MetroFanatic: Sacha, I want to talk about a parallel world, you come out of the draft, the MetroStars have the fifth pick. Mo Johnston trades Jason Hernandez, your teammate at Seton Hall, to Chivas USA and Bob Bradley, for the first pick. Marvell Wynne comes here, Bob takes you fifth to Chivas USA. In some parallel world, Alexi Lalas doesn't fire Bradley, the Metro pick is used on you, you come here...
Sacha Kljestan: I thought of that scenario back when I was in college. I met with Alexi Lalas before the draft, I thought that he was gonna pick me with the fifth pick, I was actually very excited about joining the organization. I would say, unfortunately I didn't end up here, but I did have a great career...

MF: UNfortunately?
SK: The real answer is, fortunately, I ended up at Chivas USA with Bob Bradley, because he was a big mentor of mine, I met Jesse there, I played with him for four years, then I moved to Anderlecht. It all worked out the way it was supposed to. Who knows if we'd be having this conversation today if I started this career with the MetroStars. Probably not.

MF: I actually went to a game at Anderlecht, before your time there. It was a nice little stadium, an intimate feel, and I thought, we couldn't we have that in MLS, and it seems that now, we do.
SK: Yeah, it's funny, because Red Bull Arena reminds me a lot of Anderlecht's stadium. Anderlecht stadium is 40 years old, but it's about the exact same size, the exact same parameters. This stadium is just brand new and beautiful, but I think the atmosphere we have in our stadium is amazing.

MF: Let's talk about something else important... facial hair. We got some outstanding facial hair on the team, your mustache is well-known. Your wife doesn't mind?
SK: No, she likes it... I think. I've had it for so long now, she thinks I look weird when I shave it off. Last year, I shaved it off once, and everybody on the team was like, you look weird, grow it back. It's part of me and I think it's pretty recognizable.

MF: You're also part of a very rare group of brothers who played on this team. Your brother did not exactly play a lot...
SK: I don't know, it's pretty weird.

MF: There was a tweet about bringing your brother to the team last year...
SK: (laughs) They signed Shaun Wright-Phillips, and I tried to get my brother to come out of retirement. He is very successful now working for the LA Galaxy on the business side of things, so I'm very proud of what he's done. It's a pity we never got to play together professionally, but when we got to play in college together for two years, that was two of the best years of my life.

MF: You said something which rang very close to home. At Anderlecht, you won a lot of championships, but here we're still at zero. The Supporters Shield is nice, but the fans have been starving for 20 years.
SK: I understand, the fans... I'm suffering because I lost last season in the playoffs, I thought we were gonna win the title. The fans here have really been suffering, it's been 20 years now, going into 21st season, and I know how bad they want to lift the trophy.

MF: The shield is good, but, you know...
SK: Trophies are trophies. MLS Cup is the ultimate goal. I know when we finally lift the MLS Cup, with our fans, it's gonna be a joyous moment.

MF: Let's talk about your penalties. Often, straight down the middle, pretty much always fools the goalkeeper. People usually don't like to take them down the middle, but you seem to...
SK: Yeah, you know... I feel like we shouldn't talk about it. If there are some goalkeepers reading right now, they are gonna find me out.