Fcdallas.net had the chance to sit down with FC Dallas goalkeeper Jeff Cassar to ask him about what the team is doing during their downtime, what it takes to be the perfect goalkeeper and what happened to his candidacy to be "The Bachelor."
FCdallas.net:
The team had the luxury to have Saturday afternoon, Saturday night and all of Sunday off. What did the players do during their downtime?
Jeff Cassar:
"Colin has always stressed to us to bond with your teammates. We have done several things like that, including having a trivia competition the other night after dinner. We have laughed a lot, had some fun and really tried to do our best to get to know one another on a better level. You can never underestimate the importance of some good team bonding."
Fdallas.net:
Being the only player remaining from the inaugural 1996 team, have the coaches turned to you for veteran leadership this spring?
Cassar:
"Even though I am an older player, I think I relate really well with the younger guys. I'm a younger player at heart and I try to encourage those young guys and give them any advice they may need. I have been with this team during the good and the bad times and I'm very excited to do whatever I can this season."
FCdallas.net:
In your opinion, what attributes make up the perfect goalkeeper?
Cassar:
"The perfect goalkeeper definitely needs to be the leader on the back end. It's also very important to have the confidence of your team. Especially being here in Spain and listening to the soccer shows, they talk a lot about how important it is for the team to be confident in their goalkeeper. Obviously it's extremely important to have characteristics like quick reflexes as well. However, the perfect goalkeeper should definitely be confident in his own abilities and have the confidence of his team."
FCdallas.net:
You were the captain of your "Survivor-Apprentice" team on the first night and were forced to make three trades to kickoff the challenge. How do you think you did looking back now?
Cassar:
"I think those trades showed just how smart of person I am (laughing). I traded Mario (Torres), Chris (Gbandi) and (Chris) Gomez. All three of those guys are out and are no longer playing. As a captain I tried to surround myself with good people and I think I accomplished just that."
FCdallas.net:
Over the last two years of playing this "Survivor" competition, what has been your favorite challenge?
Cassar:
"I'll tell you what hasn't been my favorite challenge. It was the swimming last week. I almost died in the pool (laughing). Seriously though, my favorite thing has probably been hanging on the crossbar. It really was a gut check for a lot of those guys out there. It was funny watching Clarence (Goodson) hang his ape-like hands over the bar. His feet were almost touching the ground and everybody was just howling about it."
FCdallas.net:
There was a trivia competition on Saturday night where the coaches asked you about geography, science, Major League Soccer and personal information on teammates. Did anything funny happen that night?
Cassar:
"One thing that was sad was that I didn't get the question on where we won the U.S. Cup and I was on the team. Also, there was a question about who I would most like to meet in the world and I totally forgot who I had said. Carey Talley came to the rescue and reminded me that it was Bill Clinton. It was revealed that night to the entire team that Bobby Rhine believes he can sing and make it big after his soccer days are over. Bobby's wife Bevan called when we were all together too, and the phone she called, thinking it was the hotel, was Colin's. That had a few heads swirling."
FCdallas.net:
Whatever happened to you being a candidate for "The Bachelor"?
Cassar:
"It just didn't work out and they went with somebody else. I had a great time though. The entire crew came to Dallas and we all went out and had an awesome time. It was very funny and I know my parents got a big kick out of it."
