A Brief Impromptu Interview with Sacha Kljestan

The MNT Blog caught up with Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan, back in his hometown of LA after appearing against Argentina this past week at Giants Stadium. The Blog tracked down Sacha after training today, and bombarded him with a series of questions:

So you went to college at Seton Hall. Was it nice to be back in New Jersey this past week?
It was cool. My brother is still there and I've got a lot of friends and family still in the area. Playing at Giants stadium is always fun.

How many tickets did you have to hand out for those games?
Well for the Chivas game tickets were a bit easier so I had 25. For the national team I had 10, so kind of had to leave some people out but it was still good to get some people to the game.

When you come back to LA what's the first thing you like to do? Beach? Food?
I just like to relax, get back to day to day life and hang out with family. On this trip we had the one day off so we were able to hang out by the pool, relax and get some sun. It was nice.

What's the best thing about summer in Southern California? Pool Parties?
Definitely the weather. You can be at the beach and be outdoors all day long and it never gets too hot, there's always that summer breeze coming in from the ocean.

So what famous player's hairstyle are you trying to emulate?
I'm just trying to grow it really long, which is how I used to have it when I was younger. We'll see how long I can get it before I get sick of it and just shave it all off.

That's going to be a pretty tough battle during the summer. It gets pretty hot out...
Those hot summer game in Texas are going to be pretty tough. I've just got to deal with it.

Yeah, you just have to fight through - The Blog knows this from its own long-haired experience.
Peter Nowak gave me this headband though and it makes it better. He said I couldn't wear a grey one anymore and gave me a black one - it looks really nice.
We could all use fashion tips from Coach Nowak. He is, in fact, the only one who wears a suit on the plane (and looks pretty dapper in the process), so maybe we should all be taking the hint. Have you been able to watch any Euro 2008 games at all?
Its been a great tournament so far and I'm excited to see how the group of death turns out.

Who'd you pick to win?
I have Italy beating Germany in the final and so far they've both lost a game. Not looking too good, but the tournament is still wide open so we'll see what happens. Italy's notorious for that slow start but hopefully they pick it up a little bit in the last game.

The Blog picked France to win (what were we thinking), so one of us will be out after next week. You played in front of close to 80,000 against Argentina this past weekend. Was that the craziest crowd you've ever played in front of?
I think that was probably it. Once with Chivas we played a doubleheader with Barcelona and I think there were about 93,000 people there, but most of them weren't in their seats until the Barcelona game started. This one, as far as how good the crowd was for both sides was really special. The American fans were great.

In regards to crazy crowds, what's the wildest thing that's ever happened during a game you've played in?
The streaker in Tampa was classic and the kid that ran on the field against Argentina was pretty sweet too. He got tackled really hard and he looked about 12 years old - we watched the youtube video of it yesterday.