MetroFanatic: Mike, I took my son to the game against Philly, and we missed the record-setting goal. That must have been special, to go into the record books.
Mike Grella: Absolutely, it was amazing. We needed to win that game, the game was unusually important. Coming down the stretch, in the battle for the Supporters Shield, we had Philly and Chicago, two bottom-of-the-table teams, and those are the teams who are the hardest to play against, sometimes. I just wanted to make sure I put a lot of pressure on the ball from the get-go, and make it a hard game for them, and I was lucky enough that they had a miscommunication, I picked the ball up just running at their central defender, just five seconds in. A little bit of luck goes into it.

MF: Watching you play, to be honest, sometimes you don't make the best decision, but sometimes you make a great decision. What makes you different from other players?
MG: I don't know what makes me too different. I like to think that I'm a well-rounded player, I like to think that my best qualities are with the ball, I'm able to create or score from nothing. I grew up watching a lot of Italian legends, Del Piero, Totti. Not to say that I play like them, but for sure, I learned something from watching them, the little bit of cleverness, the little bit of subtlety, how they use their technique to unlock defenses, the way they use their brain to unlock defenses. I watched them my whole life. I like to think that in that area, I can be creative.

MF: Let's talk about your journey to MLS. You go through college, and you decide to forego MLS, to go to Europe. There's even a quote from you online, I don't know if you want me to read it, where you pretty much say European fans are better.
MG: Yeah.

MF: And now you come back to MLS. Can you just talk about the whole transition...
MG: I think, besides whatever quote I said, six years ago, five years ago, as a young guy, I think it goes to show you, it's a credit to MLS. It goes to show you how great MLS is now. There is no question now about MLS, people all over the world want to play. There is no question that the level of the football here is very high.

MF: You've played for Leeds and Carlisle, so the level is better here than there?
MG: For sure. It's always a question I get, because I played there, if the Red Bulls were in the Championship, if they were in the Premiership, where would they finish? And it's an impossible question to answer, there are just too different leagues.

MF: Well, we beat Chelsea. Our RESERVES beat Chelsea.
MG: (laughs)

MF: Although Chelsea is not doing so well this year...
MG: There you go. But it's hard to judge. One thing for sure, the quality of football here, the fans here, MLS as a soccer...

MF: So it's grown in the past five, six years... You wouldn't make the same statement as back then?
MG: I gotta go back and say, absolutely not. Some of the games, some of the stadiums I've played in last year, the atmosphere, it really got me going. It was really exciting to be part of it, I felt privileged and honored to be part of MLS this year, and also part of this club. This league for sure is moving in the right direction, and it's continuing to make steps in the right direction. I'm not sure exactly what I said...

MF: I can show you, if you want. Honestly, that turned many fans against you.
MG: At the time, I was coming from, I decided to leave here, a bit of friction here, so I decided to leave to go to Europe. Maybe there was a little bit of that in it, a little bit of naivete from myself, being 21 years old, 20 years old...

MF: We've all been 21...
MG: I was excited to be in Europe, but now you see, even with this homegrowns, look at Tyler Adams, a fantastic example of what soccer in this country can look like.