Grant Wahl - Soccer Journalist

This week on The Wormcast it's Episode 16 and my guest is soccer journalist, author, and podcaster Grant Wahl. Wahl has reported, written and voiced a new podcast series titled American Prodigy: The Freddy Adu Story. In 2003 Adu was a 13-year-old soccer prodigy and was considered America's best hope for their first global superstar, but it didn't work out that way. We discuss the new series, Wahl's work on another prodigy at the time LeBron James, part of his 20+ year career covering college basketball and soccer. Enjoy!

Topics discussed: 2:30 The Freddy Adu Story 10:45 Covering two prodigies Adu and LeBron James 17:30 The 1991 US Women's National Team, the first Women's World Cup Winner 20:00 The freedom of the podcast episodic format. Grant's process on writing and voicing podcasts. 26:15 Grant's unique journalism beginnings at Princeton covering Bob Bradley and Pete Carill. 32:20 Internship at the Miami Herald, a newspaper with a legendary sports staff. 34:55 The greatest piece of advice given to Grant 36:25 Grant's early days at Sports Illustrated 40:15 Grant's most memorable stories at Sports Illustrated 48:30 MLS questions coming out of COVID 52:30 The exciting young US men's soccer players emerging on the international stage 55:20 What's going on with 2022 World Cup Qualifying? 58:00 The most talented member of his household, his wife, Dr. Celine Gounder part of the President-elect Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board.

This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm