Chad Marshall has done this interview before.
He doesnāt talk to the media too often, but that doesnāt mean the Seattle Sounders center back isnāt familiar with how all of this works. Heāll answer a few questions about his sparkling 15-year MLS career, talk a bit about never really getting a look with the US menās national team, explain how heās just a low-key homebody content to play Barbie with his 4-year-old daughter and tool around with his Xbox, maybe throw in an anecdote or two about a famous locker room prank.
Get in, get out. The usual.
āI think Iām a pretty introverted guy. Iām pretty to myself, kind of socially awkward, but once I get to know you and Iām comfortable around you, which is obviously like when Iām in the locker room setting, I can be goofy, silly,ā Marshall, who last week became the second field player in MLS history to reach 400 career regular-season appearances and 35,000 minutes played, told MLSsoccer.com earlier this week. āThatās when the stories that you hear, the dancing, the nudity, stuff like that, it comes out.ā
Hold up. The nudity?
āWell, I was kind of known in Columbus for doing naked cartwheels around the locker room,ā he continued with a laugh. āSo, once [Crew SC] won MLS Cup in 2008, of course there was a naked cartwheel chant that got going. I had to do it in the locker room with all the media already in there. That was a pretty good story. Iām happy no pictures or video have leaked of that over the last 10 years, but yeah, thereās just a bunch of stuff like that.ā
Talk to anyone whoās played with Marshall since he was drafted by Columbus out of Stanford with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2004 SuperDraft, and chances are theyāll have a Chad story. Chances are, itāll involve some nudity. Seattle forward Will Bruin has one, laughing as he describes how Marshall regularly dances naked around a trash can that the Sounders use as a locker room basketball hoop.
āHeāll just randomly come out of the shower and start dancing around completely naked, jumping super high, spreading his legs out and stuff,ā said Bruin. āItās pretty funny. Itās hard to describe and it probably sounds pretty weird, but when you see it, itās just kind of, āWhat the hellās going on?āā
Bruin was quick to share his funniest Marshall memories, but he was even more eager to talk up how good he thinks the 34-year-old is on the field. By just about any measure, Marshall is one of the top defenders in MLS history. Heās won Defender of the Year a record three times, and as the anchor of a Sounders defense thatās conceded the second-fewest goals in the league this season, is a strong contender to claim the award again in 2018, something Bruin campaigned for on Twitter earlier this week.
āChadās probably the most consistent player, certainly the most consistent center back in the league,ā said Bruin, who battled against Marshall on numerous occasions over his six seasons with the Houston Dynamo before he was traded to Seattle in December 2016.
āHeās up there for sure as one of the best center backs Iāve played against. Now, just seeing him everyday in training, playing against him, it kind of makes it not as daunting when you go into weekends and play against other center backs. I say Chadās up there, definitely top three.ā
Consistency has perhaps been the defining characteristic of Marshallās career. Apart from his remarkable aerial game, his skills donāt necessarily jump out at you. Itās his ability to play at the leagueās highest level for a decade and a half that has allowed him to reach significant career milestones.
āIām proud to have hit those numbers,ā he said. āI mean, to be honest, I had no idea that I was my 400th game until our coach said that in the locker room before, but that was definitely a goal of mine. I can remember sitting down, I think maybe a couple of years ago with [former Sounder and current team broadcaster] Steve Zakuani in a preseason interview and saying that I wanted to get to 400 games played, so it means a lot. Iām extremely grateful.ā
His steadiness is one of his best attributes as a player, but thereās a case to be made that itās played a role in holding back his career. Any discussion of Marshall inevitably arrives at the fact that he never got much of a look with the USMNT. He only has 12 career caps, and he didnāt receive a single call-up between May 2010 and January 2017. For Bruin, Marshallās consistency meant he never really popped like other players that made a big jump year-to-year in MLS or moved to Europe.
āPeople come to just expect it of him, you know? If there were other people coming to this league and playing at the level heās playing, they would get blown up so much more than heās blown up,ā said Bruin. āI think itās something that people take for granted. They just expect it and they go, āOh, thatās just Chad being Chad,ā when he really should get more credit for playing at a very high level consistently for a lot of years.
āHeās for sure one of those guys that got away [from the USMNT].ā
For Marshall, who had offers to go to Europe after he won that MLS Cup with Columbus in 2008 but chose to remain in MLS, his lack of involvement with the national team is one of the only things he wishes was different about his otherwise glittering career.
āI mean Iāll just say that I wish I had been a bigger part of the national team. I think thatās something Iāll look back on in my career and regret not being a bigger part of,ā he said. āBut thereās probably a lot of players that feel the same way. I had some unfortunate injuries earlier on in my time there and missed some January camps and stuff like that because of injury, and maybe that set me on a bad pace. But I donāt know. It didnāt work out. Like you said, Iāve been asked this a lot. Itās something that didnāt happen, and it just comes down to a coachās opinion of you.ā
At his age, Marshall knows that the time has passed for him to make an impact on the international level. That doesnāt mean he doesnāt have plenty left to play for with the Sounders. The two-time MLS Cup champion and four-time Supportersā Shield winner wants to lift more trophies, and heās eyeing another deep postseason run with Seattle once they wrap the regular season Sunday against San Jose (4:30 pm ET | TV and streaming info).
After that, itāll be another offseason of preparation ā and questions about his future. Marshall loves being on the field, but he doesnāt ingest the game in the way itās assumed most pros do. He keeps up with MLS opponents, of course, but he largely gets away from soccer when heās not with the Sounders. He feels he has plenty left in the tank, but heās comfortable with what heās accomplished on the club level.
Maybe even as comfortable as he is after a post-training shower.
āI donāt know, man. Thatās the question every offseason or every birthday. As long as I feel like Iām performing at a level that Iām comfortable with or I feel like is at a high enough level, I want to keep playing, so I guess thatās a year-to-year thing,ā he said. āI donāt have like, āOh, I want to get to this number or this many games playedā kind of thing. Itās really just going off feeling every year. But I still feel good. I donāt feel like Iāve lost that step yet, like the say. But as soon as Iām not able to play the game at the level I want to play it at, Iāll be fine walking away and being happy with what Iāve done.ā