Danny Karbassiyoon is amongst the rare group of American soccer players who has played for one of the world’s premier soccer clubs. He spent two years at Arsenal, before moving on to Burnley and then ultimately having to hang up his boots at a young age due to injury. But injury didn’t take Danny away from the game, instead he has gone on to become the North American scout for Arsenal FC. We had a chance to sit down and chat with Danny about a variety of topics. Yesterday we showed you part one of the conversation, hit the jump for part 2.

So how do you go from being a player at Arsenal to being the North American scout? At the end of my two years with Arsenal I knew I was going to get let go. Ashley Cole was the starting left back and Gael Clichy was behind him and in front of me for the left back position, and Gael was younger than me. All signs pointed to me getting released. I ended up signing for Burnley and spent a year and a half there. It was a lot different from Arsenal. It was another culture shock to move to the Northwest of England. I ended up leaving there after a year and a half because I basically blew my knee out. I went home, spent about 5 months rehabbing trying to be able to go to MLS, but it wasn’t happening with my knee. I ended up calling Steve Rowley and he was trying to find me a coaching gig in the US. That didn’t work out because I didn’t have enough experience as a coach. He ends up calling me back and he tells me that Arsene Wenger, himself and the coaching staff had been talking about it and they wanted to offer me the job as North American scout.

That’s two pretty incredible phone calls from Steve Rowley.  – I know! I joke that every time Steve calls me something good happens! 

You brought up something earlier that I’m sure is relevant to your current role as a scout. You said that Paul Mariner asked if you thought an American kid would want to go play abroad. Any kid you ask is going to say yes but its much more difficult than it seems. - I was the same way. I was naïve to the situation. When I went to London I had no idea what soccer was going to be like over there. You see teams on TV playing in front of 80,000 people and you think that’s what it’s going to be like. You don’t see them training everyday in the rain. You don’t see the struggle of being away from home.  You think that it’s going to be the way that you see it on TV, and that’s not the reality.

It’s definitely a different experience than most people can ever imagine. With your current role as a scout for Arsenal, you obviously look for talented players. But is there a psychological element that comes into play in terms of how an American kid might adapt? – Absolutely. Let’s say you are looking at a kid from a region where it’s always warm like southern California or Florida. How will this kid do in England in the winter when it’s raining everyday and gets dark at 3pm?  The psychological aspect of the player and of the games comes into the equation.

You mentioned earlier that when you first trained with the first team that you would have been happy to just be able to sit on the sidelines and watch these guys knock the ball around. I’m sure everyone would love to just sit and watch these world class players up close and personal, but as you said, you have a job to do.  Does this come to mind when you are looking at players? How will they be able to settle into the situation? – It is important. You don’t just get used to seeing them everyday. You have to put a lot of things aside, and have a mentality that you respect them, do your best to learn from them and ultimately be the person to make the most of your opportunity when the time comes. Having that mentality is just as important as being the most technical player. You have to have a mentality and a belief in yourself that no matter what, you are going to succeed. There are millions of kids who have that mentality because they might be coming from a place where if they don’t think like that, they might not get that next meal. You just really need a mentality to succeed at all costs.

Youth development in America is a consistently hot topic. Comparisons to other countries are always made and suggestions about how to improve the development system get mentioned all the time. Tell me a little about your thoughts on this. – First off I think that the level of play of kids in America is getting better. But we still don’t live in an environment where you are constantly surrounded by soccer. Whether that’s always being able to watch it on TV or going out to a stadium any day of the week and getting inspired. MLS has gotten a lot bigger and better, but for a lot of people, the closest MLS team is hundreds of miles away. You don’t get to go watch soccer any day of the week. I think that’s a big thing. As a kid you start to develop a hunger for the sport and you want to do whatever it takes to become a pro. We don’t have that as much in the US, and part of that is because of the size of the country, and there is nothing we can do about that.

Another very important aspect is that technique isn’t stressed enough when developing players. The US is known as a hard working country and a lot of my old teammates would always talk about how fit the US teams they played against were. This is a great attribute to have, but we have to improve our technical side of the game. When I went to Arsenal the kids there were just fantastic.

I think coaches in the US understand that technique is important, but I don’t think they understand how important it is. If you want to make it at Arsenal Football Club you’ve got to be able to control and pass the ball. A lot of kids think they can, but in England the game is so fast, the field is wet, the ball jumps hard at you. It makes a big difference being able to trap a ball and control it with your first touch. If you watch Arsenal play, and you see how beautifully they play, it’s because the players are all so technically sound.

There is no secret in training at Arsenal, they just do the simple things incredibly well. You can never achieve perfection, but you do your best to try to and I think that helps separate us.

People always talk about how beautifully Arsenal plays and how entertaining they are to watch, yet they probably play as simple as any team. One and two touches, great movement off the ball and doing the simple things really, really well. – Exactly. There are very few players that can get away with the things that Ronaldo or Robinho do. It’s awesome to see someone do three step overs, but I think kids see that on TV and go out and try to emulate that. Instead of watching Cesc play a one touch through ball that beats the entire back four.

In your time since you first went to England, have you noticed any change in the perception towards American soccer players? – Yeah I think it has changed quite a bit. When I was at Arsenal, Frankie Simek was there as well. He was an American but he had been there since he was 12 years old. But he was still an American. He was actually the captain of the reserves my second year. Having an American captain Arsenal at any level was pretty amazing. With Frankie playing center back and me at left back, 50% of the backline was American.

I think if you are playing well and doing your job people look past where you are from and just realize you are a good player. Now there are a number of Americans going to the Premier League and the rest of Europe.

Not only are Americans continuing to go to Europe, but they are enjoying quite a bit of success with their clubs. – Yeah for sure. Think about Tim Howard beating out Fabien Barthez, a World Cup winner, not long after signing with Manchester United. And all the success he has had with Everton. Clint has done an amazing job at Fulham and just signed a new deal. Clubs aren’t just going out on a limb and signing a player and hoping that something works out. American players are signing for clubs and doing the business. Think about players like Jay Demerit and Brian McBride both captaining their clubs. That’s awesome.

Can you imagine where it will be in 10 years? – Yeah exactly. I mean when I came on against Manchester United that day, Frankie Simek was on the bench, Tim Howard was in goal for United and Kenny Cooper and Jonathan Spector were also Manchester United players at the time, even though they didn’t dress for that game. So in a Manchester United v Arsenal game you had five American players who were on the books of two of the best clubs in the world. Who would have thought that would ever have happened, so imagine where things will be in ten years. It’s only going to get better.

Who is the best player you have played with? – I would have to say Robert Pires. He was absolutely fantastic. If you watch him he’s really awkward, he runs with his feet out. But he never lost the ball. He always side footed the ball, hardly ever uses his laces. He’s just such a smart player and I loved playing with him. Whenever I had to mark him in training it was a nightmare.

How about against? -  I went to Ipswich on loan and we played Bolton in the FA Cup at home and I got to mark El Hadji Diouf. He’s fairly hated in English football because of some spitting incidents, but he was absolutely ridiculous. He was so quick and powerful. His first touch and vision was incredible. He came on as a sub, and when he came on the game changed for Bolton and it changed for the worse for us. He was a handful.

How cool is Thierry Henry? – Thierry is really cool. I wrote in my book that the first time I met him he walked in the room with the type of confidence that only one of the best strikers in the world could have. He’s still ridiculous, but when he was at Arsenal he was the absolute best. He’s just a really cool guy and he also loves the US, so we would talk about that. He’s an awesome player and awesome person.

What was the best atmosphere you were ever involved with?- That Arsenal v United game was incredible. It’s so loud there you can barely hear yourself think. I had never been to Old Trafford before and when I walked out of the tunnel it was just incredible. You had to scream on the field just to be heard. When I came on as a sub I heard this cheer developing and I had no idea what they were saying at first. Gael Clichy was coming off the field from the opposite side of the field so it took some time and the chant was growing. They were singing “who in the f@%#*n hell are you?’ 70,000 people singing this over and over. It took 3 or 4 chants for me to realize they were literally asking who I was. That was just ridiculous. 

What was the best advice you ever got? – Pat Rice who is the first team coach at Arsenal took a group of reserves to the side after a training session with the first team. A few players had just played with the first team and he told us that just because we had worn the badge it didn’t mean that we had made it. They say you haven’t made it at a club until you have played 100 times. He told us don’t fail because you didn’t work hard enough, fail because you are not good enough. That motivated me. I knew that if I gave it my all that I could never hang my head in shame. When I left Arsenal a lot of blogs were saying that “another American failed” but I never saw it like that. I went over there and did my best and worked as hard as I could. At the end of the day I failed because I just wasn’t good enough. The best players in the world were there and I just wasn’t quite there. But I was proud of myself for what I achieved and the work that I put in.

Some people might look at that as kind of negative advice, but I think it was really great. Don’t have regrets because you didn’t give something everything that you have.

Give me a couple thoughts on the US National Team and where it’s headed. – I think the federation and the team have come a very long way in a short time. Who would have thought that the US would have beat the number one team (Spain) and almost beat Brazil in the finals of the Confederations Cup. That’s huge and it’s only going to get better. This World Cup is going to be very important. We have to prove that our success in the Confederations Cup wasn’t a fluke and that we are a force to be reckoned with.

Alright Danny, thanks for taking the time to chat and best of luck with everything. – My pleasure. Thank you!

Pics via ArsenalPics