Sporting Kansas City legend Benny Feilhaber was meant to be a soccer coach.
The former MLS Cup champion declared that much himself during an interview with Border Patrol hosts Nate Bukaty and Steven St. John this morning on Sports Radio 810 WHB.
Feilhaber, who retired last March after a brilliant 15-year playing career highlighted by three major trophies with Sporting and stops in the English Premier League and German Bundesliga, took the next big step in his soccer journey this week by joining Sporting’s technical staff.
“With my personality—the way I love this game and see this game—I almost feel like the 15 years of my playing career was more of a preparation for this because I genuinely think this is what I’ll be better at,” Feilhaber said of coaching. “I hope I can confirm that in 10, 15 or 20 years’ time. This is what I was always built for from the beginning.
“I think I was an OK soccer player,” he continued. “The physical part of it was very difficult so there were things that needed to be done for me to be successful at that level. In coaching, no doubt it’s going to be a lot of work, but it’s something that I’m even more capable of doing at a high level.”
Feilhaber has long been a self-confessed student of the sport and regularly spends his free time watching as much soccer on TV as possible, including countless matches in MLS. With his pedigree as a player, his vibrant personality and his long-held interest in coaching, the 36-year-old thinks he has settled into the perfect fit.
“This is really what I was built for in the first place,” he said. “I don’t think many soccer players say that. This felt like an inevitability for me from the time I was 20 years old.”
Listen to Feilhaber’s full interview below, courtesy of Sporting’s official radio partner Sports Radio 810 WHB.
