Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Kelly Walker: Welcome to this episode of Hustle and pro. I'm your host, Kelly Walker. We're back at Toyota Stadium today, and we are talking to FC Dallas goalkeeper Antonio Carrera. We're going to learn about his path here with FC Dallas, a lot about his family. It'll be great. I'm excited for you guys to get to know him a little bit better and so enjoy this episode of Hustle and pro. Let me hear from you the authentic way.
[00:00:25] Antonio Carrera: Antonio Carrera.
[00:00:26] Speaker A/Kelly: See, that sounds great. And you're right, though. Mine is the, like, standard way, but I grew up. Your way sounds great.
[00:00:33] Speaker B/Antonio: I've been in space for 15 years or 16 years now, so it's Antonio Carrera's good.
[00:00:38] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: I love it when people ask me my name. I just say, antonio Carrera.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: Okay, well, yeah, that's the simplified way, but your way sounds great. All right, one quick icebreaker just to sort of get us kicked off. Do you have a cool pregame ritual?
[00:00:52] Speaker B: I have a couple. I have my Shane guards are personalized with my family. One of them has my family, all six of us. And then the other one has two pictures of me, one when I was very little, about two years old, and the other one.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: That's cool.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: A bit more recent. So what I do is I do the cross with each one, and then I kiss each picture of each person. And then on mine, the other one, where it's just me, I do the same thing. And then I just kiss my younger self and my older self, kind of like, as a blessing. And then I feel good to go.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: That's a lot. That's great. It's like that specific every time. That's awesome.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: Every time. And I do the right one first because that's the one. My family, because family comes before me. And then I do the left one.
[00:01:32] Speaker A: Because, oh, my gosh, that's amazing. I love it. I wasn't expecting all that. So, see, I learned so much with just the icebreaker. Okay, I want to talk about how you got here. We're here at Toyota Stadium today, and you're back with first team. Now it's what, June 2024? But I can hear. I want to hear your own, you know, path in your words. But I think that you got to fc Dallas youth when you were, like, ten, you hit up the academy, and then I think you're the 33rd homegrown, which is a big deal. We can talk about. You end up at North Carolina, then NTS or NTSC North Carolina here. So you tell me, like, how do you describe like your path here.
[00:02:12] Speaker B: Yeah. I would describe it as, you know, linear growth through time. You know, it's not, not an exponential one where, I don't know where, boom. I just burst onto the scene. I feel like I've gradually been climbing the ranks and I've been, you know, since I was ten years old. Like you said, I joined here, I moved from Minnesota and I actually wasn't even a goalkeeper when I moved in. I moved as a striker. And then, you know, I kind of worked my way to get into the academy, worked my way into this, into that, into that. And, you know, now we're here.
[00:02:42] Speaker A: When you switched from being a striker to a goalie, what age was that?
[00:02:45] Speaker B: I was twelve. So I moved here. I tried out as a goalkeeper and as a striker, I prefer to be a goalkeeper. That's my position. That's what I love to do. But I also like playing striker. So I tried out. They said, no, you're not a good goalie, but you're a great striker. And as the years went on, I'd never stopped training to be a goalkeeper. I would train about four to 6 hours a week on my own time and with Raul, Raul Hernandez and Nestor Merlot, just because I wanted to become a goalkeeper and I got, I guess, better.
[00:03:19] Speaker A: Those skills grew.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: The skills grew thanks to them.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: And it's also what fits the team needs. Right. That also helps and what they need at the time.
Okay. So also included in there is a lot of time with us national team. Right. So a lot of ages like U 15, 1720.
How is being on that national team, how has that experience helped you?
[00:03:41] Speaker B: Oh, it's the best. It's, I think as a young player, as a young professional, it's something that you look forward to, you know, something that when stuff isn't, you know, when you're feeling unmotivated from a club standpoint, it's something that can bring you motivation to play better, to work harder. It's something that can always push you to do more. I was blessed to be able to go to U 15 camp. U 17, I got the call up, but thanks to Covid, I wasn't able to actually go. And U 20s, I've been, I was blessed enough to do the whole cycle.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: With them and go to World cup roster.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: World cup roster, Conan calf roster, Conan Calf champions. That's a long time professional experience.
[00:04:21] Speaker A: So young. Yeah.
[00:04:22] Speaker B: And pan american games. So I've been, I've been blessed, you know, and it's something that every young professional looks forward to.
[00:04:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Is there a major difference. I mean, an international play with that team, when you're playing here, like, what's the biggest, most obvious thing?
[00:04:36] Speaker B: Probably the biggest thing is that you're playing your teammates or your age, you know? So I think, in a sense, even though you're only with them for about a week, two weeks at a time, the chemistry that you build with them is unlike any other. You know, you become brothers, especially at a big tournament like the World cup or Congo calf, that you're with them for little bit over a month, you really become brothers with them. You know, they're your age, you're going through the same things. Even at some point, if you're 15, you're hitting puberty at the same time. It's.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, you're going through the same life experiences, whereas your club, you're. You're training with, like, guys like Jimmy, guys who are, like, way older. Right. Different age groups and age ranges and so, like, you. Yeah, it's. It's probably totally different when you're with the national team guys, and I hear a lot of guys talk about their time with those. It seems like it bonds them totally different than playing for their club, and they become friends and keep those relationships going.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: It's true. I have. I mean, some of my best friends from this sport are from national team. You know, a couple of names are Danny Leyva, Brian Gutierrez. These guys are, you know, Teddy Cool, DiPietro. These are guys that, even though sometimes I'm only with them for a couple weeks at a time, you become, like, almost best friends. You still talk to them a couple times a week.
[00:05:46] Speaker A: You still play video games again. Right. Like, it's not just the week at the week at a time, but, like, as you guys continue your careers, you'll be again playing against each other and different on same teams as you, you know, as you move around the world of soccer.
[00:06:01] Speaker B: Exactly. No. And for example, you know, another one is Nolan Norris. I've been to a couple national team camps with him. And. Yeah, we grew up together through the system, through FC Dallas.
[00:06:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: And so now we're playing together here at the first team.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: Yeah. You guys are tight, right?
[00:06:15] Speaker B: Yeah, we're very tight. We're very tight because. Not just because we grew up together, because we've been to nasty camps together. We lived a lot of similar experiences. We know. We know the struggle. We know where we've lived in, and it's brought us closer together.
[00:06:26] Speaker A: Yeah. Am I right that your family, your siblings, your faith, are a huge part of who you are.
[00:06:32] Speaker B: They're everything for me.
They're over soccer. You know, my faith comes first, my religion comes first, my family comes second, and soccer comes third. You know, there's priorities in life. Trust me. I die. I kill myself on the soccer field every day, and I die for this club. But there's nothing like family.
[00:06:52] Speaker A: So you mentioned at the beginning you're the shin guards in your family, and six of you, you said, we're six. Is everybody soccer?
[00:07:00] Speaker B: Well, my parents were never athletes per se. You know, they played. My parents are from Mexico. They grew up in Mexico. I was born in Mexico, but I kind of grew up in both schools countries, but my parents were born and raised in Mexico, so they weren't really athletes. But of course they play. They would play on the street, go to the park, stuff like that with their friends, but nothing remotely close to a high level. Just very casual with friends. But my siblings and I have become.
I don't know where our genes came from, but we're all. My older brother.
His team just got promoted to Bundesliga one, and he plays in Germany. Professional.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: I didn't know that.
[00:07:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I play here. My little brother's the U 15 academy. He plays in D 15 academy. They're about to play playoffs. And my sister played academy. She played for state. She won the state title. Five a for girls soccer.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: For Wakeland.
[00:07:53] Speaker B: For Wakeland. Two years out of two years out of three years, she played with the varsity. She won two out of three. And the other year, they made it pretty far.
[00:08:01] Speaker A: That's amazing. That's awesome. So I've seen you guys put stuff out there. It looks like your little sibling group and your family and some of the kind of things that you guys live by. And I would love to hear some of this in your own words, but, like, for example, like, being present and fully enjoying the present moment and being consistent.
One of you guys said something. Repetition is the mother of skill. So are these things that you guys, like, talk about as siblings and obviously with your love for soccer, is this, like, things that bind you guys together 100%.
[00:08:35] Speaker B: And trust me, we implemented and we. Every day, even if it's about something small, even if it's as small as, you know, it all starts with my dad, but even if that's small, as just we're eating together or, you know, cleaning your plates, my dad focuses a lot on the small details.
[00:08:48] Speaker A: So not just soccer stuff?
[00:08:49] Speaker B: No, not just soccer stuff.
[00:08:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:50] Speaker B: Lifestyle soccer. Soccer is a huge part of it, sure. But life stuff.
[00:08:55] Speaker A: Yeah. Like leading with love, leading with love.
[00:08:57] Speaker B: Everything and everything that. That we do. You know, my mom says to. To, you know, not be cheap, not exactly with money, but with who you are as a person.
[00:09:12] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: You know, if you want to tip, you know, extra because the person did amazing, tip extra if you want to. If someone's being kind to you, be kind back. If someone's not having a great day, don't be cheap with your love. Give them love. Give them, you know what? Maybe they just need that someday. Yeah.
[00:09:28] Speaker A: Like generosity with your love.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: Yeah, exactly. Whether you're loved with who you are as a person, you know, who are we to. To say we shouldn't do that? Who are we to say that we're too big of people? We're too, you know, to help people out or to simply be kind to smile at people?
[00:09:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I feel like a lot of people live guarded like that. Instead of just, like, being open and. Yeah, being kind, it doesn't cost you anything. And then, like, you talk about building others up, do you carry that on to yourself as a leader and on the teams that you play on?
[00:09:57] Speaker B: I do. I would like to say that. I would like. I would like that my team is. Yeah, thought I did. Because I feel like that's how I manage myself. I see myself as a very positive person, optimistic person. That doesn't mean I don't, you know, when the going gets stuffed, that doesn't mean I'm not gonna scream at my teammate saying, hey, you should do this. You should do this.
[00:10:16] Speaker A: Yeah. Emotion is good.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: I still get to the point, we still gotta get things done. But I like to see things as cup half full always. I can see instead of saying, oh, why didn't you do this? I'll say, this was really good. Maybe you can do this next time, or if they make a nice play, you know, give them. Let's go. Come on. Well done. Great tackle, great pass. You know, I find stuff like that always helps in just being in good mood.
Helps the.
[00:10:43] Speaker A: It does help. It helps the mood of everybody else around you.
[00:10:45] Speaker B: There's this saying in this, this one book. I forgot what it was, but it's this one saying that says, people think that happiness comes from success, but usually success comes from happiness.
[00:10:58] Speaker A: I like that.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: And then another one that my dad says is, you're not grateful after you succeed or you're not grateful after you're happy. You're happy because you're grateful.
[00:11:07] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. I try to be grateful. It is really, like the perspective of how you want to look at things.
[00:11:11] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:11:11] Speaker A: It impacts every day. Right? Like, how you approach life and how you approach others, and it's how they see you and how they feed off that energy and, yeah, I could see that being really helpful, like, in the locker room on the field, and people trust you and know that you're gonna be there for them in a positive way. And then I don't know if you said this or I don't know where I got this, but talking about God's delays are not God's denials.
So I feel like just sort of reading into that, like that about your journey and your, like to where you are here. You're still a young soccer player, but you've been through all these steps, your linear path, and it takes patience, right? It does as you're here now, like, do you just sit in this back with first team now and be patient and you're good right now, or are you the kind of person that's, like, itching for your next thing and your next moment?
[00:12:04] Speaker B: Yeah, of course, patience is key in everything you do. But I want to keep progressing. I want to keep growing. Of course I'm itching for the next step, you know, grow in my career. I want to push the guys ahead of me. I want to get pushed. I want to, you know. Yeah, I'm a nice guy, I'm patient guy, but I want to push, and I'm going to push and I'm.
I want to grow in my career, take the next step and do whatever I can to do that.
[00:12:38] Speaker A: Yeah. It's tricky though. Like with other. With other position players, we can talk about your goals and your minutes and your, like your role and a plan to substitution in the 60th, right, whatever it is. But like with you, it's a little different because you don't. It's just not as cut and dry like that with your position, right. I mean, I don't know. Maybe I'll do talk about planned substance. Like, I know you, it was probably planned that in the January inter Miami game. Like you, you probably knew. Did you know you were coming in second half?
[00:13:03] Speaker B: I did.
[00:13:04] Speaker A: Right, okay, so you know some of those things, but like now you probably don't know as much of that, right. So it's probably. Probably hard. That's probably where some patience has to play in where you just believe in yourself and the process, right.
[00:13:15] Speaker B: That's all it is. It's just, it's faith. It's faith. Not just in yourself and your abilities, but faith in God and that. You know, like you, like you said, you know, it's not our timing, it's God's timing. And it's not a matter of if it don't happen, it's a matter of when. And it's just a matter of patience.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: So I know that when you were at NTSC, you were on. I think it was like. Like a 23, 2023. Best eleven with some names that are pretty cool. Pepe just was watching him on tv. Was that last night?
[00:13:46] Speaker B: Last night?
[00:13:47] Speaker A: Last night. Bernie Tanner. Brian Reynolds. Justin Che, Colin Smith.
So who are some guys that you would build, like, if you build your best eleven? Maybe not people you've played with, but, like, somebody you really, really want to be on the field with in your career.
[00:14:03] Speaker B: Best eleven? Yeah, I mean, my center back.
Let me think of the second one. First one has to be my brother.
[00:14:11] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:14:11] Speaker B: My brother, we were lucky enough to play together in the Pan american games. He was the captain and I was the goalkeeper. So that was. I mean, extraordinary.
[00:14:19] Speaker A: That's cool.
[00:14:20] Speaker B: I'm trying to think of. I mean, there's so many players, but, yeah, for me, the biggest one is just to be able to play with my brother.
[00:14:26] Speaker A: That's very cool. I love that.
[00:14:27] Speaker B: You know, there's a couple other names, you know, Pepe Nolan, you know, I got a couple friends, Danny Laver, I would love to play with again. And. But the main ones, my brother.
[00:14:35] Speaker A: Yeah, those are like your comfort. Those are all your comfort people.
[00:14:38] Speaker B: I mean, I know they're great players. I know they're extraordinary players on the field. I know what they can do. I know their abilities. I feel safe playing with them because I know their capabilities. I know we have the relationships to.
[00:14:48] Speaker A: Play good and communication, you know, their style, you know, what to expect from them.
[00:14:54] Speaker B: Exactly. But at the end of the day, they're also some of my best friends.
[00:14:57] Speaker A: And, yeah, that makes it fun.
[00:14:58] Speaker B: It makes it, you know, you enjoy your soccer more, and I think that because of that, you play better.
[00:15:02] Speaker A: For sure. I think you said that you like, as far as, like, international goalies that you probably watched. Is it Kaler Navas? How do you say his name?
[00:15:10] Speaker B: Kayla Navas.
[00:15:11] Speaker A: Yeah, that sounds way better. Of Costa Rica and was at PSG. So I don't know if you're, like, learning from those styles, but how do you describe your own style? As a keeper?
[00:15:22] Speaker B: Yeah, I grew up watching a couple goalkeepers. I grew up watching quail or navas because I was always short. I kind of grew. I grew, I think, six inches, seven inches in the one summer. Wow. So, you know, I was. I was always the shore keeper. So I enjoyed watching other short or not. Not huge goalkeepers like Pierre Navas. I grew up in a mexican house. I was born in Mexico. So obviously I idolized Ochoa and I idolized the hay as well, you know, and also a couple bits here from Tim Howard and stuff like that. Yeah, but these guys, they were my main guys. And when I was little, that's who I kind of looked up to. That's who I would mimic my play style.
[00:15:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:59] Speaker B: But as the time went on, I kind of figured out that I play my best soccer, I play my best football. Whenever I play my style, you know, I give my 120%, but not how they would give it. I give it in, in my way, playing football my way.
[00:16:14] Speaker A: So as you grew, is that, is that now strength your size? Is that like what you capitalize on that now?
[00:16:21] Speaker B: I think. I would like to think so. I think. But I think the strength comes from being, growing up not tall, because I had to learn a lot of things and I had to play in a style and gain a lot of skills. Being the shorter goalkeeper, like specific tactical ways of goalkeeper. Yeah. Positioning, positioning, having to be fast, the way I move my body to get from one side of the world to the other. And then I kind of carry that on as. As I physically grew.
[00:16:50] Speaker A: Yeah. And then it just makes it even better.
[00:16:52] Speaker B: Right, exactly.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: Like a natural. Like you have all those natural ways to back up your playing style with your size now. It's like, you know the tactics behind it, some of the secrets.
[00:17:02] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:17:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:03] Speaker B: And then growing up as a striker as well, I know a couple of striker tendencies because I used to be a striker.
[00:17:08] Speaker A: So if you get the chance to take PKS now, do you, do you want to?
[00:17:13] Speaker B: If it comes to it, I'm ready, but I'm not going to be one of the first couple of guys.
[00:17:19] Speaker A: Thanks for taking the time. I know you had training this morning and you have something after, so I'm glad you squeezed us in and got us into your day.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: No, this was very fun. I had a great time. Thank you. Thank you for having me on.
[00:17:29] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us for this episode of Hustle and Pro. Be sure to subscribe however you watch us, whether that's on YouTube or if you listen on any of the podcast platforms, and we'll see you next time.
