Soccer
EXCLUSIVE: C.J. Sapong Explains How ‘Aggressive Defense Is the Best Offense’ for Nashville SC and What the USMNT Needs to Succeed at the World Cup
Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined Sports7 in 2021. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike & The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs. As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He's a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early '90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer — with a Manchester City focus — in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA. When he's not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.
Get to know Tim Crean betterUpdated15 Apr 2022
Nashville SC forward C.J. Sapong scored the game-winning goal over his former squad, Sporting Kansas City, last week.
That goal — the 85th of Sapong’s Major League Soccer career, moved him into a tie for 15th place on the all-time MLS goals list — is just the latest accomplishment in his decade-plus pro soccer career.
The Virginia native has won the MLS Rookie of the Year Award, an MLS Cup, and a U.S. Open Cup, and he's played for the U.S. Men’s National Team. And, as impressive as his on-field achievements have been, he’s just as impressive off the pitch.
Sapong is the founder of Sacred Seeds, a non-profit that aims “to bring income-generating resources and technology as well as nourishment to underserved communities so that they may thrive for generations to come,” and a co-founder of Social Sports, “a client-driven athlete management & representation company.”
With all this going on, Sapong still found time to sit down with the MLS Soccer Show to discuss Nashville’s season, the USMNT, his fascinating work away from the game, and, of course, Walker Zimmerman’s hair.
C.J. Sapong joined the ‘MLS Soccer Show’ to discuss his life on and off the pitch
C.J. Sapong is not your average athlete. He doesn’t offer pre-packaged, 15-second soundbites and cliché answers. He is thoughtful and talkative and is as at ease discussing Nashville SC’s locker room mentality as he is sharing his “dark times” in life and how they led to his charitable efforts with Social Seeds and his innovative Social Sports business.
On what Nashville SC has found offensively in their recent two-game winning streak:
I think we found aggressive defense is the best offense.
C.J. Sapong on Nashville SC
On what the USMNT needs to do to succeed in the 2022 World Cup:
The talent is there. The physical ability is there. All it’s gonna take is the passion, the mental aspect.
C.J. Sapong on the USMNT
On what led him to found his non-profit, Social Seeds:
There wasn’t a fulfillment I was feeling. I still found myself being extra critical of myself and wondering if I was truly bringing value to myself and people around me. And it all formulated from me going through my relative dark times.
C.J. Sapong on founding his non-profit
On why there’s a need for an athlete representation firm like Social Sports:
I found myself later in my career struggling to deal with all these [financial] things, but then also not being at the salary price-point I could just pawn it off on somebody else.
C.J. Sapong on lessons learned in his career
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