And. Always I had to follow the rules and try to improve and become better, even if that didn’t come from myself, it came from them.
Jimmy Maas [00:26:23] Your brother sort of led you into soccer and kind of pushed you or pulled you into that How did how did that evolve into a spot with the Barcelona Academy?
Ilie Sánchez [00:26:40] At some point, we usually played for the same teams. Funny story is that I would join those teams because they wanted my brother to join them. Not because they really wanted me.
Jimmy Maas [00:26:56] Always the brights, man.
Ilie Sánchez [00:26:57] Well, my mom would would go to them. I’m only
Jimmy Maas [00:26:59] I’m only driving once
Ilie Sánchez [00:27:01] Exactly, I have the younger here. What am I gonna do with him? Okay, let him join the team. So I was always following his path. In soccer, in school, younger brothers, we have it easier because someone like your older brother made or opened that path for you first. And that was my case. Only that. We got to a point where I was 13, 14 years old and somehow playing with friends didn’t fill me anymore. I wanted to play with better teammates, not better friends. And I asked my mom to go find a different team, a better team where I could try for and see if I could challenge myself with these new teammates and playing in a better division. And we did that, we did tryouts. We tried for three different teams. The first one is the one that I wanted to play for. They had too many players, they say no. I went to the second one where I knew that that coach wanted me or liked me as a player because we played against them the year before. When I arrived there, he mentioned that the week before I arrived, he got two players coming from a third team, which, theoretically, that third team is better than the second one. So they were just getting those players because where they came from. So they didn’t have room for me. And my mom just thought that if some players came from that third to the second team, there was some room in the third team, but she didn’t know that the third team is one of the best teams or academies for the youth in Barcelona, in Catalonia. I knew that. So to me it didn’t make sense to go to that third team if the second one, the first one didn’t want me already. Um, she didn’t tell me anything. She got a tryout and she told me that we needed to go the following day to that tryout because they wanted me. So somehow she lied to me for me to have the courage to go and try out for that third team. We went there, things were great. It worked out so I was able to stay. And that’s how I started my own path separately from my brother. Once my brother realized that I was doing that, he then. Left his friends to then go try his own way to a better team and better team.
Juan Garcia [00:30:10] Almost following the example you set now for him.
Ilie Sánchez [00:30:14] I’m not sure because I wasn’t in his head, but that’s the fact that actually happened. But once you join these better teams, so many other factors come into consideration, kicked in, right? I would say that he didn’t have the right coaches, neither the opportunity to then do the next step, which is starting in the semi-professional soccer. Once you join a second team or U-19s from a big teams academy. What was the name of that club? Cornella. The one before Barcelona is Corneilla. It’s one of the best academies in Catalonia, in Spain, for development.
Jimmy Maas [00:31:00] At that point, you’re doing well and you’re obviously doing well enough to get some attention from Barcelona. Where did that step come in? Who found you?
Ilie Sánchez [00:31:10] I was playing already for one of the best academies in Catalonia, in Barcelona, then you play against Barcelona and Espanyol at least twice a year. And those games were always tough for them to play against us. And that’s when not just Barcelona and Espanol, but other scouts from first division teams academies are in those games. And they won’t sign Barcelona or Espanyol players but they would go try signing the best players of Cornella, Dam, other academies that play against Barcelona and Espanyol.
Jimmy Maas [00:31:49] Did Cornea, did they have the, like a third division or something?
Ilie Sánchez [00:31:54] Yes place you could land yes
Jimmy Maas [00:31:55] Yes, if you matriculated through and hit with that club
Ilie Sánchez [00:31:58] They are currently in fourth division in Spain. Back in my day, they were in third division. The first team, Jordi Alba came from Cornella, moved to Valencia, then to Barcelona. And David Raya, goalkeeper for Arsenal, came from Cornelia, moved to Premier League academies, teams. Keita Valde, many other players. A bunch of nobodies, that’s what you’re saying. No one
Jimmy Maas [00:32:25] No one, it was pretty much a dead end which is why you had to jump ship as soon as possible.
Ilie Sánchez [00:32:31] No, I would say that sometimes players are not how good they are is how good their context is. My brother has always been a better player than I was. His context was worse for him to do the next steps. Same here, I don’t feel any special because Barcelona came or called me to join their I’m aware and I believe that being in the cornea environment helped me then be or develop and be one of the best players in my team so I could get that attention from Barcelona scouts. Absolutely. But I was the same player than if I would have stayed with my friends playing in a much lower division. It’s just that the context helped me. Call that attention but also perform and play better surrounded by those players and lead being leaded by that those coaches
Juan Garcia [00:33:42] And at this point in your life, are you starting to consider a career in professional soccer or is it still health or are you just like, hey, this is a really good spot for me right now, but you’re still maybe not seeing it in the cards in the future? The second.
Ilie Sánchez [00:33:58] First academy coming from a first division team called me it’s when I started thinking about starting a path that leads to a professional soccer but I was also aware that that would come with many more steps through their academy path. Ended in a professional career, I wasn’t sure at all that I would have that opportunity.
Juan Garcia [00:34:36] But the door is kind of starting to open up for you and you’re starting to see it.
Ilie Sánchez [00:34:38] Yes, because even if you want it or not, that comes with not just teams calling you, but agents calling you. Other coaches calling you you or your parents. But and in a conversation with you and you start opening your eyes. And realizing that you are moving from one sport, which is youth soccer, to a different sport. Different monster, which is professional soccer. And I’m not saying… I’m using the word monster because it’s not that I preferred the professional soccer to the youth soccer or soccer in general. There are so many things in professional soccer that are not fair, that are somehow not clear but also It’s all about, again, context and not how good you are, but how good your surrounded, how lucky you are to have that around you.
Austin FC AD [00:35:43] The clock’s ticking. Life’s not a passive sport. Sometimes you gotta go out there and make your own luck. Sometimes you just gotta go for it. That’s why everyone’s rushing out to get the new Blitz scratch tickets from the Texas Lottery. With top prizes up to a million bucks, it could be your chance to go big. So get moving and play today for a Blitz of cash prizes. The Blitz is on. Must be 18 or older, play responsibly.
Juan Garcia [00:36:20] Welcome back to Vamos Verde. We are talking to Austin FC’s captain, midfielder, Ilya Sanchez. So let’s go to the next content.
Jimmy Maas [00:36:28] You’re in Barca. You’re with the eventually make it to Barca What do they call it?
Ilie Sánchez [00:36:38] Yeah. Yes. It’s been moving from Barça Bay to Barça Athletic. It changes. Depends on the president. It’s hard for me to keep up. The presidents always want to make their stamp. So they get into the club, they change things.
Jimmy Maas [00:36:50] HBO Max. People, names. It’s very much an HBO. Everything. You’re playing now with among the best second teams in the world. In the history. Now we talked about you keeping your mind right. How’s it when you get there and you’re not overwhelmed? Because you’re surrounded by talent. You’re in context with the best of the best. So how do you figure out your path forward at that point to try to figure, you know, take the next step?
Ilie Sánchez [00:37:17] You don’t have much time to think about that. You also come from U-19s, U-17s, where the coaches, the staff prepare you to that next step. One thing that I was told by one of the directors of the academy at that time was. First injury in the U-19s. It was an external meniscus on my right knee that keeps you out for four or five months. So through that process, you feel for four, five months that you are not part of that team. No matter how good they treat you, no matter if you share locker room with them, they go step on the field, you go step on the table and you cannot be on the trips to play games on the road and you lose that connection with the team. You also go, obviously go, to down moments within what’s or… Your activity that you are playing, right? You’re playing soccer. It’s not the end of the world, right, but it’s your world, so you get down a little bit. There are many more important things than that. But at that time, you are focused on that, so it’s not your life as you knew it before, the injury is your reality, and it’s a little be worse than what it was. So, One of the Academy Directors, they are looking at every single thing and they realized that I was struggling with my recovery process. Not physically, but a little bit mentally pushing or I don’t know what they saw, or maybe they just guessed that I was going through a down period of time.
Juan Garcia [00:39:21] I’ve seen it in other players.
Ilie Sánchez [00:39:22] Exactly the experience they have or they just it’s the role it comes with their job, right? So one of the things that he told me he was that I had to be patient because Some of my teammates I was watching a training session from the site and he said one of your many of your teammates Some of your team is not many some Will make it to the first team Will make the first division will be very important in this business you’re actually playing and comparing yourself and competing with players that will be really, really good players. So no matter if you get there to that top, top level or a little bit below, you will still or you can still make a career out of this. So when you go then and do the next step to the second team, that I would love to explain you the story how I got to the 2nd team. When I’m there in that environment of the second team, in those years where we were playing in second division, finished third, which is promotion to the, it gets you the promotion to first division, but you can’t because the first team is there. That’s probably one of the best second teams in Spain in history. You are there and you don’t think about yourself or your own path or if you. Can do better or not. You just have to do it. The culture there is just.
Jimmy Maas [00:41:02] So focused on that.
Ilie Sánchez [00:41:03] And if you can not get there Naturally, you will get somewhere else that will be still a challenge for you. And that you won’t have time to think about, oh, can I make it? Can I not make it, what should I do better? What should I different? Because the professionals you are surrounded with, coaches especially, and also teammates, already pushing for you to not have time. To think about that.
Jimmy Maas [00:41:40] It up how did you get on the second team yeah was this one of those deals where like they accidentally put you on the wrong bus and you’re you’re just there
Juan Garcia [00:41:46] Thank you much.
Jimmy Maas [00:41:47] You already had a number six on the squad. So let’s go. It’s like two Sanchez is on the team and they just grabbed the wrong one.
Ilie Sánchez [00:41:54] No, unfortunately or no, fortunately that doesn’t happen like that, but, um. Again, Barcelona Academy, um, background or picture. First thing, it’s the most important team within the organization. Barcelona has football, soccer, basketball, handball, futsal. These are the five top sports for the organization. Baseball, cycling, swimming, track. Anything you can imagine, we have it. But the only team and the most important team for the organization is soccer. Back in my day, men’s soccer. Nowadays, men and women’s soccer First team, anything, soccer first team, anything they need, they get it. When they cannot do it with the players they have, they bring second team players. Second team is the second most important team within the organization. When they can not do it with the player they have or the resources they have U-19s come into the picture. And that’s the system that they use to keep going. And they believe on that. So back in my time there, I finished the last season with the U19s when I was 18 years old. And that meant that I had to either go to the second team or somewhere else. And I had one more year of contract, like we all do when we are U-19s, just in case we make it to the second team. If not, you get a loan or you just break your contract and go somewhere else. That last year for me in the U-19s, within the U19s is when I got my meniscus injury at the beginning of the season. Sorry, at the end of the year, so beginning of the season, of my last season with them, I was coming back from that injury. I didn’t get the playing time that someone needs for you to be a candidate to then move to the second team. I still played, I was like the 12th player. But I was not starting every single game and I didn’t get. All the time, all the minutes that I would like for that next step. Even with that, we end the season with the U-19s, my last year with them. And I go to a meeting again with the Academy directors, three against one. I don’t think my mom was there because it was only to communicate what was the next step for me and for the rest of my teammates. What I was told is, you didn’t play enough. Luis Enrique, the coach for the second team at that time. Heard of that guy. Isabelle. Now you’re friends. Could not see you enough. But he still wants to see you in preseason. So you stay with us. You go on vacation. Come back. Join the second time for preseason, and then anything can happen. From the whole U19 team, only one player moved straight to the second team, which was Jonathan Dos Santos. Five of us were… On a tryout on this conditional yes yes why obviously because Luis Enrique didn’t want to close doors to anyone that he felt that had potential but also because the first team start preseason without a few players that were with national teams they pulled players from second team what is the second team doing pulling players from the United And that was my case. We start pre-season, we go on camps, we played friendly games. On a Friday, middle of August, we get a meeting, the five of us that were in that condition, with the coach and the staff. And all of us, we were told that we would not be part of the second team for the following season, for that season. So we had to find a different team to go play for. That was a Friday. About that we could stay with the training dynamic and friendly dynamics until we found that team or until the season started. It was about two weeks for the season to start. I started looking for teams, talking to people. We go Saturday to a friendly game in Girona, an hour and 30 minutes from Barcelona. In that friendly game, we were not supposed to play. Somehow the first half was not going well, Luis Enrique can care less about if I’m supposed to play or not, if someone is not doing well, someone else goes in, so he asked me to go warm up. And warming up, I was a little bit disappointed about the news the day before, and I was not super motivated about stepping in on that game, but I saw my mom in the stands. She was there just attending the game because we also have, we like to go to a town near Girona and she was kind of spending her weekend around. And that gave me a little bit of a, you know, boost. I was, okay, my mom is here, let’s see what happen. Let’s do it for her, right? And if I have the opportunity, I go in and do my best. And that’s what happened. Sunday off, we go back on Monday, training session. And I was in the process of looking for a new place. That training session goes well. After the training session, I’m in the shower and one of the assistants comes, gets me and ask me to go to the coach office after. And I was thinking in the show that maybe a team call them for a loan or some situation like that. But when I go there, I meet with Luis Enrique and the staff and. And the conversation was like, well, with the news that we gave you on Friday, your reaction was like we think that the professional should have. And I would like to tell you that we want you be part of the second team of this team for this season. And he made a joke about it but but that was the the story behind then spending five years with the second team the last two as a captain and not just with Luis Enrique but also with Eusebio Sacristán and finishing my last season again on third place in second division so I did it twice
Jimmy Maas [00:49:44] Um, just one thing, one more thing about Barça B before we move on to, um, what was, what was it like playing under, uh, Luis Enrique had just won champions league with, uh PSG. So what was, obviously he was much, he was very successful later. What was, did you see the seeds there? Um, when you were, could you see the champions league?
Ilie Sánchez [00:50:08] Funnily enough, it is very unfortunate that he was my first coach in this professional world. I was so unfortunate because everything that comes after somehow is a downgrade. He’s too good. He is the best in the world. Then you step into a new job and you have the best boss in the If you move somewhere else or he leaves and someone else comes in
Jimmy Maas [00:50:39] I can’t help but compare.
Ilie Sánchez [00:50:39] They can be so good and I’ve had really good coaches, but if you compare to where you come from, it will be difficult for you to keep going.
Juan Garcia [00:50:53] You knew he was special even back then.
Ilie Sánchez [00:50:56] And at that time we had first team coach, Pep Guardiola, second team coach Luis Enrique. It didn’t matter where you were at, if you were with the first team in a training session or with the second team in the second-team dynamic. It was a constant learning process. I don’t know. The amount of work and things that I’ve learned with Luis Enrique, and it cannot be compared or uh… Explained in just
Juan Garcia [00:51:32] Impossible that context that you talk about seems like it just like it doesn’t really get better than this No matter what rung on the ladder you end up finding he made every single one of us
Ilie Sánchez [00:51:45] I’m a professional soccer player because of Luis Enrique. I wouldn’t be here or I wouldn’t have had a career of 14, 15 years. Obviously I haven’t played in the top level in the world, but I have a decent career in MLS at least and I’m very proud of it. But still, it could have been better, yes. But I would not have had the opportunity of becoming a professional player if it wasn’t because of having Luis Enriques as a coach.
Juan Garcia [00:52:13] Did he also teach you modesty? Because I don’t know if I would necessarily use the word decent. I feel like your career has been a little better than decent from my perspective.
Ilie Sánchez [00:52:22] I made a good career, but yes, no. He’s very humble as well and when you have values like he has, when you try to be genuine, honest… Everything else come with who you are. You don’t have to force or change anything. But no, he teach me so many things, professionally and personally, definitely. But I would say that. Everyone, well, not everyone. No, I don’t want to say that. My case, who I am, it’s in a big part because of my parents and my brother. That’s my closer, closest environment and has always been like this. Other people, there are many people that don’t have parents. Or you know, or they have uncles or grandparents or friends or who knows, whatever they, maybe not family, but someone that dedicates their life to take care of people or kids that don’t have that structure, right? No problem. But those kids also learn from who they have around. In my case, were my parents.
Jimmy Maas [00:53:58] And my brother. Great stuff about Luis Enrique. I mean, that was, I mean weird, just a confluence of events, how like, had he just stuck around, who knows where things would have gone. More on that coming up in episode two of the Elie Sanchez Saga.
Juan Garcia [00:54:18] You’re gonna tease me like that, Jimmy? How could you?
Jimmy Maas [00:54:20] Yeah, it’s kind of a wild story and who knows if things, sliding doors, you just never know how it’d go. Maybe we never get to sit down and talk to anyone and we’re not better off for it.
Juan Garcia [00:54:34] Which I feel, I’m better off with. Jimmy, I’d be mad at you if there weren’t ways for me to listen to the rest of this interview myself in the meantime. I lived it, I don’t have to re-listen to it.
Jimmy Maas [00:54:45] You were there.
Juan Garcia [00:54:46] I was there.
Jimmy Maas [00:54:47] As far as I’m aware, yeah. So stay tuned. Part two coming up next week and big thanks to everyone that helps us put together these podcasts. KT’s podcast manager Elizabeth McQueen along with Tanu Thomas and everyone over at the club.
Juan Garcia [00:55:03] Cam Kubek, Ryan Madden, Gwen Hernandez. You’ve also got Jacob Stedler, Roberto Colon, Alex Daly-Hill, Ainsley Beers on the video side. Am I missing anyone? I think you got everyone.
Jimmy Maas [00:55:16] I’m pretty sure.
Juan Garcia [00:55:16] Let’s not forget Geron Marshall, my best friend who wrote the music you are listening to now.
Jimmy Maas [00:55:20] Vamos Verde is produced at KUT and KUTxStudios, part of KUT Public Media, home of Austin’s NPR station and the Austin Music Experience. We are a non-profit media organization. If you feel like this is something worth supporting, set an amount that’s right for you and make a donation at supportthispodcast.org.
Austin FC AD [00:55:45] The Zebra Fire Department, what’s the emergency? There’s a fire in the kitchen! All I was doing was paying insurance bills! I know that smell. We’re gonna need the big hoes! Ma’am, did you use the zebra.com to compare insurance companies? Um, no? Just what I thought. You’ve been burning money. Look, TheZebra.com compares hundreds of insurance companies in one place. It could save you $440 on car insurance. Wow. But uh, are you gonna put that out? Stop burning money. Compare and save at thezebra.com slash Austin FC.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
