One match for the national team that you consider a signature match?
Signature match? I’d probably pick two. One was against Germany in the ‘02 World Cup. I think I played well, except for not scoring. And two, I think would be the ‘09 semifinal against Spain. I think that was probably one of the best games I’ve played from beginning to end. The Algeria game - I mean, I didn’t the whole game - I mean, that moment, yeah.
Was that moment the apex though?
It’s hard to say not. Obviously, my first game was, too.
If you had known that you wouldn’t make the World Cup team, would you have still come back this year?
Yeah. I wanted to play another year. I wanted to see how it went. I was in a good place, mentally, physically. Obviously, the World Cup played into that, but I wanted to be back here. This was a year I wanted to play for sure.
How motivating has the snub been?
To be honest, it hasn’t at all. I know that’s hard to believe. I’m glad, in a lot of ways. As crazy as this sounds, some of the worst things in my life have turned out to be some of the best things. I had an opportunity to grow a lot this year and I wouldn’t have had that opportunity if I had gone to the World Cup and played in the World Cup. I’ve grown a lot from it and I think it’s probably shown in the way I’ve played.
How have you grown?
When life is easy and things go your way, you don’t learn a whole lot. But when things don’t go your way, it can be a good learning experience.
Do you know what position you’re playing for your last game?
I have no idea.
It’s kind of a crazy schedule, an international and ending the regular season.
Going into these last few weeks, a lot is being asked of me, and normally I would say no to at least some of it, but I understand that it’s important to a lot of people, me included. It’s a little tiring at times to do a lot of things, but the objective is get everything finished -well, to enjoy it, too- and then be able to focus on the playoffs.
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