Brad Guzan Is Not Leaving the Game as Atlanta and the World Cup Open a New Chapter
- Jason Longshore
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
When preseason opens in January, it usually brings a familiar restlessness to players who have spent their lives measuring time in training camps and opening days. For Brad Guzan, this January is different. There is no locker to report to. No flight to catch. No first session circled on a calendar.
And yet, he is still waking up before sunrise.
“I’m still waking up before the sun comes up to work out and get some of that energy burned off before my day starts,” Guzan said this week on Atlanta Soccer Tonight to Madison Crews and me. “So still trying to do that, stay fit, stay active.”
It is not nostalgia driving him. It is discipline. And maybe a little bit of avoidance.
“I’ve not really allowed myself to sit down and think about it,” he admitted. “I’ve tried to stay busy… just trying to keep my mind focused on where my feet are at.”
That line says more about this moment than any retirement announcement ever could.
Guzan does not speak like someone who has left the game. He speaks like someone who has simply changed his position inside it.
Broadcasting, he says, has felt natural. Not because it is easy, but because talking about soccer has always been part of his life.
“You would do that in the locker room with your teammates,” he said. “You do that with your friends at a restaurant having dinner. And so now all of a sudden, you’re just doing it on a camera, with a microphone.”
The transition has not required a reinvention. Only a relocation.
“For me, it’s, you know, I’m a fan of the game,” Guzan said. “I love the game of soccer. It’s such a big part of who I am.”
That idea runs through every answer he gives. He does not frame this phase as stepping away. He frames it as staying connected.
He is in conversations with Atlanta United about ways he might still contribute. He is open to broadcasting opportunities. He expects the summer of 2026 to pull him back toward the center of the sport whether he plans for it or not.
“We know that the summer is going to be crazy,” he said. “We know that with the tournament itself, with us hosting eight games, it’s gonna be wild. And so I’m anticipating to be involved at some level, around the World Cup.”
When he talks about the US men’s national team, the language is about responsibility.
“This doesn’t happen every World Cup that you get to host on your home soil,” he said. “This will be the one and only time. And you have to grab this opportunity with both hands.”
But the most revealing part of the interview arrives when the conversation turns away from tactics, tournaments, and even Atlanta.
What has this whole process taught him about the power of the sport?
Guzan said, “When I hear the words power through the sport, my instant thought was the word relationships.”
That becomes the center of gravity of the conversation.
“For me, it’s about the relationships that I was able to have throughout my playing career,” he said. “Whether it be coaches, whether it be front office individuals, whether it be players and teammates.”
He does not list trophies. He does not list matches. He lists people.
“Some people will remember saves. Some people will remember games,” he said. “But for me, I’ll always remember the relationships and the friendships that this game has provided.”
That perspective explains the story he tells about Tata Martino.
It is not about formations. It is about trust.
A left-footed goalkeeper being told, late in his career, to take goal kicks with his right foot. A moment that made his head “almost explode.” And then a realization that belief changes behavior.
“He was giving me that confidence and that belief,” Guzan said. “He said, yeah. Do it. No problem.”
It is a small anecdote, but it captures something important. Guzan did not stop evolving in his 30s. He did not stop learning because he had already arrived.
And he is not stopping now.
The final answer of the interview ties the entire arc together.
“This game has brought me to you guys,” he said. “And I consider you guys friends. It’s been an amazing journey… and to stay involved moving forward is something I’m really excited about.”
That is the real through-line of Brad Guzan’s career.
Not the saves.
Not the trophies.
Not even the seasons.
Just a life built, carefully and gratefully, through the people the game placed in his path.
And a player who, even after the final whistle, is not ready to leave that community behind.
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