DeAndre Yedlin On The World Cup, Fatherhood & Family | Home Grown Ep. 3

I finished with the national team after the 2022 World Cup. Like, I would still love to be involved. Things happen when they're supposed to happen. There's definitely a couple guys that I'm still very in touch with. This is me, DeAndre Yedlin. I was the first homegrown player signed by the Seattle Sounders. I went overseas and played for seven years. Played in two World Cups for the United States. I got married and had two kids. Now I play in Salt Lake. Soccer changes. Family does it. This is Homegrown. Presented by Robin Hood. It's Nino's third birthday. We got family flying in. and we got friends coming over. We got a bounce house set up. Here comes the birthday boy. Nino's a wild one. When we had Seneca, she was the easiest baby. She was, she's been the easiest toddler. And we thought, wow, like this is what having a kid is like. We can have 40 of these. And then we had Nino. Seneca is happiest when she knows the rules. Nino, on the other hand, is always ready to test those rules. Did Nino go up with Nana? We lost our son. Nino's definitely tougher. He's a little ball of joy, and he's definitely the one that tests our patience. Nino, nice outfit. Getting ready for Nino's birthday party. We're losing a few balloons here. We've asked Nino what kind of birthday he wants for about six months, and he said rainbows. Hire a calendar who's the partner of Drake Calendar. We started throwing really cool themed parties. We don't hire party planners. We do everything ourselves. Becoming a parent has changed the way I think about the future. I'm not really planning for me anymore. When I add to their custodial accounts, it's not for just now, it's for the future. And in the future, we know that they're gonna have dreams and we know that they're gonna have goals and things that they wanna do. And I think this might not be the most fun gift for now, but we know he'll appreciate it later. Everyone doesn't sing too loud. When there's a lot of people, he gets a little bit sheltered. I thought we harmonized actually very well during that. Happy birthday to you. We actually met during a national team trip. I saw her on the Explore page, and this was on the Explore page. And I found out in the picture, she was like standing with a bike and that wasn't even her bike. I just asked some guy like on Riverside Drive, like, hey, can I take a picture with your bike? Yeah, so shout out to that dude. Yeah, because that's how I got my husband. Oh, yes. Happy birthday. Happy birthday. There's definitely a couple guys that I'm still very in touch with. Tim would probably be the one that I'm most in touch with, I would say. Tim was actually there when me and Crystal first met. He was the ultimate wingman. Credit to him, he's like a little brother to me. We're gonna see you in June though, at least. Come through the Seattle game. To the Seneca. Have you turned 25 yet? I'm 26. 26 is actually like low key, like you're getting there. Yeah, like that's crazy. All right, bro. We'll be talking. I love you, man. Yes, sir, I love you too. Talk soon, bro. Yeah, I will. I don't even know where she is. Just leave her for me. I will, I will. You know the vibes. All right, bro. Peace, peace, peace. You got me? Give me a rating out of 10. Three. Three, three out of 10. Yeah, we'll take it. I think Nino had an amazing birthday party. It's so beautiful for us to keep moving around and our family still coming out to celebrate our beautiful boy. I turned professional in 2013 and I went to the U-20 World Cup. And then the next year was my first call up to the men's national team, 2014, in January. It's called January Camp. Yeah, that was kind of my breakthrough. I didn't think I had a very good camp, but the coach at the time, Juergen Klinsmann, put a lot of belief and trust in me and kept calling me back and ended up making it on the World Cup team. I finished with the national team after the World Cup. So after 2022 World Cup, we finished. Obviously we had the horrible situation in 2018 where we didn't make the World Cup, and then 2022, and then just kind of been away from the national team since then. And I don't know what you want to call the eras, but I think probably the most recognizable player from this new era is Christian Pulisic. I think probably from the older era is Landon. And I'm like the only player to have spanned those two eras. I'm not going to say like I actively tried to stop. You know what I mean? Like I would still love to be involved. I obviously know what comes with age. I know what comes with this new generation, such talented players. So if I would have been involved in this World Cup team or squad or whatever you want to call it, like sound like I would be like nah like I got a family I'm not going I do think that things happen when they're supposed to happen all right you find pajamas oh the soccer ones okay get some draws I think the timing of it all lined up pretty well and it allowed me to to really focus kind of just on being home and with the family because the being in the national team especially playing over in Europe you're gone so much because most of the time that you like most of the breaks that you get in the regular season are international breaks if you're not with the national team. All right you gotta wash your hands. He's got the sillies right now. Yeah low key. You guys want to you guys want to read a book or pick a story? All right let's read a book let's get one of the new ones. We had Seneca the year before the World Cup and pretty much from the time she was born every month he was gone for a week two weeks then there was like 28 days um and just it was It was hard on me, like I held it down and our family is amazing, but the first year of her life was rough. We've gone so much. Walking, waking. Waking. What? All right. Unfortunately, unfortunately, Dada can't read. Mama's gonna read this one. Waking up bright and early. Who wakes up early with you guys? Mama. See, that's crazy. You know, at the end of the day, my kids are why I do what I do. The biggest investment I'm making in my kids right now is just making sure that they know they're loved, and they know that, you know, they can never do anything that would make us not love them. DeAndre, he genuinely wants to be a dad, and we'd definitely be lost without him.