Page 76 - Soccer360 Issue 104

One on One CJ UZOMAH
‘I think
they have
something like
37 fields - we
have four! ’
CJ
UZOMAH
ONE ON ONE
SOCCER 360’S MATTHEW NASH GOES ONE ON ONE WITH CJ UZOMAH THE NEW YORK JETS NFL TIGHT END TALKS ABOUT HIS UNEXPECTED INITIATION INTO ENGLISH FOOTBALL AT BURNLEY AND HIS LOVE OF CHELSEA AND THE PREMIER LEAGUE.
CJ Uzomah met Cristian Pulisic while he was stil playing for Chelsea FC
WAS YOUR TRIP TO CHELSEA EARLIER THIS YEAR YOUR FIRST VISIT TO ENGLAND?
I’ve been a couple of times, I love London - and travelling in general. I’ve been to a Chelsea match over there, to a Formula One race and also with my parents to just hang out on one of our vacations.
I love it, I love going over there. I’ve been a fan of Chelsea since sophomore year at college, back
in the Didier Drogba days. He was my favourite player growing up, getting into soccer. That got me interested in and attracted to soccer so to be over to see them play was the coolest thing.
WHAT WAS THE BEST PART OF COMING TO LONDON AND SEEING BEHIND THE SCENES AT CHELSEA?
I got to go to the Cobham training ground, which was a cool experience. But I also got to go to Burnley, which was a unique place, crazy. They were going in! It was just before they got promoted and they had a really good run. That was equally exciting so I’m hugely passionate about soccer and I’m going to continue to call it soccer until England beats the US in a World Cup match! It’s good fun.
WOULD YOU PREFER THE REAL EXPERIENCE TO BEING IN VIP?
For sure. Oh yeah! I want to lose my voice. (International speaker and best-selling author) Professor Damian Hughes is my connection and my guy up there and I wanted to potentially buy into
the club. People close to me know how passionate I am about soccer. Being able to take the train up and see the countryside, go to Manchester and experience that atmosphere - a little bit of rain, right? - and watch a match was a lot of fun. Unique. I saw how passionate it is there.
ARE YOU SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING INVESTING IN A CLUB ONE DAY?
When that time comes for me to retire, I want to travel the world and I want to be able to go over to Europe for a fair amount of time. I think the first ever European match I went to was an Ajax match, that was a lot of fun, and to be able to experience different cultures, to be able to see sport through different countries is so fun and a unique way
to get in touch with people. Sport breaks that language barrier and I want to be in that crowd of people who are just yelling, going to the pub for a drink afterwards, things like that. So when I get older, that’s probably something I will dive into.
AND YOU’RE TIGHT WITH FORMER BLUES STARS CHRISTIAN PULISIC AND MASON MOUNT. WHAT DID THEY SHOW YOU ABOUT THE WAY SOCCER IS RUN?
I need to stop meeting Chelsea players, as they both left! It was very unique, different, the way they train, they watch film too, the classrooms, the way they go over formations and certain set-pieces and
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