Jamie Carragher knows how big the next 18 months could be for American soccer. With the World Cup due to kick off in North America in 2026, and the U.S. men's national team hiring an elite coach to carry them through it, the former England and Liverpool centerback says it's time to start paying attention to football in the United States.
"It just feels now that America's in a completely different space in terms of soccer, how it sees the game. It will be an amazing World Cup, I can't actually wait for it," he tells GOAL from Miami, where he's enjoying the most brief of respites from an overloaded sporting calendar.
Carragher has started new podcast, It's Called Soccer, co-hosted with NBC's Rebecca Lowe and long-time Sky Sports colleague and Premier League rival Gary Neville. But after enjoying a vacation in the U.S., he can feel the buzz in the country around the sport. Everything is getting real.
"It's been a bit of an eye-opener. I'm getting stopped a little bit in the streets in Miami and Chicago... you're going to the shopping center and people are just pulling me over," Carragher said.
Life in anonymity is no longer an option for the ex-Liverpool man, whose success as a pundit on CBS's Champions League coverage has eclipsed even his reputation as a footballer - especially stateside.
"I think he could go alongside any international manager right now in the world" - Carragher on USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino
Still, for all of the heightened attention in America, he remains a personality very much grounded in the Premier League. MLS may be on his Twitter feed, but his deeper focus is on the competitions in Europe.
Carragher opens up on Mauricio Pochettino, the USMNT and Manchester City's alleged violation of Premier League rules in the first edition of Mic'd Up, a recurring feature in which GOAL US will tap into the perspective of broadcasters, analysts and other pundits on the state of soccer in the U.S. and abroad.
NOTE: This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity