Has ‘Ted Lasso’ damage soccer in U.S.? ‘We’ll be joyful in the long term,’ says Brendan Hunt

Few reveals on the air can declare to be as universally beloved as Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso,” and even fewer can say that with a soccer workforce as its solid of characters — solely FX’s “Welcome to Wrexham” comes shut. But not everybody is a large fan of the mustached supervisor of AFC Richmond.

In an interview with The Athletic in February, Philadelphia Union head coach Jim Curtin mentioned that the present has “set back the American coach 20 years” and used former Leeds United supervisor Jesse Marsch for instance.

“We worked so hard to get to Europe and then Jesse kind of breaks in, and it’s like … what a curse to have that show break out at the same time he’s there. You can feel it with [Jesse.] He seems so angry at it but to go back to my earlier point, if you show that they’ll chew you up and spit you out.”

Brendan Hunt, who performs Lasso’s right-hand man Coach Beard on the present, had an opportunity to answer Curtin’s feedback on this week’s episode of “Alexi Lalas’ State of the Union” podcast, and he defined why he disagrees that “Ted Lasso” has had any unfavorable impact on soccer within the United States.

“With all due respect to Jim Curtin, Chicago Fire legend — I’m from Chicago; I know Jim; I have no reason to think ill of him — him saying that we are the setback for Jesse Marsch in particular, Jesse didn’t even get hired until both seasons of Ted Lasso came out, so that logic doesn’t particularly hold up, and with all respect to Jesse, we didn’t lose all of those games for Jesse, so it’s not our fault.

“As for the American participant, I don’t suppose now we have any impact on the American participant, who’s already doing so nicely in Europe, and as for American soccer usually, I believe historical past will present in the long term that we have been a web constructive.”

“I believe we’re making give a s–t about soccer however sort of through an finish round who had crossed their arms and mentioned ‘it’s not for me, I’m soccer or hockey.’ We’re moving into folks’s homes, and if we’re moving into folks’s homes, meaning we’re getting their youngsters, and if we’re moving into their youngsters, meaning we’re deepening the participant pool, and we will likely be joyful in the long term.”

You can hear watch Lalas’ wide-ranging interview with Hunt under.

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