I always loved watching the Champions League, growing up.

When I was growing up, I was focused on football and school.

No matter how good you are, your mentality has got to be right. A lot of young players, that's where they go wrong, and that's what I've always seen when I was growing up - players who are almost there but couldn't quite get there because the mentality wasn't right.

I feel I have been very lucky. When you are growing up, you have dreams of being a footballer, perhaps even playing for the club you support, and I am living that dream.

I may be a successful football player, but I feel like such a failure.

I got beat real hard and heavy in the Olympic Games in 1968 by a guy who swam an incredible race one time in his whole life, but he did it right at the right time. I'd like to be that guy now. Maybe that's what I'm going to have to pull out of my hat to make the Olympic team.

I think a big part of success in football is mental, not physical. How you are inside your head matters more.

Any professional athlete will tell you that the mind is everything. For me, there is no shame in saying that I visualize and I meditate, because it really works.